MotoGP test Qatar. Final day of three day test

2009-03-03 16:50
Randy de Puniet fastest RC212V rider on final day of Qatar MotoGP test.

The three day MotoGP test held at the floodlit 5.380 km Losail circuit in Qatar came to a close at midnight local time tonight leaving the Honda teams and riders present with contrasting results.

Fastest RC212V Honda rider on the final day was LCR Hondas Randy de Puniet who set seventh fastest time. The Frenchman has adapted his style to improve his feeling with the Bridgestone front tyre he will race with for the first time in 2009 and now feels more confident aboard the machine than at the last test in Sepang.

Andrea Dovizioso continued his successful transition from the 2008 satellite specification RC212V to the full factory spec machine. The Repsol Honda rider has quickly identified the areas where he and the machine need to improve. The Italian rider ran into chattering problems early on which disrupted the teams test plan for the final day but late in the day Dovizioso made big strides to end the day with eighth fastest time. Despite his early set back Dovizioso was pleased with the results of the three-day test.

Dovizioso's team-mate Dani Pedrosa was absent today, having suffered a fall yesterday in which he damaged his left wrist and left knee. The Spaniard flew home this morning, and further scans at hospital revealed that he has a fracture to his left radius bone. The unlucky Pedrosa will undergo an operation at 6pm tomorrow to insert a titanium screw to secure the break. He will also receive a small skin graft on the existing wound in his left knee, which was re-opened in yesterday's fall.

San Carlo Honda Gresini riders Alex De Angelis and Toni Elias ended the day in 10th and 11th places respectively. De Angelis was relatively happy with the overall performance once the team technicians had reduced real wheel chattering allowing the San Marinese rider to get the best out of his tyres.

Elias was not content with the results of the three-day test and continued to test various changes in geometry and suspension settings in a bid to improve rear wheel traction on his RCV.

The MotoGP debutant team of Scot Racing Team and rider Yuki Takahashi worked on establishing a base line set up that allowed Takahashi ride the RCV comfortably within his limits while at the same time learning the characteristics inherent in four-stroke race machines. But late in the day the Japanese rider was caught out at turn three and slid to earth. He emerged unscathed from the incident and went straight back out on track on his spare machine and ran respectable lap times.

The teams now return to their European workshops to prepare their RC212V's for the final MotoGP pre-season test at Jerez, Spain on March 29.


Honda rider quotes and lap times.

Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda MotoGP: 7th fastest time at 1m 57.401s - 77 laps.
"All in all I'm satisfied of these 3 days of testing. We made an important step forward compared to Sepang. This evening I had a better feeling on the bike, my riding style adapted more to the machine and I understood how to use the Bridgestone front tyre at its best, especially entering the turns. Stoner is incredible fast so we need to work hard."

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 8th. 1m 57.449s — 74 laps.
"All in all I'm quite satisfied with these three days of testing because we have learned a lot. Today's session didn't go exactly according to plan because after an hour we started to get some chatter, which complicated the session and meant we had to adapt our plan for the day. I was able to do a longer run of 15 laps which showed that we still need to make some machine adjustments to suit the Bridgestone tyres. For this circuit specifically we need to improve the grip entering the turns, and in general find a smoother power delivery. There is still quite a lot of work to do, but I'm still pleased because we learned a lot about the bike at this test."

Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 10th. 1m 57.591s — 61 laps.
"Today the track conditions were better but we couldn't improve as we expected. We suffered from rear chattering so we worked on adapting the machine to Bridgestone tyres. At the end we improved a bit. All in all I'm quite happy with this test session, the bike is fast but we need to work to improve the traction in order to use all the potential of the bike."

Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 11th. 1m 57.804s 66 — laps.
"We continued working on the geometry of the bike and suspension trying to improve my feeling with the rear. We tested some radical solutions but we didn't get the results we expected. My feeling is that we need more traction and also with more rear tyre contact on the asphalt."

Yuki Takahashi, Scot Racing Team: 14th. 1m 58.412s 61 — laps
"I'm still studying the bike set up but lap by lap my feeling is improving and we make a progress. Today I started to push a little bit and had a small crash but I continued on my second bike. I'm still learning but I'm confident and really looking forward to testing at Jerez."

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: Pedrosa did not test due to wrist and knee injuries sustained in a crash at turn 10 during testing yesterday.


Lap times
1.Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1'55.744
2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1'56.733
3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1'56.972
4. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) 1'57.224
5. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 1'57.225
6. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 1'57.253
7. Randy De Puniet (Honda) 1'57.401 77 laps
8 Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1'57.449 74 laps
9. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1'57.515
10. Alex De Angelis (Honda) 1'57.591 61 laps
11. Toni Elias (Honda) 1'57.804 66 laps
12. Mika Kallio (Ducati) 1'57.938
13. Niccolo Canepa (Ducati) 1'57.946
14. Yuki Takahashi (Honda) 1'58.412 61
15. James Toseland (Yamaha) 1'58.786
16. Marco Melandri (Hayate) 1'58.851

Source: Honda Pro Image

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