Jerez : Qualifying – Konica Minolta Honda
The second test day of the Spanish GP and the official afternoon session in particular, the first of the 2006 MotoGP season, has been characterized by an ideal weather conditions. A wonderful sunny day for the large number of spectators arrived here for the opening race of the season.
The Konica Minolta Honda Team technicians have tried to evolve the Honda RC211V, without being able to get a significant change in respect to the situation of yesterday. Makoto Tamada could not be incisive on track and in fact his performance has never reached the expected level.

Tamada covered 23 laps in the morning free practice and 24 laps in the qualifying session, setting his best lap time in 1`41.119, placing him on the 16th position on the starting grid.

Gianluca Montiron – Konica Minolta Honda Managing Director : "Today`s result has not been exactly what we expected; we counted to get a performance level sufficient to stay among the top riders and to properly exploit the qualifying Michelin tyres. This evening instead, we have to face a completely different situation. In this moment we must give Makoto all our support and trust because I think he really need to feel the team close to him. It will be necessary to have a prompt reaction because this performance level can not be justifiable. This first race will begin in a difficult way for our rider, who will have to start from behind. The confidence in the potential of the technical package we have at our disposal will lead him to get the top as quick as possible."

Makoto Tamada : "After this day I can only be disappointed. I am very sorry for the result I obtained and for the gap which separates me from the top riders. All this does not repay the hard job made up to now by all Konica Minolta Honda Team. The problem is that I am not really able to have the necessary confidence to be effective in driving. This result was not in my expectations, but now I have to try not to get me down too much: the race will be tomorrow and so many other times I have been able to efficiently improve my position lap after lap."

Tags: tissot,