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2008-09-02 Pedrosa-Bridgestone combination works from day 1
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 Spaniard Dani Pedrosa made his debut on Bridgestone tyres at the MotoGP test held at the Misano circuit, Italy, venue for the GP of San Marino held on Sunday. Pedrosa ran a total of 81 laps testing both the spring valve engine and the latest version of the RC212V with pneumatic valves. Pedrosa’s best time with the spring valve engine was1m 35.555s, which he lowered to 1m 34.652s riding the RCV with pneumatic valves.
The San Carlo Gresini Honda team were also in action and spent the day testing a variety of Bridgestone tyres. Japanese star Shinya Nakano, who experienced vibration problems in race, was pleased with the results of the test and goes into the Indianapolis GP on September 14 in buoyant mood. Nakano’s team mate, Alex De Angelis, had dedicated the entire day testing qualifying tyres and, despite being unable to better his qualifying time for the race, was confident that he and Bridgestone will have a much better package to work with in coming races.
LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet concentrated on checking a range of Ohlins suspension units and new Brembo brake calipers in preparation for the forthcoming flyaway races in Indianapolis USA, Japan, Australia and Malaysia. De Puniet crashed in yesterdays GP of San Marino injuring his right hand which hampered brake testing but the Frenchman was content with the progress made with suspension and the Michelin tyres with a new construction.
Kawasaki riders were also present in Misano. Hopkins was keen to make up for track time lost recently to his Assen and Brno injuries, and spent the five hours on track running through an extensive test programme, concentrating particularly on improving the front-end stability of his machine. West used the time on track to eradicate the front-end problems that have hampered his progress at this circuit. The 27-year-old Australian worked closely with his crew to test various different chassis components, and, although he has not managed to find a complete solution to the confidence issues that have stopped him from pushing the front of his Ninja ZX-RR harder, he has made significant steps forward in set-up.
Dani Pedrosa - 1:34.652, lap 76 of 81:
I’m happy starting this new challenge and I would like to thank Bridgestone. Today we also made an important step forward in developing the 2009 bike, but now my first priority is to be fully competitive again. Of course, there is a lot of work to do but I am determined to win again this year. Today we worked hard on bike set-up. The feeling with the new tyres on my RC212V is different, both for settings and for riding style, but I just tried to follow my feelings and adjust the set-up accordingly.
Today was only my first day riding on Bridgestone tyres but I am happy. I also tested the pneumatic-valve engine. The engine character is different, the power delivery is a bit more aggressive, but the engine has some good points. I have no experience on this latest bike, so I had to test many new things today. This has been an important test. Now we will analyse all the data and we look forward to the next race at Indianapolis.
Shinya Nakano - 1:35.446, lap 23 of 53.
We cured the vibration problem we had in the race yesterday and then started to test tyres for Bridgestone. Not new tyres but making short runs with existing tyres to check various things on settings. At the end of the day I was quite fast and ran the same times I did in qualifying for the race. I will go to Indy with a very positive feeling.
John Hopkins - 1:35.879, 69 laps:
Today we had a lot of work to do as I've missed so much time on track recently. Our focus was mainly on the front-end of the machine, and we have refined our setting from this weekend by changing the way the chassis is set up. We also started work on using a Bridgestone front tyre option that both Valentino (Rossi) and Casey (Stoner) use. This meant we had to alter the bike a lot, but we are now the only team using the old type of tyre, basically because we've not had any chance to test. This new specification tyre is definitely the future for us, but unfortunately it can't be in my allocation until we're completely happy with the way the machine handles with it. I'm pleased with the results of today's test, but still have a lot of catching up to do with the upgraded bike. I'm really excited about Indianapolis, particularly as it's my home round, and we'll be looking to achieve strong results there.
Anthony West - 1:36.101, 76 laps:
We've basically spent the test time today trying to improve the feedback from the front-end of the bike. We also tried a different swing-arm, but this didn't really make any significant difference for us. We have some more direction with how we can move forward with the front-end troubles and I felt a lot more confident going into the turns, which resulted in a quicker lap time than we managed in the race. We also evaluated a few different Bridgestone tyre options, and the conclusion is positive, but we still have more work to do. I'm looking forward to Indianapolis, particularly because it's an even field as no-one has previous track experience there, and we'll be looking to gain a strong finish.
Randy de Puniet - 1:35.972, lap 28 of 48:
I tested many things today but could not give my maximum because of my injured right hand. But I was happy with the new Michelin tyres which have a different construction than we have run before. The rest of the day was spent checking out a lot of suspension parts from Ohlins and new Brembo brakes with larger pistons. But obviously I cannot say too much about the brakes because of my injured hand.
Alex De Angelis - 1:36.972, lap 37 of 41:
I only tested qualifying tyres today but didn’t improve my best qualifying time of the weekend. The problem is that I am much faster on race tyres than the qualifying rubber, incredible but true. Coming from the 250 class I have no experience of qualifying tyres so it is taking me time to learn. The rear qualifying tyre pushes the front and this makes it difficult for me when I try to steer the bike into the corner because the front end turns in. But today was very positive for both me and Bridgestone and we learned a lot from the test.
Misano test classification:
1. Dani Pedrosa - 1:34.652
2. Shinya Nakano - 1:35.446
3. John Hopkins - 1:35.879
4. Randy De Puniet - 1:35.972
5. Anthony West - 1:36.101
6. Alex De Angelis - 1:36.120
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