Dovizioso third fastest at final MotoGP pre-season test Losail Qatar

2010-03-19 21:34
The 2010 MotoGP teams and riders concluded pre-season testing with a six hour session under the flood lights of the 5.380km Losail grand prix circuit at Doha, Qatar, that ended at midnight tonight. With just four weeks remaining before the opening race of the 18 round World Championship, at Losail on April 11, achieving the best possible machine performance during this test was of paramount importance, in terms of race preparation and deciding the direction of future machine development.

Establishing the optimum base line set up for the Losail track top tonight held additional significance as the MotoGP series tyre supplier Bridgestone, together with the teams and riders, will decide the technical specifications for the tyres allocated to each rider for the grand prix, on April 9-11.

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda RC212V, has been the fastest Honda rider at the end of each pre-season test and tonight was no different. The Italian spent the day adjusting weight distribution and fine tuning the solid base line set up the team established yesterday. Dovizioso ran at an increasing fast and consistent pace until track conditions became too slick. He ended the day with third fastest lap time at 1m 55.879s, and third overall on combined time over the two days. He leaves Qatar in buoyant mood but knows he has serious development work to do if he is to further improve his RC212V.

Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda RC212V, has been on the pace from the opening hour of the two day test and today spent the day fine tuning the improvements the LCR team made to the RCV yesterday. The took up where he ended yesterday immediately running at a fast smooth pace. The Frenchman concentrated a lot of his time to tyre testing and set his fastest lap time of the day on used race rubber.

Dani Pedrosa spent much of the first day at Losail working with the new chassis, swinging arm and suspension configuration he believes will improve front end stability of his RCV on corner entry. The team started to improve feed-back from the front end in the early evening but as the humidity rose track conditions deteriorated to rob the riders of the grip level necessary to accurately assess chassis and suspension setting changes.

San Carlo Honda Gresini riders, Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli, were unable to establish a clear direction for chassis and suspension set up on day one of the test. Both men improved machine set up today but both riders are aware that they have a lot more to achieve if they are to be competitive in the opening championship exchanges next month. Both riders crashed today, Simoncelli at turn one and Melandri at turn 8, neither man sustained injuries.

Melandri worked on the geometry and weight distribution of his RCV and improved his feeling with the machine but was somewhat disappointed not to have improved still further. While his Rookie team mate, Simoncelli, worked on weight distribution and a comfortable riding position to accommodate his lanky physique. Simoncelli was quite pleased with his days work having reduced his lap times by half a second from his best on the opening day.

Interwetten Honda RC212V rider, Hiro Aoyama, spent the first day of the test chasing grip, both front and rear. Today the team found solutions for improved front end stability and Aoyama was able to run consistent lap times half a second faster than his best time of yesterday. The Japanese star still has rear end grip issues to resolve before the race next month but he learns quickly and has the motivation necessary to succeed.

The HRC race engineers will now analyse all the technical data gathered at the test and prepare to maximize the positive aspects of performance in time for grand prix practice on April 9.


Honda rider quotes and lap times.

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 3rd. 1m 55.879s - 66 laps.
"I'm really satisfied with these two days of testing because we took another significant step forward. I'm pleased to have the third fastest time today because we improved both consistency and pace, which is a result of the hard work done by Honda and by my team. Today we focused on fine tuning the bike set -up and also the weight distribution. At the end of the session we wanted to do a race simulation but the track was too slippery because of the high humidity. Still, we have reduced the gap to Stoner and we are closer to Valentino as well. Of course we have to keep on working hard, but I'm happy to face the first round of the season with the machine package we have achieved so far."

Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 7th. 1m 56.504s — 66 laps.
" I'm happy because I did my best lap time during the race simulation. We confirmed the good feeling with set up and I'm confident for the race. We did a step forward and I'm satisfied of these two days of testing. At the end I tried the soft tyre but some riders on track slowed me a little bit so I couldn't improve the lap time. All in all I'm happy."

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 13th. 1m 56.935s - 56 laps.
"We started to make improvements early in tonight's session, but after that we couldn't make any more progress really and so of course I'm not satisfied with the results of this test. It's obvious that we're not where we want to be as we approach the first race, so we'll just have do our best when we come back here and try to make the improvements quickly in the practice sessions. That's it really. I'm still struggling with the bike moving quite a lot at the front and that's caused by issues at rear. Because of this I'm also going too slowly through the corners. We have to stay positive and be glad that I'm going into this season fully fit, and we'll keep working to improve things."

Marco Melandri, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 14th. 1m 57.605s - 54laps.
"Today we worked on the geometry of the bike and the suspensions to improve my lap times. In fact the feeling with the bike is not bad but I am not able to be as fast as I wanted. We worked on weight distribution and tested different set up solutions to understand the direction but lap times are not coming. I struggled a lot a lot. At the end I tried to push but at turn 8 I put the tyre on the paint of the kerb and I crashed, fortunately without consequences."

Hiro Aoyama, Interwetten Honda: 16th. 1m 57.251s — 81 laps.
"Today we focused working on the set up with some positive feedback, we improved the feeling with the front but we still have to work to improve also the feeling with the rear and have more traction. We improved a bit and I'm confident as we are still learning. I'm very excited and motivated to race with this bike in less than three weeks on this circuit."

Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 17th. 1m 57.378s - 50 laps.
"I'm quite confident because we improved a bit compared to the last Sepang test. Today we have tested different set up solutions and we have worked on my position on the bike and the weight distribution. I'm tall and I need to find the best position on the bike to ride as I like and to control it better. I'm confident to improve my feeling with the machine and consequently my lap times."


Practice times

Combined times: March 18 — 19.
Pos / Rider / Team / Session 1 / Session 2 / Prev. Gap / Lead. Gap
1 / Casey Stoner / Ducati Marlboro Team / 1:55.717 / 1:55.353 / - / -
2 / Valentino Rossi / Fiat Yamaha Team / 1:55.402 / 1:55.860 / +0.049 / +0.049
3 / Andrea Dovizioso / Repsol Honda Team / 1:56.811 / 1:55.879 / +0.477 / +0.526
4 / Ben Spies / Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / 1:55.954 / 1:56.779 / +0.075 / +0.601
5 / Nicky Hayden / Ducati Marlboro Team / 1:56.855 / 1:56.115 / +0.161 / +0.762
6 / Loris Capirossi / Rizla Suzuki MotoGP / 1:57.099 / 1:56.195 / +0.080 / +0.842
7 / Jorge Lorenzo / Fiat Yamaha Team / 1:56.838 / 1:56.504 / +0.309 / +1.151
8 / Randy De Puniet / LCR Honda MotoGP / 1:56.588 / 1:56.504 / - / +1.151
9 / Colin Edwards / Monster Yamaha Tech 3 / 1:56.540 / 1:56.722 / +0.036 / +1.187
10 / Mika Kallio / Pramac Racing Team / 1:56.923 / 1:56.767 / +0.227 / +1.414
11 / Aleix Espargaro / Pramac Racing Team / 1:57.898 / 1:56.897 / +0.130 / +1.544
12 / Alvaro Bautista / Rizla Suzuki MotoGP / 1:57.960 / 1:56.898 / +0.001 / +1.545
13 / Dani Pedrosa / Repsol Honda Team / 1:57.047 / 1:56.935 / +0.037 / +1.582
14 / Marco Melandri / San Carlo Honda Gresini / 1:57.605 / 1:57.222 / +0.287 / +1.869
15 / Hector Barbera / Aspar Team / 1:57.822 / 1:57.223 / +0.001 / +1.870
16 / Hiroshi Aoyama / Interwetten-Honda MotoGP / 1:57.888 / 1:57.251 / +0.028 / +1.898
17 / Marco Simoncelli / San Carlo Honda Gresini / 1:57.891 / 1:57.379 / +0.128 / +2.026

Source: Honda Pro Image

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