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Engine issues and crash hamper Nakano

The Konica Minolta team are facing a difficult Turkish Grand Prix weekend after engine problems and a crash disrupted rider Shinji Nakano's practice day

Nakano managed ninth on his spare bike in first practice, but was only 18th after his crash later on.

"Track conditions were poor this morning so most riders only went out on track during the last 30 minutes or so and this and our technical problem with the engine of our number one bike didn't allow me to get much in the way of useful data for the afternoon session," Nakano explained.

"In the afternoon I was pushing hard to try and find the limit and it was then that I crashed at the final corner. Maybe the conditions were still not perfect from the morning.

"We now have much to do tomorrow as we have to work out what tyres we want to use for the race which may be difficult as temperatures are expected to change again tomorrow and again on Sunday so these factors may well determine the results of Sunday's race."

Technical director Giulio Bernardelle agreed that the practice problems had left the team under pressure.

"This morning the track was still wet and then when the conditions were improving we had a technical problem with the engine and we had to stop using our number one machine," he said.

"Our second bike had different settings and tyres from what we wanted to try, so we didn't really gain any useful information.

"In the afternoon, Shinya crashed on the machine with the fork settings and tyres we wanted to test early in the session, so again we had to revert back to a bike which didn't have the settings on it that we wanted to evaluate.

"The fact that we haven't yet had a chance to try the tyre or settings we want to gives us hope for tomorrow, but we now have a lot to do in the two sessions."

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