Catalunya, Barcelona 2000

Catalunya 500 cc Grand Prix, Barcelona.

Race, 11 June 2000. Weather: Overcast, Showers.18 degrees C.

RAIN CATCHES OUT RED BULL RIDERS IN CATALUNYA GP

Barcelona: A gamble on tyres and unpredictable Spanish weather cost Red Bull Yamaha riders Regis Laconi and Garry McCoy dearly in the Catalunya Grand Prix.

A rain shower just before the start on an already damp track made tyre choice critical and both Red Bull riders made a radical choice in the hope of finishing in the top ten.

But the slow drying Barcelona track did not cooperate with Laconi and McCoy and both riders failed to improve their world championship positions.

Laconi collected three points for his 13th place finish while McCoy
finished a frustrating weekend with a distant 16th place finish, two laps behind race winner Kenny Roberts.

Laconi finished a lap behind after setting his fastest time of the race on the penultimate lap.

McCoy dropped to sixth in the world championship points after his tyre gamble failed to pay off and he found it impossible to be competitive on a wet track, but slowly drying track.  McCoy did his fastest time of the race on his final lap.

McCoy had struggled all weekend after a poor Friday qualifying on a dry track as a comfortable suspension and tyre set-up eluded him in Saturday's wet qualifying.  McCoy started from 18th on the grid and Laconi from 11th.

Round eight of the world championship is the Dutch TT at Assen on June 24.

Regis Laconi 13th World Championship : Eleventh, 43 points

"In the circumstances 13th is not such a bad result and apart from my tyre choice my Yamaha felt strong and I was happy with the performance and set-up. I went for a cut slick at the rear and a full wet tyre at the front as at the end of the 250 race this seemed like the best choice. 

"It was a risk and a wet rear tyre would have been better but I was fast right at the end of the race when the track dried and still scored three points." 

Garry McCoy 16th World Championship : Sixth, 61 points

"The whole weekend was bad from start to finish. For the race I went for a cut slick in the rear and an intermediate tyre in the front.  If the track had dried like I thought it would this would have been perfect but it just stayed the same and that was it.

"It wasn't until about three laps from the end that it started to dry but even then it was patchy and all too late. It was a gamble, that's for
sure, but I had to try something different being so far back on the grid.   It's disappointing to drop to sixth in the championship and really now I can't afford anymore mistakes, I've just got to work hard and get on with it."

Catalunya 500 cc Grand Prix, Barcelona..

Final Qualifying, 10 June 2000.  Weather: Rain 15 deg. C

RAIN HALTS PROGRESS FOR LACONI AND McCOY IN BARCELONA

Wet weather was the main enemy for the Red Bull Yamaha team in Barcelona today with Regis Laconi and Garry McCoy losing any chance of improving their qualifying positions for tomorrow's race.

Laconi will start from 11th while teammate McCoy faces the race of his life to score world championship points from the fifth row of the grid and 18th position.

What the Red Bull team needed was a dry final qualifying day to continue the set-up work to try and resolve the problems encountered on a slippery, but dry, Friday track.  Neither Laconi nor McCoy could break into the top ten times as they struggled to reproduce the form that has made the Red Bull team a front-running force in the first six races of the season.

Laconi completed the final wet qualifying session in a confident mood and despite the unpredictable weather conditions is looking forward to the race.  Laconi is a proven performer in wet or intermediate, slippery conditions as shown by his brilliant victory in last year's Valencia GP.  Meanwhile McCoy found no join from paddling around on a wet Barcelona track in his quest for a top ten starting position.

Regis Laconi 11th place, 1m 47.37s

"I'm ready for either a wet or a dry race , it doesn't really matter. I
was happy with today in the wet and although I don't have a perfect setting for the dry from Friday practice I am competitive behind the leading group of riders.  If we have a dry warm-up tomorrow then I will try some more settings to improve the bike.  In a dry race I am planning to use the 16.5 inch rear Michelin tyre unless Michelin suggest a better option after the warm-up. "

Garry McCoy 18th place, 1m 49.26s

"We got caught with our pants down, basically.  With the problems we had on Friday we needed a dry day today to try some options on a set-up but it pissed down with rain and just turned everything upside down and stuffed us right over. 

"I don't seem to have the edge grip on tyres and in the dry on Friday it felt so slippery, like riding in the wet and I was not comfortable. With the tyre compounds I had to choose from  there was only limited options and we need to change the bike set-up to make the tyres work.

"I am hoping for a dry race with a dry warm-up on Sunday morning because we've got some ideas on a set-up that will hopefully make the bike more comfortable.  It's been a pretty tough weekend, especially on the mechanics and team being so far back on the grid. "

Hamish Jameson, race engineer for Garry McCoy 

"I would say it's back to the drawing board except that ours has so many lines on it, I don't think it would help.  Being slow in the dry here is a big surprise and one of our problems is that Garry races with such a different set-up to everyone else because of his style that there really is no one to turn too for assistance.

"When we are up the front it seems we've got plenty people wanting to help.  Certainly one of the things we are struggling with here are the long corners and finding a set-up that allows Garry to feel confident sliding the bike the way he likes too."