Press Release
(2005 FIM Road Racing World Championship)
YRC News
MotoGP : Yamaha duo make significant progress at Sachsenring

Round: 10 - German MotoGP
Circuit: Sachsenring
Date: 30 July 2005
Temp: 24ēC
Weather: Dry 

Gauloises Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards recovered from a
difficult first day at the Sachsenring to improve their positions today,
qualifying on the second and third row respectively for tomorrow's German Grand
Prix. Rossi in particular made impressive progress after struggling to the
thirteenth fastest time yesterday, mounting a strong challenge this afternoon in
an entertaining battle for pole position that was eventually won by Nicky
Hayden (Honda).

Whilst Sete Gibernau and Alex Barros (both Honda) join Hayden on the front row,
Rossi ended the session only 0.188 seconds off the day's best time and the
Italian was satisfied both with the steps taken with the set-up of his YZR-M1
machine and with a fourth-place start on the grid. Edwards also made encouraging
progress, although he was unable to find the perfect compromise setting for the
track, which places drastically diverse demands on the machine throughout the
contrasting fast and slow sections. The American eventually qualified seventh
fastest and will head the third row of the grid tomorrow.

Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Yamaha Team), 4th - 1'22.973

"I'm much happier today - the team have done a great job to get the bike working
well here because it is such a peculiar circuit. Yesterday we lost our direction
a little bit but today we made a lot of progress. In the morning we were able to
sort out the problems we had on the front end and in the afternoon we made a big
step forward on the rear, even with the race tyre. I made a mistake in the final
corner on my fast lap that probably cost me a tenth but I am still only 0.188
seconds from the pole. Considering where we were yesterday, I am happy with
that. Tomorrow will be a very hard race because there are four or five riders
who have the pace to run at the front, but we've done a good job today and I
think we can be there with them."

Colin Edwards (Gauloises Yamaha Team), 7th - 1'23.139

"We made some progress today but it is still a struggle! This morning I put on a
qualifier in the free practice just to test it out and only then was I able to
set a fast lap. I'm losing three tenths of a second in the third section, which
we just can't seem to work out. Three tenths is a lot over a whole lap,
especially here, but to lose it in one split is hard to swallow. To be honest
though, things were so bad yesterday that if you'd have told me I'd be seventh
fastest today and starting from the front of the third row, I wouldn't have been
too upset. We know exactly where the problem is and the team are doing
everything they can to fix it. We've just got to work extremely hard in the
warm-up tomorrow to try to come up with a solution."

Fortuna Yamaha Team riders Toni Elias and Ruben Xaus have both struggled to find
a comfortable set-up so far this weekend, qualifying 17th and 18th respectively.
Xaus will hope to improve on the 11th place he achieved at the same circuit last
year. The Spanish rider had bad luck today as he had to interrupt his
qualification to get treatment on an injury to his left leg that clearly
affected his rhythm when he put on his qualifying tyres at the end of the
session. Elias was still troubled by the injury to his left hand sustained at Le
Mans in May and will have injections before the race to try and ease the pain.

Toni Elias (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 17th - 1'24.421

"I am not happy either with my times or my position. However, you have to try
and take the positives from our work over the weekend. It's obvious, though,
that in the last session we improved from yesterday. It's clear we are not in
great shape for the race, but we are getting better which is comforting. We have
]to keep working, it will be a hard and long race. If it rains it could help us.
It's obvious at the moment that I can't push too hard physically and risk
injuring myself again and spending weeks out. I have to keep working hard on my
fitness and remain sensible so we can stick to our plan."

Ruben Xaus (Fortuna Yamaha Team), 18th - 1'24.605

"It was a difficult day due to the pain I had in my leg. We know what we have to
do tomorrow and we always seem to perform better in the races. That is what we
must try as our aim is to score in every race. When we put the qualifying tyre
on things got much better and that will give us crucial information for
tomorrow. It's going to be a hard day for everyone especially if it ends up
raining."

Round: 10 - German MotoGP

Circuit: Sachsenring
Circuit Length: 3671m
Lap Record: 1' 24.056 (Alex Barros, 2004)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 22.756 (Max Biaggi, 2004)
Date: 30 July 2005
Temp: 24ēC

Session 1 :

Pos.Rider         Manufacturer  Nat.  1st Qualifying
 1  N. Hayden     Honda         USA   1'22.785
 2  S. Gibernau   Honda         ESP   1'22.889
 3  A. Barros     Honda         BRA   1'22.932
 4  V. Rossi      Yamaha        ITA   1'22.973
 5  M. Melandri   Honda         ITA   1'23.051
 6  M. Biaggi     Honda         ITA   1'23.054
 7  C. Edwards    Yamaha        USA   1'23.139
 8  L. Capirossi  Ducati        ITA   1'23.174
 9  K. Roberts    Suzuki        USA   1'23.212
10  J. Hopkins    Suzuki        USA   1'23.296
11  C. Checa      Ducati        ESP   1'23.341
12  S. Nakano     Kawasaki      JPN   1'23.382
13  A. Hofman     Kawasaki      GER   1'23.405
14  O. Jacque     Kawasaki      FRA   1'23.715
15  M. Tamada     Honda         JPN   1'23.860
16  T. Bayliss    Honda         AUS   1'23.916
17  T. Elias      Yamaha        ESP   1'24.421
18  R. Xaus       Yamaha        ESP   1'24.605
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