After a good qualifying yesterday, Yuki Takahashi has confirmed his good performance and will start from the second-row for the Grand Prix of Japan. And the JiR Team Scot rider could have been further up the field, had it not been for slower riders baulking him during his fast laps. Despite this, Yuki is looking for a good home race, which should see him battle for the top positions at the controls of his Honda 250, which celebrates his ‘home’ race with a fully customised fairing.
Gianni Berti – Technical Coordinator – JiR Team Scot:
"My compliments to the team, which has done an excellent job. It was only because of traffic in the final fast laps, which stopped Yuki getting a better result in qualifying. We are happy and tomorrow we can be competitive. Yuki has many fans here and we would all be pleased for him to continue his run of success that he’s had in recent races.”
Yuki Takahashi – Rider – JiR Team Scot 250GP (HONDA RS250RW 8th Time: 1'52 "197):
"This morning I was not satisfied with things, and we have also tried to use the second bike, but without significant progress. In the afternoon we have worked on the setting of suspension and the electronic management system, we returned to use the first bike and progressed significantly. I must thank my mechanics, who have done a great job allowing us to be the second row. I believed that I could qualify in the top four positions, but in the last laps when I was pushing hardest, I found some riders ahead who got in the way. For tomorrow I am ready to make a good race and try to start fast and get close to Simoncelli, who I think have some performance margin over the others, but also I think there could be a group of five or six riders who could fight for the podium."
Yutaka Hirano – Head Technician – JiR Team Scot:
"We did a good job today, and tomorrow we feel that Yuki should be in a position to claim a good result. We have worked intensively on the setting of the suspension and chassis. We are also ready with the fuel mixture and the choice of tyres even if it rains here tomorrow.”
