The Konica Minolta Honda Team is looking forward to this weekend’s British Grand Prix at the Donington Park circuit in Derbyshire. Not only is the venue the first chance British fans will get to see the new 800cc grand prix machines ridden in anger, it is also home to MotoGP’s favourite charity – Riders For Health. On Thursday the Day of Champions is held at the 2.5mile circuit, giving fans a chance to bid for and win some unique motorcycle racing memorabilia. Konica Minolta Honda’s Shinya Nakano will be entering into the spirit of the event by attending the autograph sessions and auctioning off a set of his leathers for the charity. For the race weekend the Team is hoping that improvements found during the test at the Catalunya circuit the day after the race will result in improved performance. Less than a week after the British GP the Team will be in the Netherlands for the Dutch TT, which will be the last of four races in just one month.
Gianluca Montiron – Team Manager Konica Minolta Honda
“During the test in Catalunya we found some improvements and I hope that at Donington Park we will see improved performance as a result. At both Donington and Assen I think we will find very similar, cooler weather conditions so it’s important to understand how our technical package and rider will handle these conditions. I think following the Catalunya test Shinya has more confidence in the balance of the machine, so now he and the Team need to find the best setting as quickly as possible so we’re fast from the first practice session and this is our main target. We know what the main problem with our technical package is, but we’re confident we are working in the right direction to improve things. To make some big technical changes hasn’t been possible recently as we’ve had a busy month, having four races scheduled for June, but we have had improvements from our tyre partner, Michelin which is helping considerably.”
Shinya Nakano – Rider, Konica Minolta Honda“I enjoy riding at Donington Park as it has some very demanding curves. I’ve scored a third place there before in my days riding the 250cc machine and a sixth on the two-stroke 500cc bike a year later in 2001 so I know I can go well there. I’m hoping that we can build on the good day’s testing from Catalunya last week and move forward again with the new 800cc RC212V. I am also looking forward to the Day of Champions at Donington Park this Thursday. We’ve already done some work this year with the Riders For Health and I’m looking forward to this big day when we can hopefully make even more for this very worthwhile charity.”
Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, Konica Minolta Honda“We think that this track could be one of the best for our machine, as it’s not really a high-speed circuit. We’re very optimistic about the event as at the Catalunya test we found some new 2007 front fork settings and as a result Shinya is feeling much more comfortable with the machine. I think for this reason we can expect to have a better result, than we have so far this season. Also, at Donington you have lots of fast corners, so if the rider has a good feeling with the front of the machine you can get a good lap time. So for this reason we should make a real improvement. The lower track temperatures we will probably experience at Donington will be another challenge for us, but the improvements we’ve seen from our tyre partner Michelin should mean that we will be in pretty good shape for the event.”
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