|
|
2008-02-17 Nicky Hayden fastest on opening day of Jerez test
 Be first to comment this story
 First official MotoGP test in 2008 at Jerez took place in dry but windy conditions, which allowed riders to put lot of laps in preparation for forthcomming season opener in Qatar. Nicky Hayden led his first day of the testing with time 1:39.200, which is still slower than lap record set by Loris Capirossi on 990cc machine back in 2006 (1:39.064). Randy de Puniet was second, having another impressive outing on Honda, in front of two Yamaha riders, Colin Edwards and James Toseland. Top riders set their fastest times on qualifiers. All riders, including still recovering Pedrosa and Hopkins, were present on test. Read rider impressions after first day of Jerez test.
Nicky Hayden - 1st -1:39.200s, 107 laps:
All in all, a pretty positive day. I would definitely say this was the best first day of tests we’ve had so far this year. And we knew it was important, because the weather experts are saying there’s a really good chance of rain the next two days. I tried a different chassis, it felt slightly better with a little more feel on the front, so we used that most of the day and it felt pretty good. We went through a few other things, not making big changes because we’re getting closer to the season now, just a few little settings changes, and when I thought things felt better the stopwatch normally went along with it, which is always good. At the end I did race distance and it didn’t feel too bad. We were able to get into the 40s on race tyres, though we still need to get in there a little deeper, we still need to improve a bit.
Randy De Puniet - 2nd - 1:39.444, 82 laps:
I am quite satisfied today. Since the first laps in the morning I felt that the bike was much better than the last test in November. I started to set good lap times on race tyres and my pace was very consistent. Once I came out with a new compound rear tyre I immediately cut six tenths of a second compared with the best lap time of last November and I felt surprised about it. Honestly my pace on race tyres has been impressive since the first run-out on this bike. Then, at the end of the session, I lapped on qualifiers clocking up some consistent and fast lap times. We got the new engine here but I was expecting something different. The power delivery is very smooth and like it but the maximum power has to be improved. We will work on it.
Jorge Lorenzo - 3rd - 1:39.528, 94 laps:
This morning things didn’t start so well and I had a few problems, especially with the wind, but step-by-step we made some changes and I started to improve and feel better and better. We made some good changes to the bike and the chassis and finally we started to make improvements with the front end in the braking areas. We made a big step with the engine as well today, and we have some more power now. I have gained confidence today and I think in the end it’s been my best day so far. After the problems we had in Sepang, I can’t believe that we made such a good time on race tyres and the third best on qualifying tyres! Like I said, it was my best day despite the problems this morning but tomorrow I would like to have an even better one where everything is good right from the start!
Colin Edwards - 4th - 1:39.629, 78 laps:
My lap time looks good and I’m happy with that but we have got plenty of room to improve. My pace wasn’t bad but strangely it wasn’t as good as my pace in November, and I have got an improved engine and electronics. I’ll have a sit down at the computer tonight with my team to see if we can resolve some of the small issues we have. To be honest I can’t really put my finger on it and we are a little bit confused. But I know we can gain more time. The bike just seems a bit nervous going into the corner and the lap time is not coming as easy as it did in November. But that’s why we go testing, though even with the problems we are still sitting in the top four which shows we are not in a bad position at all. I just want to be able to make the lap time a bit easier. Michelin is making a lot of progress with the qualifying tyres, and I think we have found a good direction for the season.
James Toseland - 5th - 1:39.678, 91 laps:
It is a massive boost for me. I’ve made a big jump in time on race and qualifying tyres compared to November. I’m happy to finish fifth quickest but to be second for most of the day on race tyres is more important for me. I also did a long run and was pleased with my consistency, because it wasn’t the best part of the day with the conditions pretty windy when I was out. My best time on race tyres in November was a 1.41.2, so to do a 1.40.7 is really encouraging. I was also a lot faster on my qualifying tyres so that shows the progress I’m making with the team. It just shows what work we have put in over the last few tests. It has not been easy to adapt but with the experience of the team and especially my crew chief Guy Coulon, they are teaching me fast and it shows in the lap times. The time has come from the new traction control system that I didn’t run in November, and a lot has come from me. I know how late I can brake and how the package reacts in certain situations. I can do things sub-consciously rather than wondering what is going to happen at that speed. When it is like that you can progress and go faster and faster.
Alex De Angelis - 6th - 1:40.165, 75 laps:
It has been a positive but difficult day because of the strong wind that was present throughout the session. It was really interesting to try out the new Honda engine, which as we expected is better than the previous version in every aspect. However, we still need some more kilometres on it and some different circuits to confirm the results from this test. We also had some really positive feedback from the new material from Bridgestone.
Shinya Nakano - 7th - 1:40.192, 82 laps:
I’m really happy to be here in the new colours of Team San Carlo Honda Gresini. Today we completed a lot of laps because the weather forecast for tomorrow is not so good. I’m happy with the new Honda engine because it is easier to make the most of the power. We also tested the latest batch of tyres from Bridgestone – qualifying and race rubber - and the results were positive in both cases.
Valentino Rossi - 8th - 1:40.641, 92 laps:
It’s good to be here on my birthday because I love to ride my bike and I had fun today. I had a special helmet with the design of a birthday cake on it, so this was my way to celebrate today! For the first day it’s not so bad at all, I feel good with the tyres and the balance and power of the engine is also okay. Of course we’re not at 100% and we need to improve in some areas, especially in the entry to the corner where we’re not yet at the maximum. We tried a new generation of Bridgestone qualifying tyre today, whilst tomorrow we will have the more standard tyre, which we were very fast with in Sepang, so I think we will be able to fight with the others in the ‘qualifying’ session. Overall we’ve made a very good start and I feel confident that we can continue to be even faster tomorrow.
Casey Stoner - 9th - 1:40.651, 66 laps:
Basically we've just been trying to get the bike to work around this circuit. We struggled here last year and it's been a case of trying to find out why. The Bridgestone tyres work well here but at the moment the bike is not at the best level. We tend to lose grip and I have problems turning into the corners. It is one of the more even circuits so we've been working on the chassis balance and we made some big steps late in the day. We'd hoped to do some racing tyre testing today but that had to be put on one side while we worked this thing out and at the end of the day I'm happy with what we've achieved. You can definitely feel the extra competition here and you can see that the riders are out there to perform. Having all the riders out there, with the sponsors and the fans looking on, it definitely gives you extra motivation. Our position could be a lot better but at the moment we're not worried. The forecast for tomorrow doesn't look good but if it stays fine the plan is to pick up the tyre testing and try some of Bridgestone's qualifiers out for the shootout in the afternoon. Hopefully when we get up in the morning the bike feels good from the start and allows us to focus on the job.
Andrea Dovizioso - 10th - 1:40.767, 58 laps:
I’ve never had a good feeling with the Jerez circuit, but riding this RC212V I was almost immediately in a position to ride very fast and have a lot of fun. We didn’t want to run qualifying tyres, but instead we decided to concentrate on the setting to find a good balance between the new technical items we have now. I’m very satisfied with the engine – it’s more powerful than the previous one for sure. We are also working on different tyre solutions with Michelin to allow me to be both fast and consistent. We have been trying different profiles and both the 16 and 16.5-inch rim sizes. We have been improving, even if we have some small problems and we’re quite close to the lap times you usually do here in Jerez in race trim, so that is very positive.
Loris Capirossi - 11th - 1:40.843, 64 laps:
It was not an easy day for us. We worked a lot on setting up the bike and we found some good solutions at the end of the day. We will continue to work on things tomorrow and we are really hoping for good weather so we can continue with what we have found today. We have some ideas to modify the bike. It is harder than we expected here at the moment, but we think we have a way to go to get out of this situation as quick as possible.
Dani Pedrosa - 12th - 1:41.352, 37 laps:
The priority here is to check my physical condition. The hand still isn’t 100 per cent, today I couldn’t really do more than five laps at a time. The hand is very painful, especially during braking and direction changes. I am icing it after every ride in an attempt to keep the swelling to a minimum. I will continue icing it tonight and we will see how it is tomorrow morning. If the swelling is okay and I feel okay, we will continue riding. Today I was just trying to ride at a safe pace for my condition, so we weren’t really able to do any work on the bike or with tyres.
Marco Melandri - 13th - 1:41.392, 83 laps:
I'm quite satisfied with the work we have done, which was all on race tyres, because I can see that we are making progress. We're still lacking a little consistency because the pace on new rubber is quite decent but we're struggling too much when the tyres go off. It's mainly a problem on the rear, which doesn't give me great feeling in the middle of the corner, but on the front we've found a geometry setting that I think is more well-balanced compared to anything we've tried previously in testing. I didn't use a qualifying tyre because my objective is not to set a single fast lap, or to win the car tomorrow. I'm confident that when we find the pace in race trim it will come automatically on a qualifier too.
Toni Elias – 14th - 1:41.703, 91 laps :
I am satisfied with the work done today. It has been a positive day even if we have to improve our position in the standing. The majority of the riders have already ridden in Jerez with their new bikes in November, while for us it was the first time. We are on the right way and tomorrow morning we will try to find the right set up to have some fun during the 40 minutes of afternoon official testing. Also Bridgestone tyres have answered well today.
Anthony West - 15th - 1:41.821, 84 laps:
This morning we managed to make some small improvements to the set-up of the bike here at Jerez, before switching our attention to tyre testing for Bridgestone. We tested a number of new tyre combinations, with positive results, and I’m sure the data we collected will prove useful to Bridgestone’s development process. Tomorrow we will return to fine-tuning the bike for the characteristics of the Jerez circuit, which is very different in character to Sepang and Phillip Island. With John being injured we have many settings to try and we want to make the best use of the track time so we can be in contention right from the first race.
John Hopkins - 16th - 1:41.901, 29 laps:
The injury has caused me a few more problems than I was expecting today and it’s still quite painful. My main aim has to be to regain full fitness for the first race, so although I will definitely continue testing tomorrow, it may be that we call it a day early if the injury continues to be a problem. It’s definitely been a case of riding through the pain barrier today, but I don’t want to jeopardise the recovery process by pushing too hard too soon. On a more positive note we did manage to test some parts today, we’ll just have to see how the injury feels before we make a decision on what to do next.
Chris Vermeulen - 15th - 1:41.763, 79 laps:
As Loris says, it was a difficult day today with the new bike. We were one of the only teams not to come here in November and that showed. We’ve had some good points out of the new bike and also some tricky areas, and we have worked on those here. It seems that we are struggling most on the edge grip, we can’t really get the grip we want and then apply the power. We made some big steps this afternoon and halved the gap from where we were this morning, now we just need to find the other half on a race-tyre. Hopefully tomorrow will be dry and the forecast is wrong so we can get another day’s full testing in – because we really need it!
Sylvain Guintoli – 20th - 1:42.698, 68 laps:
Today it hasn’t been a great day. I have tried different settings, but nothing made us improve our lap times. Now I want to relax a bit to be able to be in the best physical conditions possible for the first official laps of the season.
Jerez: Lap Record
V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2005, 1:40.596
Jerez: Best Lap
L. Capirossi (Ducati) 2006, 1:39.064
Day 1 - Jerez test lap times
1. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1:39.200
2. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1:39.444
3. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1:39.528
4. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1:39.629
5. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1:39.678
6. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:40.165
7. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:40.192
8. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1:40.641
9. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1:40.651
10. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1:40.767
11. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1:40.843
12. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1:41.352
13. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1:41.392
14. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1:41.703
15. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1:41.763
16. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1:41.821
17. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1:41.901
18. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing 1:42.557
19. Niccolò Canepa (ITA) Ducati Test 1:42.652
20. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1:42.698
|
Back to MotoGP news home
|
|
|
