PERFECT RIDE IN CHINA SEES ROSSI RETURN TO TOP OF THE PODIUM

Fiat Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi took an impressive victory in Shanghai today, his second at the circuit having won the inaugural Chinese Grand Prix with Yamaha in 2005. It was Rossi's 89th career victory but his first in seven races, since Estoril last year, as well as his first on Bridgestone tyres.

Rossi had looked strong from Friday morning and he was clearly in good shape for the race, but after two days of high temperatures and sunshine, heavy rain throughout the morning threatened to turn the established order on its head. The rain ceased in the late morning however and the track began to dry out with the aid of a warm wind, meaning the race was finally declared dry. Starting from second on the grid behind Colin Edwards, Rossi crossed the line first time in fourth but had made it back to second by the end of the third lap, passing Casey Stoner and pole-sitter Colin Edwards in the process. His next target was Dani Pedrosa and he made his move on the Spaniard at the end of the back straight to take the lead. From then on the Italian led to the chequered flag but it was nail-bitingly close for the majority of the remaining 17 laps, with less than half a second between them and the pair the only two lapping consistently in the 1'59s. On lap 19 Pedrosa began to tail off and Rossi eventually took victory by 3.890 seconds, with Casey Stoner over 15 seconds back in third.

"Thank you to my team and everyone at Yamaha, it's great to be here again." -- Rossi

The other side of the garage had an almost equally happy day as Jorge Lorenzo shook off the pain from his fractured ankle to take a brave fourth place, something that was unimaginable after his crash on Friday morning. Rossi is the fourth different rider to win in four races this season and the championship is wide open, with Lorenzo seven points off Pedrosa in second and Rossi just two points behind him in third.

Position: 1 Time: 44'08.061

"After seven races it is a great feeling to win again; I am very happy! This is a very important result for us because above all I was able to ride exactly how I wanted from start to finish and this was great fun for me. I had a great battle with Pedrosa and he pushed me hard and to be doing 1'59s until the end was unbelievable! All weekend we were hoping the rain wouldn't come so when we saw it this morning we were quite disappointed, then it started to dry out so we were praying that it would dry completely; we were lucky today! We worked very well with Bridgestone and together with their technicians we made a late tyre change and it was the right choice because my tyre worked very well until the end, as my times showed! It's the first win for us with Bridgestone so this is a great moment also for this reason and I want to say thank you to them. We were fast from Friday morning here and step by step we've found the perfect set-up and today the hard work paid off for everyone. We've had four races and four different winners so this shows how close the championship is, now we need to keep going because our rivals are all very near. Lorenzo did a great race today with his injuries, so this is a good day for everyone in the team. Thank you to my team and everyone at Yamaha, it's great to be here again."

Team Manager

"We needed this! It's a fantastic feeling for everyone to win again and Valentino did a perfect job today. There are many good things about this particular win; it's the first with Bridgestone, the first for a long time and also it's put us right back in touch for the championship after a poor start in Qatar. It's important that we continue like this but everyone has a great motivation and confidence is running high in our garage. Congratulations to Jorge for a great result in his condition, it's just the fourth race but our team is in good shape!"

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Pramac Grand Prix of China - Shanghai - May 4th, 2008

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DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM BOUNCE BACK TO FORM IN CHINA

The Grand Prix of China saw both Ducati Marlboro Team riders return to the top five as Casey Stoner clinched third place and Marco Melandri produced his best performance of the season with a battle to fifth.

Stoner had hoped to be more involved in the battle for victory but a dramatic change in the track conditions led to a different tyre choice than in practice, which limited the Australian's performance. However, the podium is still a positive finish to the weekend for the World Champion, who remains fourth in the championship.

Marco Melandri worked hard all weekend to improve his feeling with the bike and his efforts bore fruit today with an exciting charge through the pack that led him to a merited fifth place, providing a timely confidence boost ahead of the return to Europe.

"We're also delighted with Marco, who has made an incredible step forward. I always said that we hadn't lost faith in him and I'm sure his season will start here." --Livio Suppo, Ducati

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 3rd

"I'm disappointed to be honest because I know we could have done better today. The bike has worked really well in practice and we thought we had the ideal set-up for today but we changed a couple of things and for one reason or another the package just wasn't as good as before. I made a good start and I was happy with that but even in the first corner I couldn't get the bike turned, Colin Edwards came past me, and that was the story of the race. As the race wore on my lap times improved but it was too little too late and in any case it wouldn't have been enough for me to stick with the lead guys. I'm disappointed this has happened today - not so really for third place which is a good result but for the big gap from the lead. I know we can do much better so we will put this behind us, wipe the slate clean and try to do better next time out."?

MARCO MELANDRI - (Ducati Marlboro Team) 5th

"This was an important day - I think I did the best race possible and in general fifth place isn't bad. The team have done a great job, we've found a much better balance with the bike and the changes Ducati have made to the traction control allow me to have a much better feel for the engine. Things had started to look up yesterday and today we confirmed it. I got a good start, put my rhythm together and was able to get into some decent times. It was good fun and now I finally feel like I can ride my Ducati. Filippo (Preziosi) has always worked so hard to help me and now I hope we can continue in this direction. Spirits are high now and I can't wait for the next race."

LIVIO SUPPO Ducati MotoGP Project leader

"This was a great team performance, with both our riders in the top five and three Ducatis in the top eight. This is very satisfying after two difficult races. Unfortunately Casey wasn't able to go as well as he did in practice, mainly because of the change in temperature that led us to make a gamble with tyre choice, so even if a podium is a decent result, it is less than we'd hoped for, mostly because of the gap from the lead. We have to keep working to repeat the level of performance we showed here in practice and with more hard work from our mechanics and the brilliant relationship we have with Bridgestone we will achieve that. We're also delighted with Marco, who has made an incredible step forward. I always said that we hadn't lost faith in him and I'm sure his season will start here."

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HONDA RACING INFORMATION

Grand Prix of China at Shanghai

Sunday May 4, 2008

MotoGP, 250GP and 125GP race report

Weather: damp, breezy
Temperature: 20-degree ambient, 20-degree track
Humidity: 95%
Crowd: 20,000

PEDROSA PUTS IN DETERMINED RIDE TO TAKE SECOND

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V) rode a coolly calculating race at rapid pace to settle for second place behind winner Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) and ahead of third-placed Casey Stoner (Ducati). Dani has now finished on the podium at the last five Grands Prix.

Rain fell before the earlier 125 and 250cc races but the track was largely dry when the grid formed for the premier class encounter. Some runners thought about riding with intermediates but then settled on slicks for this 22-lap Grand Prix.

Stoner fired his machine off the line to head the pack into turn one with poleman Colin Edwards (Yamaha) on his tail and then Rossi holding an early third spot as the field poured out of one of the tightest turns in Grand Prix racing without incident. Dani lay fourth at this early stage.

It first looked as though Edwards might have a significant advantage as the Texan rider opened up a half second lead on Stoner and Rossi as a fast-starting Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC212V) worked on getting past Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) for fifth place.

But it was Dani who took control at the head of the field on lap two when he scythed past Rossi for third, before dispatching Stoner in second and then on the same lap taking Edwards for the lead. Rossi saw the danger of Dani making a big break and the Italian immediately upped his pace to chase the rapidly disappearing Dani.

By lap three Pedrosa held a 1.1 second advantage as Rossi dived past Edwards to make chase. Andrea Dovizioso (JiR Scot Honda RC212V) too was on the move, the rookie star snatching fifth as Dani put in an early fastest lap of 2m 00.585s to hold a 0.2 second advantage over Rossi.

But Rossi made his move on Dani on lap five and by the end of that lap he had extended a 0.35 second lead over the Honda man. Edwards meanwhile had run wide at turn one and dropped from third to seventh.

No one could stay with Rossi and Pedrosa and the duo were two seconds ahead of the pursuing Stoner by lap eight. Nicky was fourth at this stage ahead of a revitalized Marco Melandri (Ducati) in fifth.

Dani put in another fastest lap on lap ten as he tried to stay with Rossi. Stoner by now was almost out of sight, a full seven seconds shy of the leaders, such was the dominance of the leading pair. As Rossi upped the pace still further he managed to put 0.6 seconds between him and Dani.

The big fight was for fourth place between Melandri, Dovi, Edwards and Lorenzo. This was acted out while Rossi's lead over Dani varied between half a second at best and quarter of a second when Dani worked his RC 212V out the turns to claw back some ground.

As the race entered the closing laps Rossi fired in a 1m 59.273s fastest lap to make Dani realize his pursuit might be in vain. Sure enough by lap 20 of this 22-lap affair, the Italian former World Champion was enjoying a comparatively comfortable one second cushion over Pedrosa.

At the flag the clock showed 3.7 seconds, Dani having decided that a safe second place at this early stage of an 18-race season was of far higher value than the risk of throwing away vital points in a vain attempt to pass the leader in only the fourth race.

There have now been four different winners of these four races and with Lorenzo finishing fourth, the title race now shows Dani leading the pack on 81 points, Lorenzo second with 74, Rossi on 72 and Stoner fourth on 56. Nicky lies eighth with 29 after a sixth place finish today.

Dani said: "I'm very happy with today's result. We had been expecting a wet race, so to get second today is fantastic and it's 20 good points for the Championship. I started a bit cautious during the early laps because I didn't know what the track conditions were like, but then Valentino and I began to set an extremely fast pace. Lap by lap our rhythm got faster. I had the advantage through the middle section of the track, he had the advantage through the first and last sections. My Michelin tyres were working really well and we were riding at lap record pace all through the race. The wind was very strong today, so my engine was over-revving, which is why I decided to ride a little more conservatively in the final laps to secure second place and the World Championship lead."

Nicky said: "We knew starting tenth was never going to be easy. I got a really good start and a good first corner too, but I just couldn't go with the lead group today. We had a huge tailwind on the back straightaway, so I was running out of gear. It made it so hard to get it stopped for the corner at the end of the straight, so a lot of guys were running wide. Mid-race I had a few problems, felt a few drops of rain, and my corner speed in the long turns wasn't so good. Towards the end I changed a few little things with my lines and the traction control settings. There was a lot of good battling going on but it would've been better to have been battling for a better position."

Shinya Nakano (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), a relatively encouraging tenth, said: "The track conditions weren't easy today because there were still damp patches when we started. It wasn't actually a bad start for me and I made up some positions. In the second half of the race my pace improved and I was able to pass Dovizioso for tenth, although I'm not satisfied with that. Now we have to take the positives out of this weekend for the next race in France."

Dovi was 11th at the flag after he lost grip late on the race. He said: "The final result doesn't show our real potential. From 11th on the grid I knew I was still in a good condition to fight for the top positions. During the first part of race I could really show my potential for a good result. I was so sorry to be further back at the chequered flag but the weather conditions forced us to make some technical choices that we had not really tested in these conditions. I tried to resist the attacks from Hayden and Melandri, but unfortunately I didn't have the chance to fight."

Randy de Puniet (LCR Honda RC212V) finished 13th and said: "My start was bad but at the end of the first lap before the main straight Hopkins tried to overtake but made a big mistake and I went wide. I was able to stay up to continue my race but the front-end wasn't quite working well enough. The situation improved after some laps when I passed Guintoli. I also tried my best to pass Toseland but it was not possible. Honestly we expected a better result here and I hope to do a good race in Le Mans."

Alex de Angelis (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) was 16th. He said: "We knew it wouldn't be easy for us in the dry but early in the race I was hit by Hopkins when we were braking into turn one and we both ran wide, although thankfully neither of us crashed. From then on it wasn't easy to stay in touch with the group and virtually impossible to get amongst them. The bike was becoming harder to ride as the race wore on and we have to study the telemetry to find out why. I think we need to go back to the setting we had in pre-season and start again."

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REPSOL HONDA'S PEDROSA MOVES INTO POINTS LEAD,
HAYDEN TAKES HARD-FOUGHT SIXTH
Race Day Attendance: 20.379

Hayden made a great start from the fourth row of the grid and spent the race fighting back and forth with a number of rivals including Marco Melandri, Andrea Dovizioso, Colin Edwards and Lorenzo. Down in eighth at one stage, he modified his lines and adjusted his traction control to fight back to take sixth during the final few laps.

Rossi takes maiden Bridgestone win in China, Stoner scores podium

Round 4: China - Race
Shanghai International Circuit, Sunday 4 May 2008

Fiat Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi took a triumphant victory at the Shanghai International Circuit in China this afternoon to secure his first ever MotoGP victory using Bridgestone tyres. The Italian was embroiled in a race-long battle with Honda's Dani Pedrosa, but a string of record-breaking lap times in the closing laps ensured a well earned first win of the season, 3.8 seconds clear of Pedrosa. Rossi becomes the sixth rider to take MotoGP victory using Bridgestone tyres after Makoto Tamada, Loris Capirossi, Troy Bayliss, Chris Vermeulen and Casey Stoner.

Ducati's Casey Stoner took his second podium result of the season after a fine run to third place, while his team-mate Marco Melandri also rode superbly to a season-best fifth position. All three riders used medium compound rear tyres of the same construction. Three additional Bridgestone-shod riders scored top ten results with Toni Elias underlining the strong performance of Ducati with eighth place for the Alice Team, Loris Capirossi in ninth for Suzuki and Honda Gresini's Shinya Nakano in tenth.

Morning rain made last minute race preparations complicated. Bridgestone's tyre fitters worked diligently to prepare tyres to suit all conditions with shallow and full wet weather tyres, cut and full slick tyres all readied for the starting grid. Ultimately, a dry line had emerged by the end of the 125 and 250cc races to allow full slicks to be used. Most riders, however, used softer specification tyres compared to the practice sessions in a bid to combat the lower track temperatures, with the majority of riders opting to use the medium compound range rather than the hard.

Osamu Inoue - Bridgestone Corporation - Senior Vice President

Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Race Tyre Development

Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team - Race Winner

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TRICKY CONDITIONS HAMPER KAWASAKI IN SHANGHAI

After qualifying on the fifth row of the grid yesterday, Hopkins was quick to make up places from the start of today's race. The Anglo-American put himself in touch with the leaders, including eventual race winner Valentino Rossi, by riding around the outside of the field at turn one. Unfortunately, Hopkins had it all to do again after a coming together with Alex de Angelis forced him to run on at the end of the main straight, and left him nursing a painful puncture wound after catching his knee on his own foot peg.

Rear traction problems hampered the 24-year-old Kawasaki pilot's attempts to work his way back through the field, but his persistence and determination were rewarded with two valuable championship points, as he fought his way up to 14th place by race end.

The main straight also caused problems for West, who was passed by his teammate after running off the track early on in the race. Like Hopkins, the 27-year-old Australian was frustrated by a lack of rear grip from the start of the race, but he also identified a lack of front-end grip under braking as being a major factor in his disappointing result.

With both riders having declared themselves satisfied with the performance of their Ninja ZX-RR machines in race trim and on race tyres yesterday, the reason for such an unexpected deterioration in rear traction was not immediately apparent. Kawasaki's engineers will now look to the data to identify the problem ahead of the next race, which takes place at Le Mans in just two weeks time.

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"The final result of today doesn't show our real potential. From 11th on the grid I knew I was still in a good condition to come up to the head of the race and fight for the top positions." --Andrea Dovizioso

Shanghai positive for Andrea Dovizioso despite final position of 11th

Capirossi and Vermeulen robbed of higher finishes

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP's Loris Capirossi was deprived of at least a top five position at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai today, through a mixture of bad luck and a small mistake.

Capirossi was looking to challenge for a much higher position on lap five, but an error at the end of the back straight caused the Italian racer to run off the track. He re-joined the race in 12th place and began the task of chasing down the pack in front of him. Capirossi used all his experience to close in and pass five more riders to move him into seventh on the penultimate lap, but he suffered a transmission problem on the last lap and crossed the line in ninth position. This result gave Capirossi seven points, and moved him up to fifth in the riders' championship.

Chris Vermeulen had an afternoon he would rather forget. The talented Australian had looked impressive during yesterday's practice, but a similar technical fault to Capirossi which began directly from the start of the race caused Vermeulen to enter the pits and retire from the race at the end of lap six.

Today's race was declared ?wet' after heavy rain this morning, but with warm air temperatures of 22ºC drying the track, all riders started on slick tyres. A crowd of just over 20,000 witnessed former World Champion Valentino Rossi win his first race since September last year.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP now travels back to Europe for fifth round of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship at Le Mans in France - the scene of Vermeulen's premier Grand Prix victory last year - on Sunday 18th May.

Loris Capirossi:

"It's difficult to say that this was a positive day, but we did improve a lot and if it wasn't for my mistake early on it could have been a lot better. I didn't want to lose touch with the top guys and my rhythm was really good, but I ran off and that cost me some places. I got back up to seventh and then I had a technical problem and I lost two positions right at the end. Now we will go to Le Mans and make sure that we are competitive there - we had the potential to do much better today!"

Chris Vermeulen:

"Obviously I'm not happy with today's result; in fact that's probably an understatement! I had a problem right from the start and the chain kept slipping making the bike really difficult to ride. I felt like my pace was quicker than the four guys in front of me, but every time I tried to pass them the chain would just slip and I'd lose my momentum. Then towards the end of lap six the chain came off and I had to go into the pits and that was the race over. I am really disappointed with what happened, but we have to learn from this and make sure that it doesn't happen again. We now have to re-group and come back even stronger in France!"

Paul Denning - Team Manager:

"Today has been a disappointing end to what has been a good weekend's work. Chris suffered an extremely unusual technical problem which I know the Suzuki factory will react to very quickly and he deserved much better - he's an awesome racer who just needs his luck to change.

"For Loris it was his most competitive race on a Suzuki so far, and he had the pace to finish at least in the top five if everything had gone to plan. Unfortunately he made a mistake early on - which can happen when you are pushing to the maximum - and although he fought back to seventh he was denied by a similar problem to Chris.

"The Team is feeling very disappointed at the moment, but we have made some steps this weekend both in qualifying and with race pace, and the guys still have the confidence to look forward to Le Mans and pushing for the front positions."

Mr Masahito Nishikawa - General Manager of Motorcycle Engine Design Department:

"It has been a good experience for me to visit the team and work with them here in China. I will now take my report back to the Factory and make sure that we can start to be more competitive. We will try to take the steps we need to make this bike a race winner."

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