After an absence of 14 years Grand Prix racing returned to the re-vamped Misano circuit where Dunlop was victorious in the last premier 500cc class race to be held at the circuit with Luca Cadalora on the Marlboro Yamaha. History was not to be repeated for the Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team as Sylvain Guintoli and Makoto Tamada finished in 12th and 14th positions respectively.
The weekend had a silver lining however as Sylvain repeated his qualifying performance of the previous race in Brno to start from 11th on the grid. With the first day of practice a washout when the circuit was flooded by devastating rains that caused the abandonment of the day, this ensured that with limited track time, set-up and tyre selection would play an even more important role than usual. Due to a first corner incident that eliminated Dani Pedrosa, Nicky Hayden and Randy De Puniet and then the unfortunate retirement of Valentino Rossi the race was not the spectacle we have come to expect of the MotoGP class.
Sylvain Guintoli (12th - Fastest lap 1’36.560)
This race was similar to Brno as I think we proved we have a good qualifying package but we expected to struggle during the race because we couldn’t find a rear tyre with good enough grip and endurance. The race was ok. The start was good and the first 12 laps I had a good battle with Nakano and we caught the group in front but after 12 laps the rear grip level started to drop away and I lost touch with the group. The second half of the race was not so much fun. I had a 12 second lead over the riders behind me and I just carried on with a fast enough rhythm so I could not be caught. One thing I am happy with is how much I am learning every time I ride the bike and what is needed in qualifying to get a good lap. I hope we can find something for Portugal so that we can fight for the entire race.
Makoto Tamada:
The race wasn’t so good for me. I had a good feeling for the first 12 laps and was able to keep a pretty good pace but then I had trouble with the rear. The performance stayed the same for a few laps but towards the end it dropped off again so all I could hope to do was ride the bike to make sure I finished. It’s been a hard season so I hope we find something for the last races so that I may be able to battle with a few riders for the whole race and not just wait for something to happen.
Herve Poncharal - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 Team Manager
Firstly I would like to apologise to all the fans that turned up as after the incident on the first lap and with Valentino retiring so early in the race it wasn’t much of a spectacle when so much was expected of this race on its return to Misano. As for our weekend, this has been another race that has not gone the way we wanted. We have a good qualifying package but we are missing something in the race. We couldn’t find a tyre that we were confident that would last us the entire race so we set everything up the best we could. Hopefully we can find some improvement in the race package to compliment the good work we do in qualifying and all the hard work the team is putting in trying to get the results we desire.
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