Grand Prix Motorcycle racing returned to the Adriatic holiday resort of Misano for the first time in fourteen years today, but the party was well and truly spoilt by the Italian weather as fierce storms turned the first day into a washout. After the paddock was welcomed back to the venue by temperatures in excess of 35 degrees yesterday, it looked like the heat was going to be the chief weather worry for the weekend. However storms overnight gave way to showers this morning before even more torrential rain set in around midday, accompanied by dramatic displays of thunder and lightening. The rain eventually abated around 2pm but left the paddock, pit lane, some parts of the track and most pit boxes flooded, forcing race direction to cancel all remaining sessions today.
This morning’s first free practice, held in very wet conditions, nonetheless gave the riders a taster of what to expect from the Misano track. The Fiat Yamaha Team duo of Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards put in a positive initial showing, finishing the session second and fifth respectively. The MotoGP riders should have had two more practice sessions today; an extra hour having been added to allow them time to learn the new circuit. As a result a revised schedule tomorrow will see a two-hour MotoGP practice in the morning, from 0900 to 1100, before the standard one-hour qualifying session in the afternoon.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 2ndTime: 1’48.632Laps: 21
“Unfortunately we had very bad weather today but this morning my first impressions of the track were good, better than when I came here to do some laps with the safety commission on a street bike. I think they’ve done a very good job with the bumps; we asked them to resurface another time and now it’s not so bad. Of course in the wet we’re not riding at the maximum, but it seems okay and I was quite happy. Because of the rain we lost two hours, which makes things more difficult for everyone, but we have an extra hour tomorrow and the forecast is much better so I hope that we will get some dry time. My performance this morning was quite good, we tried a new rain tyre on the rear and it worked well. Melandri was quite far ahead but anyway I’m quite happy. Of course it’s another story tomorrow in the dry, but I think we have some more improvements for the dry setting as well so I am looking forward to it. “
Colin Edwards - Position: 5thTime: 1’49.219Laps: 19
“What time we had this morning was really good! Once I’d got the hang of going the opposite way around the track to what I was used to from my Superbike days, I felt pretty comfortable out there and my bike felt good in the wet. We went out initially and just did a few laps to get a bit of a feeling, before coming back in and changing the setting accordingly. We did almost the whole session on one set of tyres and they felt really good, much better than they have previously in the wet this season. We had a lot of grip which was very encouraging. Obviously we could have done with the extra time this afternoon and the weather has been unbelievable but everyone’s in the same boat so we’re going to have to make the most of it! “
Davide Brivio - Team Director
“It’s really unlucky that the weather has been so bad today, we weren’t expecting this here! The first practice this morning didn’t really give us enough time to completely gauge the situation, especially as it was wet, but anyway it’s given the riders an initial feeling and they were both quite fast. It seems Michelin have done a good job with the development of their wet-weather tyres so we were very pleased about this. It’s a pity we missed out on the extra session and couldn’t continue with the good work, but it’s the same for everyone and so now we will make the most of the time we have tomorrow. ”
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