Valentino Rossi made a solid start to his Japanese Grand Prix weekend by riding his Fiat Yamaha M1 to third place on the opening day of action at Motegi. This weekend offers the Italian his first chance to wrap up the 2008 World Championship, which he can do by finishing third or higher on Sunday, even if Casey Stoner should win the race.
Rain greeted the paddock on arrival this morning and first practice was run on a wet track, although Rossi was fast from the off and finished the session in second place. The weather dried up this afternoon, despite remaining overcast, and the track was dry for the second session. The different conditions gave rise to a few issues for the Italian however and he lacked some front grip through the longer, slower corners, but he was still consistently fast and finished third behind Stoner and Dani Pedrosa
Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who has never won at this track, was quick this morning in the wet but suffered some problems on the drier track this afternoon, finishing in 15th.
Valentino Rossi (Position: 3rd Time: 1'48.510 Laps: 46):
“This morning it was quite wet and we were very fast from the start. We found a good setting and the Bridgestone wet tyre worked very well for me. This afternoon in the dry however we had a few more problems and Stoner and Pedrosa were both faster than me. At the moment we’re missing a bit of front grip. This track is always quite hard and it doesn’t suit our M1 perfectly; at the moment we have some issues in the slow corners and we’re suffering a bit. Anyway, we were still third so it’s not a big problem and I am sure we will be able to improve tomorrow. I hope the weather is better for the rest of the weekend!”
Davide Brivio (Team Manager):
“Today we’ve had a chance to test in both the wet and dry and this morning, in the wet, was very good and we were quite fast. This afternoon was not as good and it’s clear that we still have some work to do, but anyway we are still third, which isn’t so bad. The weather made things quite hard today but tomorrow, it seems, it will be dry all day and therefore we should be able to make the most of the time we have to maximise our setting for this track.”
Combined practice times:
1.
| Casey Stoner (AUS)
| Ducati Marlboro
| 1'48.121 |
| 2. | Dani Pedrosa (SPA) | Repsol Honda | 1'48.194 |
| 3. | Valentino Rossi (ITA) | Fiat Yamaha Team | 1'48.510 |
| 4. | Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) | JiR Team Scot MotoGP | 1'48.770 |
| 5. | Loris Capirossi (ITA) | Rizla Suzuki MotoGP | 1'48.779 |
| 6. | Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) | Alice Team | 1'48.794 |
| 7. | Nicky Hayden (USA) | Repsol Honda | 1'48.800 |
| 8. | Marco Melandri (ITA) | Ducati Marlboro | 1'48.945 |
| 9. | Toni Elias (SPA) | Alice Team | 1'48.974 |
| 10. | Randy De Puniet (FRA) | LCR Honda MotoGP | 1'49.149 |
| 11. | Shinya Nakano (JPN) | San Carlo Honda Gresini | 1'49.190 |
| 12. | John Hopkins (USA) | Kawasaki Racing | 1'49.197 |
| 13. | Colin Edwards (USA) | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1'49.424
|
| 14. | James Toseland (GBR) | Tech 3 Yamaha | 1'49.424 |
| 15. | Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) | Fiat Yamaha Team | 1'49.505 |
| 16. | Chris Vermeulen (AUS) | Rizla Suzuki
| 1'49.664 |
| 17. | Anthony West (AUS) | Kawasaki Racing | 1'50.131 |
| 18. | Alex De Angelis (RSM) | San Carlo Honda Gresini | 1'50.158 |
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