MotoGP. Nicky Hayden:
“I´m looking forward to Mugello. It´s a really nice track and I like the layout a lot. I never really got up to speed there last year and to be honest had a bit of an off weekend. I want to start this coming important race weekend where we left off from the test at Le Mans after what was really a pretty disappointing race. We definitely found some speed in the test and I was lapping a whole lot quicker than I did in the race. The team is working real hard and I so want to get a result for them and all my fans that have been so supportive. I´m under no illusions; it´s going to be hard. I´m racing in the best series in the world with the best riders in the world. I´ve just gotta´ keep chipping away and learning.”
MotoGP. Alex Barros:
I´m confident that the important work we did after the last race at Le Mans will be of big benefit for next race. We struggled in France to find a good balance for the machine. I was not confident with the front end and was having real problems in the turns and at some points with the braking also in turning. We worked a lot to find a solution on the day after the race and I was happy with the results where we were able to lap consistently quicker than over the whole race weekend. This work will be important for the set-up for Mugello, which is such a fast and flowing track. We need a good result this weekend to keep in the long race for the championship.
MotoGP. Rubén Xaus:
“We still had problems in France but I managed to finish the race and gather experience. We´ve had some days of rest since the last Grand Prix, but I really haven´t stopped for a moment using the time to keep on practising with endurance and supermotard. Now we´re in Mugello, a circuit I know very well despite not having raced here since 1996, when I took part in the Italian Supersport Championship. But it´s a track we used very often to test with the Superbike Ducati and I´ve lapped here several times. It´s a very nice track but also very demanding. When you ride a Ducati you have additional feelings because you´re in Italy. The Italian riders will be very strong here, but I hope to make a good race for the fans who make me feel really good.
250. Sebastián Porto:
I just came back from Buenos Aires and I´m already looking forward to the next race of the championship. I´ve been working-out these days but also having some rest because we have two races in a row ahead which are going to define the development of the championship. We had a test in Mugello during the preseason where I managed to be very fast and we found a setting that allowed me to set fast times easily. With regard to this second third of the season, I hope to be able to make up points and close the gap to the leading group to be able to fight for the victory. Last season I rode a different bike and I remember that Mugello was one of the most difficult races of the year. Things didn´t work out and I finished eighth.”
250. Fonsi Nieto:
I´ve fortunately recovered from the mishap during the warm-up in France, where I hurt my foot. Now I´m fit again and hope to be able to give a hundred percent in Italy this weekend. Last year I finished second here. I remember that Poggiali escaped and that I crossed the line ahead of Battaini. Although I was hoping for better results in the beginning of the season I´m third now in the overall standings and that gives me hope and motivates me to work race after race. We shouldn´t forget that it´s a long Championship and that regularity is the most important. That´s the way I´ve made up my mind for Mugello. I´m sure that we´ll have better results as soon as luck is on our side.
125. Pablo Nieto:
We made the first serious preseason test this year on this track. I injured my hand in January and I wasn´t able to really start the preseason until April in Mugello, because the conditions weren´t good at the few private tests we were able to make, so we couldn´t work comfortably. I managed to lap in 1´59 during the Mugello tests, a very good time considering that this is a very wide track where slipstreams are very important to set good times. I had a very good performance here last year, because I got a place on the front row after the qualifying and finished third in the race, behind Cecchinello and Pedrosa. Races in Italy are usually grouped and very contended races. I hope to get a good result for my team.
125. Sergio Gadea:
After three races in the Championship I´m beginning to understand much better how things work here. You cannot relax not even outside the track. We were testing in Mugello with the team just before the first race in South Africa. I was able to see for myself how complicated this wide track is, with its long straights. It´s one of the most complicated tracks I´ve seen up to now, because there are several corners you take with the throttle completely open. It also combines fast changes of direction where you have to move the bike to be able to enter the next corner correctly. In general it´s a track that adapts quite good to my riding style. I hope to be able to score in this race and keep on qualifying as one of the best rookies of the year.
The venue of the GP:
Mugello circuit
Located in a spectacular valley in the countryside of Tuscany, 30km north-east of Florence, Mugello is one of the most fascinating, safe and modern tracks of the world. Although the first race was held on the circuit back in 1914, the Mugello circuit as it is known today, was born in 1974. Thoroughly renovated by Ferrari in 1991, the circuit has become a permanent venue in the world championship calendar. Along its history, Mugello has gone through several changes until reaching its actual length of 5245 m, one of the longest circuits of the championship. The layout is divided almost equally between straights and corners (9 right-hand and 6 left-hand corners). Its main straight with 1141 m in length is one of the longest of the championship. The track skilfully combines slow and fast corners, ups and downs, opening its way through forests and green areas, with several heights allowing the spectators to take fully part in the races. Well-known because of the variety of difficulties posed by the track, its safety and the beautiful surroundings, Mugello is a unanimously appreciated circuit but at the same time one of the most challenging circuits for riders and engineers.
Official Web: http://www.mugellocircuit.it
Alex Barros comments:
“It´s a very technical circuit, I like it, you feel the fans here as well. It doesn´t have as many tyre wearing problems but you needs a very precise set-up to be fast. Not only the rider needs to be fast, the whole set has to work. It´s the track with the longest straight, and that is why the highest top speeds of the championship are set there.”
Italy 2003 results
MotoGP
Pole position: Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda) 1.35.208 a 158.053 Km/h.
Winner: Sete Gibernau (Honda) 24.29.665 a 133.107 Km/h.
Second: Valentino Rossi (Repsol Honda) + 0.165.
Third: Alex Barros (Yamaha) + 1.793.
Fastest lap: Sete Gibernau (Honda) 1.50.358 a 136.356.
250
Pole position: Manuel Poggiali (Aprilia) 1.39.229 a 151.649 Km/h.
Winner: Toni Elias (Aprilia) 43.55.538 a 148.450 Km/h..
Second: Randy de Puniet (Aprilia) + 3.740
Third: Roberto Rolfo (Honda) + 4.562
Fastest lap: Randy de Puniet (Aprilia) 1.40.356 a 149.946 Km/h.
125
Pole position: Andrea Dovizioso (Aprilia) 1.43.565 a 145.300 Km/h.
Winner: Daniel Pedrosa (Honda) 41.58.500 a 143.399 Km/h.
Second: Lucio Cechinello (Aprilia) + 2.337
Third: Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) + 2.427
Fastest lap: Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1.43.837 a 144.919 Km/h.
