MotoGP
Fortuna Yamaha Team Brno test notes
Fortuna Yamaha team complete two day mid-season test in BRNO Fortuna Yamaha Team riders Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri finished a two-day test at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic today. The team came to Brno directly from last weekend's ...
Published: Jul 18, 2003, 12:02 PM
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Fortuna Yamaha team complete two day mid-season test in BRNO
Fortuna Yamaha Team riders Carlos Checa and Marco Melandri finished a two-day test at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic today. The team came to Brno directly from last weekend's British Grand Prix in Donington, and continued hard work on general M1 set-up and Michelin tyre testing. Track temperatures reached as high as 51 degrees at the eastern European circuit, and testing alongside Yamaha's factory team in the sweltering conditions were the Honda, Ducati, Aprilia, Kawasaki and Proton MotoGP outfits.
Spanish rider Carlos Checa, who currently lies in seventh position in the MotoGP World Championship, rode consistently on both days, completing a total of 136 laps. Checa spent the two days working closely with Michelin on their race tyres, and today tested the basic race set-up of his Yamaha YZR-M1 machine, with a fastest overall lap time of 2'00.50s. Checa finished last weekend's British Grand Prix in sixth place, and is looking forward to having the chance to claim the podium finish he needs to increase his points in the championship standings.
Checa's team-mate and MotoGP rookie Marco Melandri was pleased with the extra two days riding his M1, desperate to make up for so much time lost earlier in the season after his accident in the opening round of the championship in Suzuka. Melandri made his debut with his M1 at the Brno circuit, where he will race in exactly one month on August 17, and completed a total of 130 laps, with a best lap time of 2'00.70s. Honda rider Max Biaggi broke his own fastest ever lap record of 1'59.64s in today's session, claimed at the Czech Grand Prix last year when he qualified in pole position, setting an all new lap record of 1'58.8s.
"Marco didn't finish the race in Donington so he used this test as the chance to do a race simulation," explained Fortuna Yamaha Team Manager, Geoff Crust. "He held a good pace and his physical condition was good after 24 laps. He did the race simulation in the middle of the day when the track was at its hottest, so that was also good experience for him to test in such hot conditions."
"Marco's got a good feeling with the bike at the moment which is getting better each time he rides, and he is upbeat and confident that he can do well here when he returns in a month. After he qualified on the front row at Donington last weekend, he was as disappointed as we were when he slid off and out of the race."
"Carlos aimed for consistent laps today and yesterday, which he achieved, and he knows now that we still need to take a step up to beat our competitors. He really needs a podium finish at this stage and we should be in a position to do just that in Sachsenring, where he has showed great promise in previous years."
Now the Fortuna Yamaha Team will travel to Sachsenring in the east of Germany where the German Grand Prix will take place on Sunday 27 July.
Lap times (from both days)
Carlos Checa 2m 00.50s
Marco Melandri 2m 00.70s
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