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Brazilian Grand Prix 2002

SATURDAY 21st SEPTEMBER 2002 ­ RACE DAY

GARRY McCOY and John Hopkins claimed 10th and 14th places respectively at today's rain-soaked Rio GP as the Red Bull Yamaha duo were foiled in their efforts to convert early weekend promise into a more positive outcome.
For Australian McCoy, it was a somewhat disappointing conclusion to round 12 of the MotoGP world championship after he had looked back to his best yesterday when grabbing his second front row start in the last three races.
Unfortunately, the fine and hot conditions that greeted riders for the opening two days of qualifying were replaced this morning by a grey and gloomy skyline.
Conditions were at their worst for the 24-lap MotoGP race and both McCoy and Hopkins found it difficult to make the impact they hoped for as the rain worsened throughout.
McCoy was beset by a visor problem as the spray kicked up by riders in front of him seriously hampered visibility. McCoy¹s problem was compounded by rain leaking on to the inside of his visor.
One he felt more confident to push harder, the 30-year-old settled into a good rhythm and set his fastest time of the race on lap 19 despite the tricky conditions.
Hopkins battled his way back into the points having crashed his YZR500 out of 13th place on lap 10. He lost the front end and even though he was able to remount, he cited a poor set-up and poor tyre choice for his problems.

GARRY McCOY ­ 10th World Championship 19th 32 points

"The start was good and I was third going into the first turn. But then I started to get a lot of trouble with my visor. Every time somebody passed me it would fill with water. There must have been a problem and it made it really difficult for me to see anything. About halfway through the race I got my confidence back and when somebody passed me I tried to stay with them, and my lap times started to come down. The Dunlop rear tyre was very grippy but I could have done with a bit more grip from the front. It was a pushing a little bit when I got on the gas."

JOHN HOPKINS ­ 14th World Championship 11th 51 points.

"I'm not very happy at all. Pretty much from the start I realised that we didn't have the right set-up and we'd got the wrong tyre choice. I'll hold my hands up and say I got it wrong because both were my decisions with what to run with. I just went for the wrong choice on tyres and set-up but that is all part of learning and getting more experience. I got two points but hopefully things will be better in Japan."

PETER CLIFFORD ­ DIRECTOR OF RACING

" It was a disappointing afternoon, especially considering that Garry had started from the front row of the grid. It was good to see John pick the bike up and finish the race again but obviously it is not a race that we want to remember. All we can do is look forward to better things in Japan."
 

RIO GRAND PRIX - McCOY RED HOT IN RIO


FRIDAY 2Oth SEPTEMBER 2002 ­ Final Qualifying

GARRY McCOY produced a rousing display to slot his Red Bull Yamaha on to the front row of the grid for the second time this season in a thrilling final qualifying session at the Jacarepagua circuit in Brazil today.
McCoy ended the session in fourth place, his best time of 1.50.927 set on his penultimate lap. That time is exactly a second inside the circuit record held by Tadayuki Okada from 1997 and left him just 0.3s off Max Biaggi's pole position.
The Australian slashed a massive 1.6s off his fastest time from yesterday's opening session, testament to the high level of performance offered by Dunlop's qualifying tyres.
The 30-year-old might have bumped himself further up the standings had a slowing rider not thwarted his last flying lap.
McCoy's return to form ­ today's excellent performance being his second front row start in the last three races ­ is a reminder that when free from injuries, he is one of the world's fastest riders.
Team-mate John Hopkins, making his first appearance at the tricky Rio circuit, will start from 14th as he knocked almost two seconds off his time from yesterday. No other rider in the 20-strong field managed such a drastic improvement.

GARRY McCOY ­ 4th 1.50.927

"I thought I had a chance of pole position on that final run but it didn't happen. After yesterday I had a good feeling for what the Dunlop qualifying tyres were capable of. I knew I could get two fast laps out of them so I just went for it. Jeremy McWilliams held me up on the final lap. I guess he didn't realise that I was on qualifiers and going for my quick lap. It's really tight out there, all the times are very close and obviously I'm happy to be on the front row. Things are getting better all the time for me. I did quite a few laps on my race set-up with race tyres and everything feels pretty comfortable."

JOHN HOPKINS ­ 14th 1.51.75

"I'm pretty happy really because we never really made any changes to the bike until this afternoon's session. I was still trying to learn more about the circuit this morning. I did some good times using race tyres and I've got to thank Dunlop, they have given us some good tyres for this race. I'd liked to have been a bit further up but my aim will be to get a good start and get away with a few of the leading guys like I've managed in the last couple of races."

PETER CLIFFORD ­ DIRECTOR OF RACING

"That was an awesome performance from both guys. That was Garry back to the way we all know he can ride. Today he showed that when fully fit he is a match for anybody out there. John is only a second off pole position and as always he has got some very notable opposition behind him. We have to say a big thanks to Dunlop as well. We cut down on the amount of experimental tyres Garry and John normally use to work with what we know and that paid dividends.

THURSDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER 2002 ­ Qualifying No. 1

GARRY McCOY showed he is close to recapturing his best form in today's opening qualifying session for the Rio GP when he qualified his Red Bull Yamaha YZR500 in 10th place.
The 30-year-old Australian ended the session just over half-a-second off Max Biaggi's provisional pole time as the only South American race on the MotoGP calendar got underway in searing temperatures this afternoon at the Jacarepagua circuit. Today's track temperature peaked at 45 degrees.
McCoy's best time of 1.52.490 was one second faster than he set on the opening day of qualifying at the same circuit last season, showing his confidence is fully restored after an injury-hit campaign.
McCoy elevated himself up to sixth with only eight minutes of the session remaining, but in the typically frantic closing stages, he found himself relegated down the order before producing his fastest time on his last lap to leave some of the highly-fancied four-stroke machines trailing behind him.
Team-mate John Hopkins found himself down in 19th place on his debut appearance at the Rio track, although his best time of 1.53.563 was only 1.7s off the provisional pole. He found the notoriously bumpy circuit as added burden to trying to learn the track.

GARRY McCOY ­ 10th 1.52.490

"As usual here it is hard work because of the bumps and the heat but I've
no complaints about the balance of the bike. On my final run I went out behind Norick Abe but I lost a lap hanging around waiting for him. In the end I just went for it and I had Tohru Ukawa in my sights. I was just trying to hunt him down but those four-strokes really pull away on the long straights here."

JOHN HOPKINS ­ 19th 1.53.563

"I'm just trying to learn the track. What I have learned already is that the surface is really bumpy. I'm trying to work out the best lines because I've noticed the other guys use different lines to me as they know where the bumps are. We haven't really played around with the set-up at all because it is difficult to make changes when I'm still trying to learn the circuit. We'll change the suspension settings tomorrow to try and make the bike ride the bumps better and I'm confident the times will come down."

PETER CLIFFORD ­ DIRECTOR OF RACING

"It's great to see Garry getting back to his best after all his injury problems and he's already a second faster than he was in the first qualifying session here last year. For John to be such a short distance off the pace on his first visit to such a difficult circuit is another excellent performance."