|
The start of the 2003
MotoGP World Championship has not been a pleasant one for
Yamaha. With at least five factory bikes on the grid (sometimes
six counting the M3 presence of Norick Abe) the firm had yet to
score a podium after three races; the highest result had been
two fifths thanks to Alex Barros (and might have been more had
the Brazilian not injured his knee ligaments at the season
opener in Japan). Added to the gloom was the fact that ´new
boys´ Ducati clinched a top three result in their first ever GP
with the new Desmosedici.
Finally, last weekend in France, the manufacturer that claimed
two race wins during the ´Valentino Rossi and Honda show 2002´,
won a trophy for Barros´ third place and also saw home rider
Olivier Jacque score his best ever MotoGP result with fourth
place. To further put a smile on the Yamaha bosses faces, Marco
Melandri was running as high as 3rd in the dry race in only his
second event in the class.
Here are the words
of Barros and Jacque after an important GP for the Gauloises
team morale.
Alex Barros 3rd: ´I´m
really happy to finally be back on the podium after my accident
in Suzuka.
I´m also delighted
to have been able to take the lead at the start of both races. I
think that we chose too soft a tyre for the first dry race, as
after eight laps I couldn´t maintain the rhythm. In the wet race
I also didn´t have the same level of grip as Sete or Valentino
and at the end had to watch them both from a distance. Now we
have a couple of very important races coming up. We have tested
at both Mugello and Barcelona and posted good lap times there,
so hopefully I´ll be able to continue fighting for podium
places.´
Olivier Jacque:
´What an incredible race! On the sighting lap before the start
of the second heat I immediately realised that the mixed tyres
I´d opted for weren´t the right choice and so decided to come
back into the pits and change. It was a decision that paid off,
as in spite of having to start from the box, I was soon
overtaking other riders. In the end I achieved my best result
since moving up to MotoGP and given my team and myself a much
needed boost. Hopefully this will be the start of a series of
successes´ |
