MotoGP
Chinese GP: Camel Yamaha Team Friday notes
ROSSI FLOATS BACK TO THE TOP AT WET SHANGHAI Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi returned to the top of the MotoGP time sheets today as hard work during practice and testing following the last round at Istanbul began to bear fruit on the ...
Edited: May 13, 2006, 1:59 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
ROSSI FLOATS BACK TO THE TOP AT WET SHANGHAI
Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi returned to the top of the MotoGP time sheets today as hard work during practice and testing following the last round at Istanbul began to bear fruit on the opening day of the Grand Prix of China. In soaking conditions caused by a steady downpour of fine rain throughout the day, Rossi repeated the form that saw him take a wet victory at the Shanghai circuit last season with the fastest times in both today's free practice sessions.
After setting the pace by just 0.002 seconds from Casey Stoner (Honda) in the morning, the Italian moved up a gear in the afternoon to improve his time by almost three seconds, holding off the challenge of Loris Capirossi (Ducati) by 0.355 seconds with an exemplary display of wet-weather riding. Meanwhile, his Camel Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards also reported improved feeling with his YZR-M1 machine following positive progress during the Turkish test session, although the American was struggled to turn that into outright pace this afternoon.
VALENTINO ROSSI (1st; 2'09.393, 36 laps)
"In Turkey we were able to understand some of the problems we were having with the bike and we found some good solutions. The modifications we made using that data here this morning were really good and now I can ride the bike at 100%. Even though it was wet the grip levels were very good, I was able to get a lot of lean angle in the corners and it was really good fun to ride as I want to. I'm really happy because I was fastest in both free practices today and this is a good sign for the weekend. The bike is working well in the wet but I think the solutions we have found for the setting will also work in the dry. Hopefully we will get the chance to find out tomorrow because the worst scenario would be to have another day of wet practice and then a dry race on Sunday."
COLIN EDWARDS (13th; 2'11.838, 24 laps)
"I'm reasonably happy with today. We did some good work on the setting of the bike but when we got it to where I wanted to push for a good time we had a minor setback with the tyre and I had to go for a different compound, which didn't quite work out. The main thing is that I'm comfortable with the bike and I'm confident I can go much quicker tomorrow whether it's wet or dry. We basically started out with the dry setting we found in Turkey and made small adaptations for the wet conditions here. We found a really good suspension solution at the end so now we just need to put the whole package together with the right tyres tomorrow and run with it."
DAVIDE BRIVIO -- CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
"That was a very good session, especially after the problems we had in Istanbul. The engineers made some good steps with the setting and, thanks to their good work at the test in Turkey, Valentino was able to be fast again today. Watching him ride to the best of his ability is always very enjoyable and the situation here is clearly very different to what we found when it rained in Turkey. As far as Colin is concerned his lap time today does not reflect his true potential here. He has found a good setting and, although he couldn't finish the session off as he would have liked, there is a lot more to come from him. We have started off well at other races this year and not ended up with the right result so we have to make sure this good work continues right through until Sunday afternoon."
-cyt
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Chinese GP: Pramac d'Antin preview
Next article Chinese GP: Qualifying times
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Valentino Rossi
The closest finish in MotoGP history: Toni Elias over Valentino Rossi 20 years ago
MotoGP
MotoGP
Portuguese GP
The closest finish in MotoGP history: Toni Elias over Valentino Rossi 20 years ago
Marc Marquez to read Valentino Rossi’s new book “when I retire” from MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP
San Marino GP
Marc Marquez to read Valentino Rossi’s new book “when I retire” from MotoGP
Valentino Rossi abandons Nordschleife Permit plans for 2026
Endurance
Endurance
NLS8
Valentino Rossi abandons Nordschleife Permit plans for 2026
Latest news
2026 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
22 min
2026 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
Liam Lawson’s remarkable form is giving Red Bull a headache for 2027
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
14 h
Liam Lawson’s remarkable form is giving Red Bull a headache for 2027
Hanley Motorsports announces multi-class IMSA arrival with BMW support and DXDT deal
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 14 h
Hanley Motorsports announces multi-class IMSA arrival with BMW support and DXDT deal
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe