Continuity for Konica Minolta Honda

Few things will change in the Konica Minolta Honda team for the 2006 MotoGP season. Makoto Tamada, who faces his fourth year in the series will once again be the only representative on the track for the Italio-Japanese outfit.

The team’s first session of pre-season work will be carried out next week at the Sepang Test. This is in contrast to the majority of teams in the same category, which started testing in November.

Luca Montiron, team manager, has praised the agreement reached with its main sponsor, Konica Minolta, which assures the continuity of their project. Montiron has underlined the importance that having a Japanese technology multinational as a sponsor, the first such occasion in MotoGP, implicates.

“Over the last few months, it has been evident that there hasn’t been sufficient stability to establish a medium-long term programme,” said Montiron. “Finally, we have to be thankful to Konica Minolta and to Honda for renewing their confidence in our project and in our framework.

“In 2006, JiR will increase their commitment to the services that they offer to Konica Minolta and their other sponsors. We are convinced that MotoGP will keep growing, as it has done in previous seasons, and JiR want to be prepared for the new reality in the most professional way in order to benefit our sponsors.”

Montiron believes that this second adventure in the higher category reflects the potential of the team and their rider. “With this technical and sporting level, the group of workers that engineer Giulo Bernadelle directs can count on all the support necessary to allow Makoto Tamada to exploit the Honda RC211V to the fullest,” he said.

Tamada also awaits the start of the new season with excitement, which signals a change of course in his MotoGP career. “Through this revitalizing winter break I have had the necessary time to recharge my batteries,” he said. “I have cared a lot for my physical preparation and I am confident and convinced that we will be able to have a good run, after an experience last season that was not too positive.

“It is an important moment for me, and I consider 2006 to be a turning point in my career. I have never stopped believing in myself and in the possibilities for the team. I owe a debt of gratitude to Honda and Konica Minolta who have renewed their confidence in me.”