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2008-02-05 Rossi smashes lap record on opening day of Sepang test
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 Just 12 days from last Sepang test, small group of nine riders returned to Sepang for another valuable pre-season test. Valentino Rossi seems to be fully recovered as he set best time of the day on Bridgestone qualifiers, going around 0.3 seconds faster than circuit record, also set by him. His team-mate, Jorge Lorenzo, tried to refine set-up, but was not too happy about results. With Dani Pedrosa still absent due to hand injury, Nicky Hayden was only man to test for factory Honda team, suffering crash in the process, luckily without injuries. Shinya Nakano was fastest satellite Honda rider, while Alex de Angelis struggled with front-end, having slight crash from which he escaped uninjured.
Valentino Rossi - 1st - 2:00.300, 64 laps:
Today was a positive day for us and I really enjoyed myself. We started to work more on the bike and to adjust the suspension and balance to suit our tyres. I have a very good feeling and the lap times have improved compared to last time, both with race tyres and with the qualifying tyre. It’s a big deal changing tyres – not as big as changing bikes but all the same I have needed time to understand how to ride the bike differently and now I’m learning more and more how to get the best from the Bridgestones. My fitness has also improved compared to last time and this is also helping me to ride better, so I think that we’re in good shape at the moment.
Nicky Hayden - 2nd - 2:01.949:
We got a late start because the track was not in good shape after the overnight rain. Nobody was in a hurry to go out. When we did we all went together and cleaned up the track a little. We ran comparison chassis tests and confirmed what we learned at Phillip Island. The guys changed the geometry a little on the 2008 chassis so we made some progress there. Michelin gave me a couple of rear tyres I really liked, one 16 inch and one 16.5 both have good grip on the edge of the tyre and the bike felt a lot better. We will keep on working on the chassis tomorrow and test more tyres.
Shinya Nakano - 3rd - 2:02.317, 55 laps:
We tested some geometry changes on the RCV today and found a good specification for the chassis at this track. The set up gave me more stability entering the corners. For the test tomorrow we will use the same specification as our base set up while we test tyres for Bridgestone.
Jorge Lorenzo - 4th - 2:02.654, 57 laps:
We are working as we planned but unfortunately today we haven’t been able to improve as much as we hoped on the problems we had at the last test. The biggest issue is the feeling I have with the front-end going into the turns; I need more confidence in this area so we still have some work to do to find the key. We have some more ideas after today so tomorrow we will try again, working in a slightly different direction, and hopefully we will be able to make more progress on this.
Alex De Angelis - 5th - 2:03.231 – 41 laps:
I did not have a good feeling with the front end of the RCV when I went out this morning and we were working on trying to improve that when I crashed. After the crash I waited until the track conditions improved before going out again. Tomorrow I will need to get in as many laps as possible to improve the front end and learn more about the way the RCV behaves at this track.
Sepang test - day 1 - unofficial lap times:
1.Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team 2:00.300
2.Nicky Hayden - Repsol Hrc 2:01.949
3.Shinya Nakano - Honda Gresini 2:02.317
4.Jorge Lorenzo - Fiat Yamaha Team 2:02.654
5.Alex De Angelis - Honda Gresini 2:03.231
6.Olivier Jacque - Kawasaki Racing 2:03.655
7.Yamaha Test Rider - Yamaha Test Team 2:06.356
8.Tamaki Serizawa - Kawasaki Racing 2:06.874
9.Yamaha Test Rider - Yamaha Test Team 2:07.319
Sepang Lap Record
Casey Stoner (Ducati) 2007 - 2:02.108
Sepang Best Lap
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006 - 2:00.605
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