MotoGP – Valencia Day 2 – Tamada moves to tenth place

After celebrating his birthday last night, Makoto Tamada was unable to give himself a position that would satisfy him for the seventh Grand Prix of the Valencian Community. He will start from the fourth row of the grid with the tenth fastest time. During the hour of free practice in the morning, the Team concentrated on finding the best set-up of its RC211V, obtaining the seventh best time. In the afternoon, things didn't go as well, Makoto found some difficulty in finding the best balance of the bike which didn't allow him to make the best use of the soft tires supplied by Michelin. It will be very important for the Konica Minolta Honda Team to take advantage of tomorrow morning's warm up to refine the last details to complete the 30 laps of the race that will close the 2005 racing season.

Luca Montiron

“Qualifying that leaves us with a bit of a bad taste in our mouths, the pace of the race is satisfactory but starting from the fourth row of the grid won't make Makoto's task any easier, as the Valencian circuit doesn't allow really easy overtaking. In any case we must take advantage of tomorrow's warm up to take a further step forward. I don't deny that I would like to end the season in the top ten of MotoGP, but this factor will not determine our future. Tomorrow the Konica Minolta Honda Team and its rider Makoto Tamada will start with the usual goal, to attack to end the season in the best possible way.”

Makoto Tamada

“Today the bike seemed less agile. In some parts of the track the rear didn't allow me to open the throttle as I would have liked. Now, together with the technicians we will analyze the telemetry data to understand what changes to make to be competitive in the race. I want to finish this championship well and I plan to give myself a nice present for my twenty-ninth birthday."

Konica Minolta Honda