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2008-05-02 Rider impressions after first day in China
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 High temperatures in Shanghai today allowed MotoGP riders to take full advantage of two hours of free practice, which, as expected, was topped by Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner. However, forecast for Sunday shows that race may take place in rainy conditions, which can mix things up. Read rider impressions after first day in Shanghai.
Valentino Rossi - 1st - 1:59.906, 47 laps:
I’m quite happy with the start we’ve made. We were able to go fast from the start this morning and the bike setting and the Bridgestone tyres are working very well together. We were faster this morning because this afternoon the temperature of the asphalt reached more than 40 degrees and in these conditions the tyres start to slide a bit, which makes it harder. Anyway we have many different tyres to try, plenty of choices and I am quite relaxed. My rhythm is very good, I can ride more or less how I want and I think we’re in good shape. It seems Stoner and I are a little bit faster than the others and so it looks like it could be another battle like last year! Our bike has more top speed here now so this is important for the long straight, but my corner speed is also good. The problem could be that the weather on Sunday might be completely different to how it is now; as usual I prefer to race in the dry but I think we are in quite good shape in the wet as well. I am sorry for Lorenzo’s crash, it was quite a bad one and now I hope that he is able to recover enough to try to race on Sunday.
Casey Stoner - 2nd - 2:00.215:
It's more comfortable for us here. The last two races didn't go well in practice but I believe they could have still been two decent results and for a variety of reasons they turned into not so good ones. We couldn't seem to get things right, no matter what we did or what we tried, but this weekend we seem to be back in control again. Front feel is a lot better here, I'm slowly getting my confidence back and I think we can continue to do that over the rest of the weekend. We're getting better and better with rear grip but we're still nowhere near perfect. We struggled last year turning the bike in the fast corners at some tracks and we're still working on it now. We're going to make a couple of big changes to one of the bikes tomorrow and hopefully that can improve the lap time.
Dani Pedrosa - 3rd - 2:00.361:
Today’s two sessions were quite good for the first day, but we still need to improve our overall package here. During both sessions we concentrated mostly on chassis set-up and tyre choice, working to improve overall performance. My pace was faster this afternoon but not quite what we had expected, so we need to keep on working. Tomorrow we will aim to make another step forward, we will try to find a couple of tenths by making some more detail chassis adjustments and by working closely with the Michelin technicians to find the best tyres. I’m feeling confident for Saturday.
John Hopkins - 5th - 2:00.591, 28 Laps:
Today we worked on setting up the machine to suit my preferences around this circuit. I really like this track and I've always gone quite well here. In the afternoon session we tried a few different Bridgestone tyre combinations to find a choice that will last the distance on Sunday. We also evaluated various parts and we've finished practice very positively. I'm feeling confident and tomorrow we need to qualify well to put us in the best possible stead for the race.
Nicky Hayden - 6th - 2:00.607:
This afternoon was quite a lot better than this morning. Even though our position isn’t a lot better, our gap to the front has come down a lot. After the morning session we changed the spring and made quite a lot of other small changes. Straight away this afternoon the bike worked a lot better and I enjoyed riding it more. I felt pretty comfortable out there. My team did a good job to make some good improvements, so thanks to them. We definitely found some good direction between FP1 and FP2, so hopefully if we can keep working in that direction we’ll be a lot closer again tomorrow. But we need another big step if we’re to really improve.
Loris Capirossi - 8th - 2:00.964:
It’s been quite a positive day for us because we have tried many things and we have found a good setting for the bike. We went a bit softer on the front set-up this afternoon and although it is still not perfect we know what needs changing on the bike tomorrow. We are not yet 100% certain on the tyre for the race, but we have a good idea and we will run it for a lot of laps tomorrow to make sure it will be right for the race. I am close to the top-guy and I made a couple of mistakes on my last two laps or I would have gone even quicker. I think this could be a great weekend for us!
Andrea Dovizioso – 9th - 2:01.027:
Obviously I’m not so happy that I wasn’t as fast in the afternoon when it was hotter. This is the way, but because my pace is consistent I know we have room to make things even better and go faster still. The main problem of the afternoon session was the big difference of temperature and this made the racetrack much slower. I’m pretty much satisfied on the balance of the bike: we have no problems at all with suspension and also during hard braking I am now entering corners without any chatter. We wanted to try many tyres solution today and we did this to have the big picture of all the possible differences we need thanks to the temperature difference. Tomorrow we will concentrate on the fine-tuning of the package in race configuration.
Colin Edwards - 10th - 2:01.064, 38 laps:
We’ve spent most of the day changing the bike to try and find grip and we haven’t had to do that all year. We are kind of in territory we haven’t been in, but we know what we need to make it better. But I’m having a bit of an issue with feeling from the front. Because we run so much temperature and there are so many hard braking points at this track, Michelin has to bring a different front tyre to what we normally run and I’m struggling with that. I can’t run the lines I want because I have to deal with the harder construction that’s been built to dissipate the heat. I feel like a lot of my problems are coming from the front and that is having a knock on affect for the rear. Grip could be better in the rear but when you are not carrying corner speed because of a lack of feel with the front, you hammer the throttle to make up for it on the exit and that just wears the rear tyre quicker. We changed the wheelbase and made it better and we’ll have a look at the computer tonight and have a chat with Michelin to see where we are. I have got five different spec rear tyres in my allocation and I only used three today so I’ve still got something in the bag and I’m sure it will be better for tomorrow. My guys at Tech 3 have been working as hard as ever and I’m sure we can find a solution.
Toni Elias – 11th - 2:01.326, 34 laps:
I am happy because we have really improved today. After Portugal we have found the right way to take. Since the morning we were in good shape and in the afternoon we have improved by almost a second, which is quite good. At the end of the second session, we had a problem that didn’t allow us to ride in the last ten minutes. It’s a pity because I could have finish in the top ten, but we have to think positive and tomorrow I hope to be even more close to the fastest riders.
Chris Vermeulen - 12th - 2:01.504:
We tried a lot of things with the bike set-up today and definitely made some big steps forward this afternoon. I used the same tyre for the whole afternoon session, which was probably not the best option as I struggled to get as much grip as I wanted when we were making so many changes to the bike. The good news is that Loris used a tyre today that I didn’t and it seemed to be a big step forward for him, and as I have it in my allocation I will run that tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to seeing the difference it makes. We are confident for this weekend and are looking forward to what should be a good race.
James Toseland - 13th - 2:01.798, 40 laps:
This track is not too bad to learn but there are two or three places where you really need track knowledge. But I’m 0.7s off Colin on a track I’ve only done 40 laps on and its more than a two minute lap, so I’m pretty pleased and confident I can move much further forward tomorrow. The main issue is learning about the bumps and getting the bike to handle them. There are a few bumps in a few tricky places and they are big enough to really upset the bike. You have to be right on a good line always to get a good lap time.
Getting the bike to manage the bumps is quite tough. The set-up I had from Portugal was quite a way off for here. I was hoping the base setting I’ve got would really gel quickly on new tracks and if it doesn’t it is quite difficult to develop the set-up, but my team are doing a great job with the time we have got. Because it is such a long lap I can’t do many laps and I’m not coming back to the bits that I’m struggling on quickly enough to learn more about what I need to improve. One of the toughest places to master is the first corner. Because you are on full lean you can’t brake that hard so if you are slightly too quick mid-corner for when it tightens up you have to pick the bike up and it ruins your corner speed.
Marco Melandri - 14th - 2:01.913:
Unfortunately we lost a lot of time today because of two important setbacks and that stopped me from getting through all the work we had planned. This morning it was a problem with the engine, which wasn't performing to its maximum potential in certain areas of the track, and we only worked out what the problem was at the end. In the afternoon we were working on weight distribution when the bike stopped. It was a silly little thing with the electronics but it broke my rhythm and I didn't have time to test tyres. But even though we only did a few, unproductive laps, we knows what works here and I'm confident that we have the information to improve the bike and the results compared to the last few races.
Anthony West - 15th - 2:01.984, 39 Laps:
Although the times are not brilliant, we are making some progress and our fastest laps have been in the closing stages of each session. Hopefully, this means there is more to come, and we can continue going faster. Our biggest problem is with the power delivery and corner exit, where I feel we are losing a lot of time due to a lack of traction. Tonight we will review the data and try to find a solution to continue moving forwards.
Sylvain Guintoli – 17th - 2:02.348, 45 laps:
This afternoon rhythm was much better compare to the first session. Mostly in the last fifteenth minutes we have found a good set up for the bike. We hope to be able to improve our position tomorrow. I am happy of the Bridgestone tyres and also of the suspensions. The bike was incredibly fast on the straight, in fact, we have obtained the fastest speed of the day grazing 330 km/h. I have to find the right way to ride the bike as soon as possible, I know I have what is needed to be much further up in the classification.
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Valentino Rossi yellow-gray T-Shirt 
Valentino Rossi long sleeved T-Shirt, manufactured from cotton, and uses a contrast yellow and grey panel design, with Rossi name and number 46 stitched on the chest using separate pieces of fabric.
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