Rossi gets weekend off to good start with third in Motegi practice

Valentino Rossi made a solid start to his Japanese Grand Prix weekend by riding his Fiat Yamaha M1 to third place on the opening day of action at Motegi. This weekend offers the Italian his first chance to wrap up the 2008 World Championship, which he can do by finishing third or higher on Sunday, even if Casey Stoner should win the race.

Rain greeted the paddock on arrival this morning and first practice was run on a wet track, although Rossi was fast from the off and finished the session in second place. The weather dried up this afternoon, despite remaining overcast, and the track was dry for the second session. The different conditions gave rise to a few issues for the Italian however and he lacked some front grip through the longer, slower corners, but he was still consistently fast and finished third behind Stoner and Dani Pedrosa

Rossi's team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, who has never won at this track, was quick this morning in the wet but suffered some problems on the drier track this afternoon, finishing in 15th.

"This morning it was quite wet and we were very fast from the start. We found a good setting and the Bridgestone wet tyre worked very well for me. This afternoon in the dry however we had a few more problems and Stoner and Pedrosa were both faster than me. At the moment we're missing a bit of front grip.

This track is always quite hard and it doesn't suit our M1 perfectly; at the moment we have some issues in the slow corners and we're suffering a bit. Anyway, we were still third so it's not a big problem and I am sure we will be able to improve tomorrow. I hope the weather is better for the rest of the weekend!"

"Today we've had a chance to test in both the wet and dry and this morning, in the wet, was very good and we were quite fast. This afternoon was not as good and it's clear that we still have some work to do, but anyway we are still third, which isn't so bad.

The weather made things quite hard today but tomorrow, it seems, it will be dry all day and therefore we should be able to make the most of the time we have to maximise our setting for this track."

After his first ever wet-weather podium in Indianapolis, Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo continued with his newly-found liking for riding in the rain with a strong performance in this morning's wet first practice session. However he ran into problems once the track dried out this afternoon and finished the first day in Japan in 15th position.

The young Spaniard spent time at the top of the time sheets this morning before finishing the session in fourth, but the rain stopped soon after and the track had dried out by the time second practice began. Lorenzo immediately felt he was lacking in rear grip on his M1 and, despite trying a range of Michelin tyres, he was unable to improve the situation enough to be able to set the fast times he wanted.

Together with his team however he is confident that he will be able to improve the situation tomorrow. His team-mate Valentino Rossi meanwhile made a strong start to his weekend, finishing second this morning and third this afternoon.

"Today has been strange because usually I'm not so fast in the wet but fast in the dry; today was the opposite! I don't really know what happened this afternoon but I felt like I didn't have enough grip in the rear on the entrance to the corner and so I didn't have enough confidence to go fast. It felt a bit like in Donington and Assen.

We're working hard now in the team and together with Michelin and we gathered a lot of data so I hope that tomorrow we will be able to find a way to improve it. I know that I also need to work on my riding style a bit for this track. Anyway, it seems that tomorrow it will be hotter so I think this will help us as well."

"This morning was good but unfortunately this afternoon was more difficult for us, and we have some problems. The main issue is with the rear grip and so we need to make a detailed check of the data to try to understand where we're going wrong. It's disappointing after the last two races but it's only Friday and we have a long way to go and some time to improve.

The last run this afternoon was very important because we were able to gather a lot of information and now we will study this and use it to help us tomorrow."

Mixed weather conditions posed another tough challenge for the Tech 3 Yamaha team on the opening day of the Japanese GP today, with Colin Edwards and James Toseland finishing 13th and 14th respectively on combined times.

This afternoon's session started on a rapidly drying track after an earlier cloudburst, and Edwards quickly found his rhythm, moving to the top of the timesheets in the opening ten minutes. The American continued to reel off fast and consistent lap times and he was still in the top four at the halfway point in Yamaha's all-important home race. He finished with a best time of 1.49.344, but in a frantic final few minutes he slipped out of the top ten to finish 13th.

Toseland was one place further back with a best time of 1.49.424 as today's intermittent rain showers posed another challenge for the British rider, who again had to contend with tricky conditions while trying to learn the Twin Ring Motegi circuit.

By the end of the session, his lowly position didn't reflect the significant progress the 27-year-old made throughout, as he was delighted with his day's work. Toseland made a major breakthrough with the set-up of his Yamaha YZRM1 machine, with suspension adjustments dramatically improving his confidence with braking stability and corner entry rear grip. Today's session was run under grey and gloomy skies, but weekend forecasts are for improved conditions, with tomorrow and Sunday expected to be dry.

"It hasn't been a brilliant day. I went out there at the start and I was on top of the charts and thought it was all looking good. Even after about five or six laps when the times started to improve a lot I was hanging around second and third place. It felt good but as soon as some guys really got going I started dropping down the list pretty quick. I tried a couple of rear tyres and haven't really found anything and that's the problem.

The best rear I've got at the moment doesn't look like it will be good enough compared to the other guys. I did six laps at the end of the session in qualifying mode just to try and get a decent lap time in, but I couldn't go any faster than a 49.3. I was running some of the best laps I've ever done at this place but I can't get any feel from the rear.

The front tyre is great but I'm spinning too much with the rear, and the burning question is how do we find more traction? We've made a couple of adjustments to the bike and it feels awesome. I'm not going to get the bike any better. I'm putting myself under a lot of pressure to perform, but when I go out and ride as hard and as good as I did today, to still be way down the standings is a bit frustrating. I'll sit down with

"I was completely lost this morning and to be honest we've been a bit lost for quite a few races. I got a good result in Misano but that was only because I was able to do the same lap time on every single lap. So when everybody else wasn't that consistent I ended up getting a sixth. But really I was no faster on Sunday than I was on Friday.

It has been a really frustrating time but we just tried something radically different with the suspension and all of a sudden it has clicked again and it is a nice feeling. Ignoring the position I'm in because I stayed out on one of the softer tyres for nearly half race distance, I am really relieved to have found something with the bike. The change has really helped with braking stability and with the contact of the rear tyre on corner entry.

The feeling on the brakes and going in and coming out of corners has not been great for the last few races and we have been chasing our tails trying to find a solution. We all sat down and talked how we weren't really going in a direction that was good enough and the team has done a great job to get back on track. Today is the nearest I have been to the front in terms of time on a brand new track on the first day, and I've only had limited dry time again. I don't mind learning a track in the rain because it makes it slower, so you can feel the bumps and see the lines..

The only thing is I'm missing out on dry setup time and I've struggled with that all year because of how badly we've been hit by the rain."

1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'48.121

2 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'48.194

3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'48.510

4 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1'48.770

5 Loris Capirossi Suzuki ITA 1'48.779

6 Sylvain Guintoli Ducati FRA 1'48.794

7 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'48.800

8 Marco Melandri Ducati ITA 1'48.945

9 Toni Elias Ducati ESP 1'48.974

10 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 1'49.149

11 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1'49.190

12 John Hopkins Kawasaki USA 1'49.197

13 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'49.344

14 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1'49.424

15 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 1'49.505  

- Yamaha Racing -