Joined Sep 2005
4K Posts | 3+
Lancashire UK
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racer John Hopkins finished in a promising eighth place after today’s free practice for the Grand Prix of Turkey in Istanbul.
Hopkins (1’54.227, 41 laps) worked hard with his team to get the best out of his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R and Bridgestone tyres, and was pleased with the overall improvements made to the bike since the last race. He is sure that he can develop on today’s strong start during tomorrow’s practice and qualifying.
Chris Vermeulen (1’54.722, 36 laps) also made a good opening to the weekend and was equally satisfied with his progress today. The rookie Australian was well inside the top 10 during the afternoon session before finishing in 12th place overall.
Today’s practice was held in dry and sunny conditions with air temperatures reaching a high of 20°c and the track surface 27°c. The quickest time was set Nicky Hayden with World Champion Valentino Rossi down in 11th position.
Tomorrow will see Rizla Suzuki MotoGP take to the track for the final practice session and then compete in the all important qualifying session in the afternoon. Sunday’s 22-lap race will begin at 15.00hrs local time (14.00hrs CET).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>John Hopkins:
“It’s been the best start to a race weekend that we have had this year. We got a lot done on race tyres today to get the right selection for Sunday. Suzuki has made some changes to the bike to improve durability and that has also been very noticeable. We are putting a lot of laps in to test out the new parts and the tyres and the crew has worked really hard today to make sure everything went well. We will now see what the weather does tomorrow as rain has been forecast, but either way we will get the best out of both sessions that’s for sure.”
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>
Chris Vermeulen:
“We made a lot of progress today which was good. The guys worked really hard – especially in the second session – and we made a lot of changes to the set-up, all of which seemed to work well. I was happy with the way things went today, we tried a lot of different tyres and other changes to the bike which all seemed like they would work well over race distance. Unfortunately I lost a bit of time at the end of the second session, as I’m sure I would have been further up the timesheets – but that doesn’t really matter until tomorrow and more importantly Sunday.”
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“We came here with the hope of having a solid first day and that is exactly what we have managed to do. Both riders have made a lot of progress and we have been trying to get the best out of the machine and the Bridgestone tyres. To take a small step in performance with the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R is maybe possible tomorrow but what will help us in the race is to improve our consistency and make the bike more rideable when grip reduces. We are chasing grip in partnership with Bridgestone and that is certainly one of our biggest tasks this weekend. Whilst we are always after more performance, the GSV-Rs are running strongly and both the guys are very enthusiastic about further improvements tomorrow.”
Grand Prix of Turkey Free Practice Classification:
1. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1’53.623: 2. Casey Stoner (Honda) +0.238: 3. Marco Melandri (Honda) +0.348: 4. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.378: 5. Toni Elias (Honda) +0.399: 6. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +0.419: 7. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) +0.432: 8. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.604: 9. Sete Gibernau (Ducati) +0.656: 10. Makoto Tamada (Honda) +0.799: 12. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.099:
Hopkins (1’54.227, 41 laps) worked hard with his team to get the best out of his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R and Bridgestone tyres, and was pleased with the overall improvements made to the bike since the last race. He is sure that he can develop on today’s strong start during tomorrow’s practice and qualifying.
Chris Vermeulen (1’54.722, 36 laps) also made a good opening to the weekend and was equally satisfied with his progress today. The rookie Australian was well inside the top 10 during the afternoon session before finishing in 12th place overall.
Today’s practice was held in dry and sunny conditions with air temperatures reaching a high of 20°c and the track surface 27°c. The quickest time was set Nicky Hayden with World Champion Valentino Rossi down in 11th position.
Tomorrow will see Rizla Suzuki MotoGP take to the track for the final practice session and then compete in the all important qualifying session in the afternoon. Sunday’s 22-lap race will begin at 15.00hrs local time (14.00hrs CET).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>John Hopkins:
“It’s been the best start to a race weekend that we have had this year. We got a lot done on race tyres today to get the right selection for Sunday. Suzuki has made some changes to the bike to improve durability and that has also been very noticeable. We are putting a lot of laps in to test out the new parts and the tyres and the crew has worked really hard today to make sure everything went well. We will now see what the weather does tomorrow as rain has been forecast, but either way we will get the best out of both sessions that’s for sure.”
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>
Chris Vermeulen:
“We made a lot of progress today which was good. The guys worked really hard – especially in the second session – and we made a lot of changes to the set-up, all of which seemed to work well. I was happy with the way things went today, we tried a lot of different tyres and other changes to the bike which all seemed like they would work well over race distance. Unfortunately I lost a bit of time at the end of the second session, as I’m sure I would have been further up the timesheets – but that doesn’t really matter until tomorrow and more importantly Sunday.”
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>Paul Denning – Team Manager:
“We came here with the hope of having a solid first day and that is exactly what we have managed to do. Both riders have made a lot of progress and we have been trying to get the best out of the machine and the Bridgestone tyres. To take a small step in performance with the Rizla Suzuki GSV-R is maybe possible tomorrow but what will help us in the race is to improve our consistency and make the bike more rideable when grip reduces. We are chasing grip in partnership with Bridgestone and that is certainly one of our biggest tasks this weekend. Whilst we are always after more performance, the GSV-Rs are running strongly and both the guys are very enthusiastic about further improvements tomorrow.”
Grand Prix of Turkey Free Practice Classification:
1. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1’53.623: 2. Casey Stoner (Honda) +0.238: 3. Marco Melandri (Honda) +0.348: 4. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.378: 5. Toni Elias (Honda) +0.399: 6. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +0.419: 7. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) +0.432: 8. JOHN HOPKINS (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +0.604: 9. Sete Gibernau (Ducati) +0.656: 10. Makoto Tamada (Honda) +0.799: 12. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.099:
