Canepa goes in cold to Motegi weekend

Niccoló Canepa is the only entrant in the premier class race at Motegi with no prior experience of the track, and has already suffered from incompatibility of sorts in the lead-up to the Polini Grand Prix of Japan.

Luckily for the Italian, the irreconcilable difference is not between his Ducati Desmosedici GP9 satellite machine and the far eastern circuit, but rather in his planned preparation for the event.

”The Japanese weekend hasn’t started too well; I brought my Playstation to learn the Motegi circuit on the MotoGP game, but unluckily my system is different compared to here and I am not able to play. Therefore I will have to learn all the secrets of the track on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning's free sessions,” reveals the Pramac Racing rookie, who rides at an untested track for the first time in 2009.

”It’s a pity. Anyway, from what I have seen on television it doesn't seem like a technical circuit and this can help a new rider like me. To start from zero is never easy but I will try to do much better compared to my debut in Qatar, where I didn't perform too well."

Canepa made his MotoGP debut at the opening round of the season last Monday, but was left dissatisfied after finishing seventeenth in the postponed night race.