Preview Qatar – Max Biaggi: 'I like the idea of ​​this race'

The Camel Honda team and the entire world championship circus will experience a historic event next Saturday, the first motorcycling Grand Prix in the Middle East. We will race on an absolutely new track, inaugurated just two months ago, of which only the layout of the track is known. It is known that it has a very long straight (1.068 metres), sixteen corners of which 10 on the right and 6 on the left and that, with its 5.380 metres, it ranks among the longest tracks on the calendar (fourth after Assen, Sepang and Brno in the order). A great challenge therefore for technicians and drivers in addition to the scorching heat and the unknown grip conditions of the asphalt. However, the two riders of the Camel Honda team are calm given that Max Biaggi has always loved racing in the heat and can boast positive records when he finds himself making his debut on new tracks (see Welkom 1999 for example), while Makoto Tamada believes he has an advantage the fact that everyone is facing a new situation.

Pons site – Camel Honda (Team Principal)
“We come from a victorious Grand Prix for our team, with Makoto, but also unfortunate for Max's blameless exit from the track due to an accident at the first corner during the Motegi GP. We will try to obtain a good result with both our drivers in Qatar, a new track for everyone and therefore particularly challenging. It will probably be very hot, which will put pressure on the tyres, and we will need to quickly find the set-up for the bike. For this reason, good understanding between technicians, engineers, drivers and tire managers will be even more important than usual. Ours is a group that has been able to prove itself successful on several occasions so I hope for an excellent result in Qatar too."

Max Biaggi #3: (Michelin tyres)
“I like the idea of ​​this race, because it reminds me a bit of the beginning of my career, when everything was new and I had to discover and learn the tracks in two days of testing. Furthermore, I feel comfortable running in extreme situations regarding the climate, where the heat has never bothered me, on the contrary. I therefore hope to have a good race, also because it is exactly what I need after the disappointments of Estoril and Motegi. This year I had focused on regularity but two zeros in the standings are actually very heavy for the championship. What I regret the most is that on both occasions my team and I, together with the Honda technicians, had managed to do an exceptional job during testing and the bike was working really well. This is why now I would at least like to have the satisfaction of achieving good results race by race."

Camel Honda