Nicky Hayden arrives at the Grand Prix of China leading the overall standings.
The Repsol Honda Team is also leading the teams’ standings since the inaugural race in Jerez.
The Motorcycle World Championship will stage this weekend in China the fourth scoring round of the 2006 season. North American Repsol Honda Team rider Nicky Hayden will defend for the first time since his arrival in the World Championship four years ago, the leadership in the overall standings, with the firm aim of increasing his meagre advantage of a single point, in order to reaffirm his position in the top spot. The North American arrives in Shanghai after seven consecutive podium finishes since last year, although Hayden has not managed to clinch another victory since the Grand Prix of the United States. And this is his immediate goal, something he almost managed to do in Turkey but had to give up after an intense duel with the current World Champion, the Italian rider Valentino Rossi. On a circuit were the rain poured down last year during the races on Sunday, Nicky Hayden did not manage to finish better than ninth – fifth fastest in the practices -, and the victory went to Valentino Rossi. This season, after covering kilometres under rainy conditions during the winter tests, Hayden faces with much more determination all races that might be marked by rain, as for example this weekend.
And while Hayden is thinking about the leading position in the overall standings and in winning races in the premier class of the World Championship, his team mate and MotoGP class rookie Dani Pedrosa has other aims in mind right now, after protagonising an impressive recovery in the Turkish race, although a light crash ruined the great job the young Repsol rider had done so far. After starting from the 16th position of the starting grid, Pedrosa even managed to lead the race, but during the last lap, and while he was fighting for the victory, Dani ended up on the asphalt, finally crossing the finish line fourteenth; a poor result after the superb performance. Next Sunday, in Shanghai, Pedrosa will have the chance to make up for what has happened. Last year, in the 250cc class, Dani set the second fastest time in the practices but finished sixth after a race on the wet. The fastest during the 250cc practices and race was Casey Stoner.
In the 250cc and 125cc classes, two of the three Repsol riders will find themselves in the same situation as they already did in Turkey, facing the challenge, together with their teams, to find the ideal setting for a track they only know from the 2005 race videos. Both Shuhei Aoyama in the 250cc and Bradley Smith in the 125cc will have a difficult weekend ahead. The Japanese rider does also want to forget what happened in Turkey, where he made a mistake that ended-up with him and Jorge Lorenzo on the tarmac. And for Sebastián Porto, who has not been able to show all his potential so far, the Chinese Grand Prix should become a point of inflection to start being competitive again and enter the fight for the victory weekend after weekend. We’ll see in a few days on the Chinese circuit of Shanghai.
The venue of the GP:
Shanghai Circuit
The Chinese circuit, located outside Shanghai city, was built in 2004 and staged Formula 1 and MotoGP races. With a capacity for 200,000 spectators, the track of the Shanghai International Circuit is 5,451 metres in length with 7 left-hand side and 7 right-hand side corners making up a total of 14 turns. Its longest straight is 1,175 metres long, between turn 13 and 14, and it is precisely on this straight were the MotoGP bikes reach their highest speed. The Chinese track combines a large variety of fast and slow corners, although it is, in general, a rather fast track.
Rider´s comments:
Nicky Hayden :
‘The last race at Turkey was fun but it’s no secret that I want to be winning races. China was kinda interesting last year – I didn’t exactly put in my best performance in the rain so hopefully this year we’ll have a better situation. China’s an interesting place – it’s definitely not Kentucky! The surface at Shanghai is pretty good and the track’s got some sections that are really cool. The long right-hander heading onto the back straightaway is probably my favourite part and that straight goes on for days, even at 200mph. Then you hit the hardest braking zone on the circuit for the slow corner at the end of the back straight. It’s a pretty weak corner on a MotoGP bike – you just have to brake, brake, brake and brake a bit more. The facility is amazing – it’s ridiculous how much those cats have spent on the place. I’m sure the layout is great for Formula One car racing but for motorcycles it’s too much of a stop-and-go track. Still, the Honda’s going working pretty well and the team’s working really hard, so we’ll bring all we’ve got to the race.’
Dani Pedrosa:
‘Last year in China I didn’t enjoy it so much because I don’t really like the track. I was quick in the dry and was second on the grid, but the race was wet and it was not great result for me. This year with the Honda MotoGP bike it will be different, and I will once again be learning how to ride the track on this bike. Finding the braking points for the very slow corners will be very important. Shanghai is a circuit with good asphalt and I believe the design is based on a coat of arms of Shanghai, or something like that, and it has very strange corners. Apart from that it doesn’t have a great balance between straights, tight and large corners. There are some very long straights and a very tight corner. Nevertheless, it’s the same for everyone and I’m looking forward to the race and getting a good result this weekend’.
Sebastián Porto:
‘It rained last year in China, but nonetheless I made a good race. It’s a complicated circuit, just like the one in Turkey, so we hope to be able to continue with our working plan. The aim is to improve a lot more. There’s still a lot to improve with the bike and we hope to arrive there with better chances. The circuit is a bit slower than Turkey so I think that it will be better for the Hondas, because when there are long straights we always loose a lot compared to the Aprilias. We have to work to see if we can finally have a more competitive bike.’
Shuhei Aoyama:
‘I can’t stop thinking about what happened in Turkey. I know that I made a big mistake and I’m really sorry for what happened; especially for Lorenzo because I threw him off the bike with my crash. I’m really looking forward to the start of the Chinese Grand Prix in order to leave the Istanbul incident behind. As for the Chinese track, I have no references at all, just like two weeks ago, except for the video of last year’s races, which I have watched several times trying to learn the layout. This weekend will be very similar to the last two, with a completely unknown track, where my team and I will have to start from cero.’
Bradley Smith:
‘China looks very good. From what I hear it’s quite a nice track though it’s not as fun as the one in Turkey. The first corner looks interesting. I watched last year’s Grand Prix there, so I know more or less where the track goes. I’m looking forward to it; I just need to change some things, like going into qualifying much more persuaded, to ride around a second faster in the race and things like that. It cannot be done at China, though I cannot keep on saying that. I have to do it in China and make sure I got the right frame of mind to go there and do the business.’
