"Capirossi ready for Rizla Suzuki home debut "

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Loris Capirossi Suzuki stars will make its debut in his home country of Italy next weekend as the MotoGP circus starts a strenuous six Grands Prix in eight weeks.

Capirossi has enjoyed great success in his home in Mugello circuit since its debut in the circuit of Tuscany in 1991. The Italian experience has recorded nine podium finishes, including victory there in the first class in 2000.

Capirossi has never finished lower than eighth position 9 - in a race completed - and is looking to add to his tally of podiums next Sunday. Chris Vermeulen will visit the Italian circuit for only the third time in his career and is looking to build on their performance last year, when qualified in the front row of the grid in wet conditions and then raced to a big finish in eighth place dry.

Mugello is located in the stunning Tuscan countryside, just north of Florence, one of the most perfect settings for any race-track in the MotoGP calendar, and witnessed the locomotion of Motorcycle Grand Prix, as about 5245m long circuit is one of the "must-see" events of any race in motor sports.

Rizla Suzuki MotoGP takes to the track on Friday for two-hour free practice sessions, with a further practice on Saturday morning. On Saturday afternoon then the important stage qualifying session, where riders will determine their grid positions for Sunday the 23 lap race that was going to 14.00hrs local time (12.00 GMT) on June 1.

Loris Capirossi: "I'm really looking forward to racing a Suzuki in Italy for the first time, is a great moment for me and I know that there will be many fans there. The bike is improving all the time, but we still have to make improvements. I Like Mugello and hopefully we can make great strides in that country and give the Italians and Suzuki fans something to cheer. I am very determined to do well at my home Grand Prix and is doing everything possible to make it happen! "

Chris Vermeulen: "We have made some important steps in Le Mans, both in the race and test after they put us in a much better position to Mugello. The potential that showed in France was a boost for the whole team but we still have enough work to be done to close the gap compared with boys. Mugello is a hard road to walk on the highest level, but I got the hang of it in the race last year and I am sure there Loris on the team with his' home 'Advantage will be of great help! "


Fiat Yamaha look to continue winning streak in Italy

The Fiat Yamaha team head at his home Grand Prix at Mugello in Italy this weekend to continue to seek the most successful ever start to a MotoGP World Championship for the Japanese factory.

Yamaha riders have won three of the first five races of the year, after taking pole in four of them, and have struck up to nine podiums - including a major and three blockages in the last round in France.

Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo who currently occupy the top two positions in the championship, while Yamaha are carrying both the Constructors and the teams classification. The journey of 300 km Mugello team's current base in Milan has traditionally been a success for the factory, which have dominated over the past four seasons with Rossi.

The Italian registry at his home race is insurmountable, with an unbeaten six seasons in MotoGP add to victories in each of the 125cc and 250cc classes. Back-to-back successes in the last two rounds this season means that for the first time in over a year, Rossi leads the world championship, although only three points separated from his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, which is linked to points with Dani Pedrosa.

Lorenzo's tally of 94 points is the highest score after five races by a novice and whatever the outcome in Italy 21 years old, plans to make more history as the youngest pilot ever to reach the milestone of 100 Grand Prix starts. Lorenzo has a strong record at Mugello, having gone from his debut in 250cc pole to second place in 2005 before taking the victory from pole in 2006.

However, last year began out of 20 following a rain-affected qualifying session and then slipped off the lead in the final round, re-mounting to finish eighth. One of the fastest circuits of the calendar, with a straight face 1141m last year tempting the new 800cc machines upwards at speeds exceeding 320 kilometers per hour, Mugello differs from other fast circuits in its frequent changes of gradient and speed its chicanes.

There is a combination of slow and high speed corners, although even the slowest corners are still wide - allowing a large margin to advance the runners get as an option line, putting the emphasis on his ability as the accuracy of their chassis set-up.

Valentino Rossi "Le Mans was fantastic and I am still feeling very happy when I think about it! We had a good test and then did a lot of hard work with Bridgestone and generally fixing our bike, so hopefully we were able to improve our package further. Everybody knows that Mugello is one of my favorite tracks, I won there six times in a row and now I want to make seven! It's my home race and also the home race for a lot of our team and for career there is always something very special. It's fast and technical know that suits our bike and will be designed to be fast since Friday morning. I hope the weather is good - for us and for all fans -- And then hopefully we can have a great game Italian! "