For Yuki Takahashi and the JiR Team Scot squad, the British Grand Prix has not fulfilled the potential shown by the team during the weekend. During practice the Japanese rider had consistently kept himself in the top positions and started from fifth position on the grid. During the morning warm-up the team had not made substantial changes to the set-up of the Honda RS250RW as Yuki Takahashi was confident to be battling for a podium position. At the start of the race, the JiR Team Scot rider was near the front of the pack, close behind early leader Marco Simoncelli, who immediately attempted to pull away. As the race went on, Yuki was unable to repeat the form he showed during both practice days and slowly lost touch with the leaders. Despite this, he hung on to collect important points for the World Championship standings.
Gianni Berti - Technical Coordinator, JiR Team Scot "The result today does not reward the team and the rider for the efforts and good work done during the practice and qualifying sessions. The bike had been developed well over the weekend and we were expecting an exciting race.
From the start of the race Yuki showed his pace and intentions, sticking with the leaders, just as he had all weekend. However, due to the temperature and other conditions, he just could not replicate the speed and form he showed over the rest of the weekend."
Yuki Takahashi - Pilot JiR Team Scot 250GP 9th position, 10th best lap time: 1'34 "085 "Today I was ready to make a good race because during practice we had set-up the bike very well. When we got onto the grid for the race I could feel the rear wheel sliding, so we replaced the rear tyre. I made a good start and I felt I could be fast as I was just behind the leader Simoncelli. He was fast too, and tried to pull away. I decided not to attack him immediately, but to follow to try to leave the following group behind. Unfortunately, after a few laps the performance of the bike dropped off a little, but not through any mechanical problem. During the race the tyres and suspension worked well and I regret not having been able to fight for the podium that we all wanted to achieve.”
Yutaka Hirano - Chief Technician JiR Team Scot "The work of Team was perfect and Yuki was ready for a good race. During the race the weather conditions changed and this influenced the carburation on the RS250RW’s two-stroke engine, which is very sensitive to such changes. After half the race had gone, Yuki saw that the opposition behind him were quite a way back and he sensibly did not want to make any mistakes, but instead he wanted to collect more points that are very valuable to us in the World Championship standings.”
