Rossi adds to podium tally with second place at Istanbul

Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi took his fifteenth podium from sixteen races this season after finishing second in the inaugural Grand Prix of Turkey. Whilst Marco Melandri (Honda) backed up his practice pace with a strong victory at the front, Rossi overcame a series of set-up problems and a bad start in the race to push his fellow Italian hard over the final few laps. Rossi's Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards finished seventh today, improving his pace towards the end of the race as he continued to adapt to a new riding style. Starting from the second row of the grid Rossi, did not get the ideal jump from the line and had dropped two places to sixth by the end of the first lap. As the Italian made his way through the field Sete Gibernau (Honda) took the lead, only to run off the track two laps later and allow Melandri, Nicky Hayden (Honda) and Rossi through. Rossi passed Hayden on lap eight and began an intense pursuit of Melandri over the final two thirds of the race, although he was unable to make up the gap between the pair and could do nothing to prevent the youngster from clinching his first ever MotoGP victory. Valentino Rossi (2nd +1.513) "On Friday and Saturday we struggled to find a good setting for the bike; yesterday morning I felt like I wanted to go home! It wasn't until qualifying practice yesterday afternoon that we began to understand what the problem was. We made some more steps forward in the warm-up this morning and went in a slightly different direction with the setting, which in the end wasn't so bad. Unfortunately I made a big mistake at the start and conceded a couple of seconds to the leader, which proved to be a big gap to make up. Melandri was very fast throughout the race and in certain points of the track I knew he was faster than me, so it would have been very hard to pass him. Anyway, I am satisfied with second place - it is a good result for us after all the troubles we've had this weekend and I'm really pleased with the way the team worked to overcome a difficult situation." Colin Edwards (7th +29.255) "I struggled today. I've been trying a new riding style this weekend which has really helped me find some more pace from the bike, but my instinct took over at the start of the race and I just went back to my old superbike style, trying to squeeze everything out of the bike. Once I had calmed down and focused on the new style I managed to get it together and I actually set my fastest lap of the race on lap 20, which tells its own story. I hate to say that this Grand Prix has been like a test but we have to look to improving our performances next season and I firmly believe we have contributed to that here, even though the race result was not what we were after." Davide Brivio - Gauloises Yamaha Team Director "Valentino had a very difficult weekend so second place in the race today is a good result. After the problems we had on Friday and Saturday morning the team worked very hard right up to the start of the race, as they always do, and helped Vale find some more speed. Second place is not so bad and now he has one more race to try to make it twelve wins for the season. Colin also had a few problems this weekend but he has tried something completely new to him and this race was like a transition. I think we will see the benefit of it next season." Toni Elias - 6th "I got away well, but it was impossible to keep up with the rhythm of the top three of four riders - I'm still not at that level yet. I was going along comfortably with Checa and we left behind the group who were chasing us. Then I made a mistake and he got away from me. From that moment I fought hard and got ahead of Tamada and Barros and, on the last lap, caught up with Edwards. I got past him two corners from the end in a section I knew I was quicker than him. This morning I got up and noticed that the temperature was about five degrees higher and we decided to use a hard Michelin tyre during the warm-up and then in the race also. It was a bit risky, but after five laps of the race they had warmed up and after that they worked very well. I am very happy with our progression and I hope to continue like this in the final race of the season." Ruben Xaus  - 14th "After starting badly I fought my way up through the field and the fact that my best lap was my last lap says it all. It took me 12 laps to get past Rolfo and in the end I was able to pass Hopkins also." Round: 16 - Turkish Grand Prix Circuit: Istanbul Circuit Length: 5378 Lap Record: 1' 53.111 (Marco Melandri, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 52.334 (Sete Gibernau, 2005) Race: 22 Laps  Pos.Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   M. Melandri Honda  ITA  41' 44.139  2   V. Rossi Yamaha  ITA  +1.513  3   N. Hayden Honda  USA  +6.873  4   S. Gibernau Honda  ESP  +12.420  5   C. Checa Ducati  ESP  +26.963  6   T. Elias Yamaha  ESP  +29.105  7   C. Edwards Yamaha  USA  +29.255  8   M. Tamada Honda  JPN  +33.345  9   A. Barros Honda  BRA  +33.790  10   S. Nakano Kawasaki  JPN  +44.225  11   C. Vermeulen Honda  AUS  +46.099  12   M. Biaggi Honda  ITA  +50.184  13   O. Jacque Kawasaki  FRA  +56.766  14   R. Xaus Yamaha  ESP  +1' 1.360  15   J. Hopkins Suzuki  USA  +1' 3.391  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1     M. Melandri Honda  ITA  1' 53.111  Championship standings MotoGP   Pos. Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Valentino Rossi Yamaha  ITA 351  2   Marco Melandri Honda  ITA 195  3   Nicky Hayden Honda  USA 186  4   Colin Edwards Yamaha  USA 171  5   Max Biaggi Honda  ITA 163  6   Sete Gibernau Honda  ESP 150  7   Loris Capirossi Ducati  ITA 148  8   Alex Barros Honda  BRA 136  9   Carlos Checa Ducati  ESP 125  10   Shinya Nakano Kawasaki  JPN 93  11   Makato Tamada Honda  JPN 84  12   Toni Elias Yamaha  ESP 68  13   Kenny Roberts Suzuki  USA 63  14   John Hopkins Suzuki  USA 60  15   Troy Bayliss Honda  AUS 54  16   Ruben Xaus Yamaha  ESP 51  Manufacturers standings MotoGP Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Yamaha 365  2  Honda 316  3  Ducati 189  4  Kawasaki 121  5  Suzuki 97  6  Blata WCM 13  7  Proton KR 1  7  Moriwaki 1  Team standings MotoGP Pos. Team Points  1  Gauloises Yamaha Team 522  2  Repsol Honda Team 349  3  Team Movistar Honda MotoGP 345  4  Ducati Marlboro Team 273  5  Honda Camel 205  6  Kawasaki Racing Team 143  7  Fortuna Yamaha Team 123  8  Team Suzuki MotoGP 123  9  Konica Minolta Honda 96  10  D'Antin MotoGP 25  11  Blata WCM 14  12  Team Roberts KR 1  Race classification GP250 Round: 16 - Turkish Grand Prix - GP250 Circuit: Istanbul Circuit Length: 5378 Lap Record: 1' 57.595 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2005) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 56.930 (Daniel Pedrosa, 2005) Race: 20 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   C. Stoner Aprilia  AUS  39' 28.243  2   D. Pedrosa Honda  ESP  +0.093  3   H. Aoyama Honda  JPN  +11.647  4   J. Lorenzo Honda  ESP  +21.861  5   A. Dovizioso Honda  ITA  +21.940  6   H. Barbera Honda  ESP  +22.258  7   A. de Angelis Aprilia  SMR  +43.755  8   R. Locatelli Aprilia  ITA  +44.105  9   S. Guintoli Aprilia  FRA  +48.918  10   C. Davies Aprilia  GBR  +54.376  11   A. Baldolini Aprilia  ITA  +54.651  12   A. Debon Honda  ESP  +59.791  13   A. Ballerini Aprilia  ITA  +1' 0.082  14   M. Giansanti Aprilia  ITA  +1' 0.225  15   J. Smrz Honda  CZE  +1' 0.338  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   D. Pedrosa Honda  ESP  1' 57.595  Championship standings GP250 Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Daniel Pedrosa Honda  ESP 284  2   Casey Stoner Aprilia  AUS 238  3   Andrea Dovizioso Honda  ITA 182  4   Hiroshi Aoyama Honda  JPN 170  5   Sebastian Porto Aprilia  ARG 152  6   Jorge Lorenzo Honda  ESP 147  7   Alex de Angelis Aprilia  SMR 138  8   Randy de Puniet Aprilia  FRA 130  9   Hector Barbera Honda  ESP 109  10   Sylvain Guintoli Aprilia  FRA 82  11   Yuki Takahashi Honda  JPN 68  12   Alex Debon Honda  ESP 62  13   Simone Corsi Aprilia  ITA 59  14   Roberto Locatelli Aprilia  ITA 55  15   Mirko Giansanti Aprilia  ITA 36  Manufacturers standings GP250 Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Honda 324  2  Aprilia 323  3  KTM 30