800 MotoGP bikes already faster than last year’s 1000s
from Automotive (1559 articles)
800 MotoGP bikes already faster than last year’s 1000s
Image Gallery ( 38 images )Loris Capirossi, Ducati Marlboro, (7th fastest - 1m 39.887) "The important thing is that this morning we found the right direction to solve the set-up problems we experienced yesterday. Now we are happy enough with our race pace - we can lap in the low one minute 41s and that's not so bad - so we have achieved a good target. We knew that the situation with qualifying tyres could be a bit more difficult and, even though we've made some progress, it's clear that we need to continue working with Bridgestone in this area to be fully competitive, because at the moment we suffer a lot at tracks without a lot of grip. Another thing that will be difficult at the start of the season is dealing with the new tyre regulations which give us a limited number of tyres at each race, but that's the same for everyone."
Chris Vermeulen, Suzuki Rizla, (8th, 1m 40.043) “I haven’t used qualifiers all winter on the 800 so it was a good session for me, as I got to learn a lot about them. I used five rear qualifying tyres in the whole 40 minutes so we made full use of it. We tried four different compounds and constructions, and we got a lot of information for Bridgestone. It was quite difficult during the session as there were some spots of rain and I actually pulled in on one of my laps as there was quite a bit of rain on one of the corners and I didn’t want to risk anything. It’s the quickest lap I’ve ever done at Jerez, quicker than my qualifying here last year, so it shows we are making progress and with a clear lap I am sure I could go even quicker! Although we have learned a lot from the qualifiers our main focus is still to get the best tyre we can to do 27 quick laps in the race!”
Paul Denning, Suzuki Rizla Team Manager “Today’s timed session was a great opportunity to see all the MotoGP riders riding at 100% and pushing their abilities to the maximum. More importantly for us it helped us verify a qualifying tyre choice, not only for here but the general direction for the season. Chris performed strongly and dependably today, lapping at just over 0.1 of a second away from the fastest Bridgestone rider and finishing in the top-eight is not a bad result at all. We also got through some good testing today with consistently good results. Everything we have done here this week will certainly help both Chris and John when the season starts at Qatar in two weeks time.”
Kenny Roberts Jnr, Team Kenny Roberts KR212V (9th, 1m 40.083) “When we were satisfied with the chassis performance we basically spent the day tyre testing. I ran qualifying tyres for the first time and I’m happy with the results. We also put in a long run on development tyres and that was good too. Testing has been good for us and we are a long way ahead of where we were at this stage last year but you can have too much testing – now its time to go racing and we’re ready. I’m really looking forward to Qatar.”
Carlos Checa, LCR Honda (10th, 1m 40.100) "Today we mainly worked on tyres testing with Michelin. We got some improvements in the front end but it's not fixed yet. My pace on race tyres is pretty good but I still struggle on qualifiers. Anyway I feel satisfied because this time I upped my pace on qualifiers compared to the rest of the winter tests and this is positive. Now we must find a solution for the engine because I need more power especially on fast tracks such as Qatar, Istanbul and Shanghai. Honestly we did a great job during the winter to adapt to this new machine but I could go faster and hope that HRC can help me somehow".
Toni Elias, Gresini Honda (11th, 1m 40.202) “We are struggling a bit because we need to adjust the bike to the new tyres so we need to work a lot on suspension and chassis. All in all, I’m confident because the Bridgestone technicians are working very hard and the team is doing a great job”.
Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda (12th, 1m 40.242) “I’m quite disappointed about my performance on qualifying tyres, but I could never put a perfect lap together. Also with qualifying tyres fitted the balance of the bike wasn’t so good with a return of some chatter at the front-end of the bike. Thankfully in the afternoon we concentrated once more on race tyres and settings. With two tyres to test I did two series of 10 consistent laps and we learned a lot from that, so I’m quite happy and confident about our performance come the race here at the end of next month.”
Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda (14th, 1m 40.396) “It was a difficult day but this 3 day testing session very important to collect data and understand many things about the bike. This afternoon I also made a race simulation and we improved the race rhythm. We need to make a step forward with the qualifying tyre but I’m confident that the Bridgestone technicians will do their best. I’m confident because I trust a lot my team and our partners”.
