Hayate delighted with team spirit
Added on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Hayate delighted with team spirit
Hayate Racing manager Andrea Dosoli described the team’s first ever podium as “like a dream” following Marco Melandri’s second place finish at Le Mans.
After a nightmare pre-season for Melandri following Kawasaki’s surprise withdrawal from the championship, the Italian was rescued by the privateer Hayate team who took over the running of the Kawasaki racing operations.
Few expected any meaningful results from the unsupported Kawasaki team but Melandri has surprised the experts over the opening four rounds, claiming three top six finishes including his first podium since October 2007.
Melandri also became the first Kawasaki pilot to achieve a rostrum position since Shinya Nakano finished second at Assen in June 2006 but Dosoli, a man who had a heavy involvement with the Kawasaki Racing team, suggested that this weekend’s result was an even bigger achievement.
“It was a fantastic result,” Dosoli told MotoGP.com. “Marco was fast in the wet and the dry. We were not 100% sure about the wet setting, but I guess it was like that for everybody because we had no data to work on. Marco made a good start and kept up a good pace in the wet. He changed the bike maybe a little bit too early, but Jorge Lorenzo was incredibly fast so it was impossible to stay with him.”
Dosoli also told of the buoyant atmosphere in the Hayate garage, adding; “The motivation in the team is high. Everybody wants to get good results and at the moment that is happening so we are quite happy. This podium result is like a dream but we have to be realistic and we believe that our potential is top eight.”
