MotoGP

British GP: Camel Yamaha Team Saturday notes

Camel Yamaha team-mates Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will both start from the fourth row of the grid in tomorrow's British Grand Prix, after running into set-up problems during the second day of practice at Donington Park. Whilst Rossi ...

Published: Jul 3, 2006, 4:53 AM

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Camel Yamaha team-mates Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards will both start from the fourth row of the grid in tomorrow's British Grand Prix, after running into set-up problems during the second day of practice at Donington Park. Whilst Rossi continued to ride through the pain from the ankle and wrist injuries he sustained at Assen nine days ago, he also struggled to adapt his machine to the demands of the British track, where he has taken victory for five of the last six seasons.

Edwards was equally baffled by the lack of progress he made today after making positive initial steps yesterday. The base setting of the YZR-M1 machine has adapted swiftly to the fast and flowing nature of recent circuits such as Assen and Catalunya, but with only the morning warm-up remaining before tomorrow's 30-lap race the team still have plenty of room for improvement. A small consolation for Rossi was that Nicky Hayden (Honda), the current series leader, was also unable to challenge for a top grid position and will start in between the Yamaha pair on the fourth row in 11th spot.

COLIN EDWARDS (10th -- 1'28.481; 30 laps)

"The bike is really not working as well as we would like and to be perfectly honest we're not sure why. The things that worked so well last weekend don't seem to be having the same effect here and we're struggling to come up with an alternative at the moment. It's not for a lack of trying because my crew have worked really hard all day -- we played about with the springs and the ride height but kept running down a blind alley. This is one of my favourite tracks and I'm used to turning up here and being in the top three from the first session -- like I have for the past two years. In theory it should have been the same today but it's just not happening. Now we have to hope we can find something good in the morning, make a great start and just fight our way through!"

VALENTINO ROSSI (12th -- 1'28.808; 28 laps)

"We didn't expect to have so many problems here in Donington because last year our bike worked really well. It's a track where I've always been able to be really fast and go very well from the start, so it's quite disappointing. The situation with the wrist isn't so bad, but I've got some problems in the hard braking areas. For sure I can't ride how I would like to; we're not at the maximum. We've been quite confident because, since the new chassis in Le Mans, the bike has worked very well and been fast from the start, but here we can't find a good setting for some reason. Tomorrow we will try to find a way to make the situation a little better. Today with Dr Costa I decided to try with some painkillers, to understand better what we need to do for the race tomorrow. With these painkillers it seems I can ride more or less normally. Tomorrow me and my team will try to find the best possible setting to enable me to ride a good race and I will also do some more work with Dr Costa after warm-up in order to be in the best possible shape to ride."

DAVIDE BRIVIO -- CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR

"It is a strange grid because nobody expects to see Colin, Valentino and Nicky all together on the fourth row. For sure the starting position will be the first problem for our riders to overcome tomorrow. I think with Colin has shown that he has the possibility to run a good race pace if we can just refine the setting a little more, and for Valentino we need to analyse things tonight and see if we can make it a little more comfortable - especially for his wrist. Today he was feeling stronger but he is clearly not at 100% yet so we will have to wait and see how he is tomorrow. But his problem is not just the injury -- the bike setting is not where it should be yet and we are still unclear about the tyre choice for the race."

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