|
|
2007-01-22 MotoGP test: Honda riders impressions after day 1 in Sepang
 Be first to comment this story
The Honda riders equipped with the RC212V four-cylinder 800cc machines they will campaign in the 18-round MotoGP World Championship began their preparations for the 2007 season at Malaysian circuit today. The six riders, from four different teams, together with Kenny Roberts Jnr riding the Honda powered KR212V, took to the 5.548km track chasing a base set up to work from during the three-day test.
World Champion Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda was the fastest RC212V rider on day one of three. The American was riding for the first time since the last Sepang test in mid-November. Today Hayden did some engine comparison work and a limited tyre testing but the Champions main focus was easing himself back into testing after the shoulder operation he underwent in early December. Nicky finished the day a little frustrated not to improve on his good early pace in the morning, but remained upbeat about the work ahead.
Hayden’s team mate, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, a former triple world champion in the smaller classes with two 250cc and one 125cc crown to his credit, spent the opening day of the test reacquainting himself with the RC212V he last rode at Jerez on November 30 last year. Dani hasn't ridden the 800cc machine at Sepang before having missed the November test at the circuit due to correctional surgery to his arms. He made minor chassis adjustments and tried a few Michelins, but the main testing menu for Pedrosa will begin tomorrow.
The Gresini Honda riders had a quiet day at Sepang both riders choosing to establish the best possible base line to work from. The Gresini Honda team will race with Bridgestone tyres in 2007 and the riders and riders have had to adjust to both the characteristics of the new 800cc machine and the feel of the Bridgestone’s.
Marco Melandri worked hard on chassis and front suspension settings in addition to fine tuning the feed back he was getting from the clutch while Toni Elias worked to perfect the settings that he and his technicians ended the November 2006 RC212V test at the same venue.
Team Roberts gave their all-new KR212V its first outing. The new machine, a RC212V engine housed in a Team Roberts chassis that the team built from scratch in just 90 days. Team personnel feel that the new machine is closer to ‘Ready to race’ than at the same point in 2006 with the KR211V.
Team rider Kenny Roberts Junior put the machine through its paces and despite the late start to 2007 testing the former 500cc world champion set a very respectable shake down lap time of 2m 04.088s as he got back into the swing of riding.
LCR Honda rider Carlos Checa took his RC212V to the track for the first test of the year and spent his day trying to get more comfortable on the four-cylinder 800cc machine. Despite a late morning crash at turn one the unscathed Checa went on to work on tyres in a bid to gain confidence in the front end of his Honda.
Among the Honda riders Japanese star Shinya Nakano (Konica Minolta Honda) has the most to learn in a short time. Nakano is making his Honda debut in 2007, riding on Michelin rubber for the first time, and for a completely new team. On the opening day of the test Nakano concentrated on the front end of his RC212V chasing a base set up before moving on to tyre testing tomorrow.
Honda rider quotes and lap times.
Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 2m 03.413s - 73 laps
I'm happy to be on a bike again and excited to be back with my boys and the team - I really enjoyed riding out there today. This morning felt pretty good but this afternoon we didn't quite go forwards as much as I'd have liked to. We've got some work to do to be ready for the season. I went at about the same pace as I did here in November - I did that lap quite early in the day, and then didn't go faster which was slightly frustrating. The shoulder feels ok - the pain has gone away, though it still feels a little weak. That's one of the reasons I didn't go crazy with the number of laps because the doctor told me to take it pretty easy. Sometimes shoulders can take a while to heal but it wasn't hurting me on the lap times - I was just getting tired a little quicker than usual. It actually felt better today than I thought it would so we're looking good for the rest of the test.
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 2m 03.620s - 77 laps.
I felt that it had been a long time not riding so I took it slowly today, especially in the morning. We were just going back to basics and getting used to the work and the feelings from the bike. We also did some tyre testing for Michelin. As I was not at the test here in November I was getting a feeling for the new RC212V at this circuit too. The feeling of the track has changed a little with this bike, and you notice the braking points have moved. The bike also feels quite different to the last test in Jerez because the gears ratios are quite long here so the force under acceleration is slightly changed. You really feel that the 800 has less power than the 990 at this track, and also the bike feels better in some ways too. It was good to get back in the saddle today and I'm looking forward to making some good progress over the rest of the test.
Carlos Checa, LCR Honda: 2m 04.10s - 54 laps.
This is my second test on the RC212V after the Sepang test in November and I still am trying to understand and adapt to the machine. Trying to get used to its engine braking, clutch and so on. The character of a Honda machine is different from that of Ducati and Yamaha so I am trying to understand a lot of things. When I first tested the RC212V, it felt very tight for me and I was riding like a camel, I mean too tight to ride . During the braking all my weight went to the front and I was awkward but now I got used to its riding position and feel more comfortable. Today I was using standard tyres and I need to have more grip on the front. This is the area where I need more confidence. Anyway I am so happy to be back on Honda and Michelin. Lucio, Ramon and other staff are working so hard and I am very motivated.
Lucio Cecchinello, LCR team owner manager.
We still have a lot of things to do but today was very positive. The RC212V has a lot of potential and we are trying to pull out its full possibility. Although Carlos and the team must understand about the machine more, I am very optimistic about the progress. Tomorrow, we hope to mark better lap times. To improve cornering speed is the factor to get better lap times.
Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda: 2m 04.138s - 58laps
This morning I was doing a kind of run-in and I started to test seriously from the afternoon changing front suspension setting and so on. I have found the basic set up so we will start tyre testing tomorrow. Tomorrow it looks like we are getting new tyres. The engine feeling of the RC212V is very good and I can get superb rear traction. The balance between suspension and the engine is good and the exit out of a corner is very comfortable. I still have to improve the corner entry set-up. Today was very hot but I have trained at an island in Malaysia before coming here in order to get used to the heat. Today’s lap time was 2minues 4 seconds, so I want to mark low 2 minutes 3 second tomorrow.
GianLuca Montiron, Konica Minolta Honda team manager.
This is our second outing on the RC212V and we have found the basic set-up today. Machine character and tyre are different to Shinya so we must move forward step by step. Still today’s testing was very positive and I am looking forward to tomorrow.
Kenny Roberts Jnr, Team Roberts: 2m 04.088s.
I think that technically we got a lot done for our first day. We tried a total of three swing-arms and two linkages today so we got some of the bigger items out of the way. We still need to try a new fabricated chassis tomorrow, or at least by the end of the remaining two days. Basically, the times this morning were ok and I was getting down to quite a few low 2m 04s laps. I'm just stuck right there at the moment. We've just got to get the bike going round the corners a little bit faster. With these bikes it's all corner speed - you never really square anything off like on the V5 used to do and if you're spinning it you've got to figure out how to not spin it. With a handful more power you could get away with more mistakes than you can at the moment - consistency wise. It's been a pretty standard first day. I probably would have liked to have gotten into the 2m 03s laps, so we've got to see if we can get the bike going round the corners a little bit better tomorrow, which we will. The first day here is always just getting back into the swing of things. We've got a lot on our plate trying to build a bike and come out ready to go on the first day.
Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: 2m 04.02s – 66 laps.
We did quite a good job today I think. It's been nice come back and ride my bike after almost two months away. The first day has been a little difficult, especially because it's hot. The bike feels pretty good but still we have a few problems. Mainly I don't completely like how the clutch is working so we have been looking at that today, and still we have some more to do. Also the front fork feeling is not wonderful at the moment but I think that feeling might be originating from the clutch which is not allowing me to get a good balance under braking, so the bike is moving a lot. I think it will be better from the next test. We did not test too many Bridgestone tyres today but still if everything is ok on the chassis side we will test a lot more tyres tomorrow.
Toni Elias, Gresini Honda: 2m 04.710s – 70 laps.
After two months off this was the first day of testing so I was just getting familiar with riding the bike again. We don't know this new bike that well yet so we will try over this test to get a better understanding of how the bike works - what are the good points and the not-so-good points. And they'll we'll work on the not-so-good points. Also we are working with Bridgestone to find the best tyres for the bike. Today I used the same tyres as the ones I used in the November tests. Tomorrow I will start the full tyre testing programme with many more variations. Today was useful to get a feel riding again and work on base settings but we will continue with the real testing schedule for the next two days.
1. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki 2m 02.277s.
2. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki 2m 03.049s.
3. Valentino Rossi - Yamaha Racing 2m 03.184s.
4. Colin Edwards - Yamaha Racing 2m 03.337s.
5. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda 2m 03.413s.
6. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro 2m 03.538s.
7. Randy De Puniet - Kawasaki Racing 2m 03.542s.
8. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda 2m 03.620s.
9. Makoto Tamada - Yamaha Tech3 2m 03.785s.
10. Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro 2m 03.944s.
11. Alex Hofmann - Pramac d'Antin 2m 04.003s.
12. Alex Barros - Pramac d'Antin 2m 04.011s.
13. Kenny Roberts Jr. - Team Roberts 2m 04.088s.
14. Carlos Checa - Honda LCR 2m 04.101s.
15. Shinya Nakano - Konica Minolta Honda 2m 04.138s.
16. Marco Melandri - Gresini Honda 2m 04.270s.
17. Shinichi Ito - Bridgestone MotoGP 2m 04.641
18. Toni Elías - Gresini Honda 2m 04.710s.
19. Olivier Jacque - Kawasaki Racing 2m 04.718s.
20. Sylvain Guintoli - Yamaha Tech3 2m 07.403s.
|
Back to MotoGP news home
|
|
YZR-M1 Valentino Rossi 2008
Diecast model of Valentino Rossi 2008 Yamaha YZR-M1 in scale 1:12 from Minichamps. Get this fantastic bike Rossi rode to 2008 MotoGP title.
Buy - More details
HighRevs Shop
|
