The Tech 3 Yamaha Team led by Spaniard Carlos Checa put in another typically determined effort during the Malaysian Grand Prix held in sweltering conditions at the Sepang circuit in an absolutely enthralling race won in style by fellow Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi. Checa managed to finish in 12th position in front of factory rider Makoto Tamada while team mate James Ellison had another difficult weekend to finish just out of the points in 16th spot.
In a positive for the team to take to the next round at Phillip Island next weekend is that the lap times of Carlos were very similar to Colin Edwards who is also on a Yamaha rider and finished just two places behind him.
Carlos Checa (12th Fastest lap 2'03.466)I'm quite satisfied with the job I did today. I feel that we raced on the limit of what we have as the bike seemed a little down on power today but the tyre performance was quite constant so considering this I feel I did my best. We made no mistakes and we found some more good information for Dunlop to work with so working like this we have found something better for the remaining races
James Ellison (16th Fastest lap 2'04.692)I'm very disappointed to be honest. We've been working really hard all weekend to cure this handling problem as no matter what we do we cant get enough weight on the rear of the bike to make it steer into the corner but that has been going on all year. The frustrating thing is that no matter what we try with the setup we can't get the bike to handle properly. I have to thank my team because they have been working very hard all year attempting to get the most out of the bike.
Herve Poncheral - Tech 3 Yamaha Team DirectorIt was another interesting weekend and as I have said many times this year this is a learning year so we have to expect that we won't have perfect weekends. Today we were 30 seconds to the front and we were very consistent with the Dunlop tyres. We lack a bit of performance and stability but we are now having a lot of durability so things are improving. I'm reasonably happy and we are definitely making progress every race. Stability used to be the worst problem but this has improved a lot so now we have to find half a second for the first ten laps so then we will for sure be a lot closer with many riders in front of us.
Circuit Length: 5548
Temp: 33
Weather: Dry
Race 1 - 21 Laps: 1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 43'7.829
2 Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 0'0.849
3 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 0'3.863
4 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 0'5.780
5 Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 0'9.301
6 John Hopkins Suzuki USA 0'11.081
7 Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 0'11.838
8 Casey Stoner Honda AUS 0'12.267
9 Marco Melandri Honda ITA 0'15.019
10 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 0'19.909
11 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 0'23.371
12 Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 0'30.884
13 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki FRA 0'36.335
14 Makato Tamada Honda JPN 0'48.777
15 Alex Hofmann Ducati GER 0'59.081
16 James Ellison Yamaha GBR 1'5.787
Best Lap: Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 2'2.127
Rider Standings 10/09/2006: 1. Nicky Hayden Honda USA 214
2. Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 192
3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 188
4. Loris Capirossi Ducati ITA 171
5. Marco Melandri Honda ITA 168
6. Casey Stoner Honda AUS 109
7. Kenny Roberts Team Robert KR USA 101
8. Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 96
9. John Hopkins Suzuki USA 93
10. Shinya Nakano Kawasaki JPN 75
11. Sete Gibernau Ducati ESP 69
12. Makato Tamada Honda JPN 69
13. Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 66
14. Toni Elias Honda ESP 64
15. Carlos Checa Yamaha ESP 58
18. James Ellison Yamaha GBR 20
Team Standings 10/09/2006: 1. Repsol Honda Team 406
2. Camel Yamaha Team 284
3. Ducati Marlboro Team 247
4. Fortuna Honda Team 232
5. Rizla Suzuki 159
6. Honda LCR 109
7. Team Roberts KR 101
8. Kawasaki Racing Team 101
9. Tech3 Yamaha 78
10. Konica Minolta Honda 69
11. Pramac D'Antin 23
Manufacturer Standings 10/09/2006: 1. Honda 278
2. Yamaha 226
3. Ducati 180
4. Suzuki 111
5. Team Robert KR 101
6. Kawasaki 86
Related Linkswww.yamaha-racing.com
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