The traditional post-Spanish Grand Prix one day test session for MotoGP teams at the 4.423km Jerez circuit was run in perfect weather conditions and the Honda RC212V riders and team technicians worked non-stop from 10.00. until 18.00. testing new parts and as many set up options as time permitted. All six RCV riders improved upon their race performances of yesterday with Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda, who finished second in the grand prix, topping the time sheets today.
Pedrosa, and Repsol Honda team mate Andrea Dovizioso, had a full day testing a variety of updated engine and chassis parts brought to Jerez by the HRC engineers. Both men improved upon their best lap times posted in Sunday’s grand prix, Pedrosa’s best time of 1m 39.425s was three-tenths of a second inside the track record he established in the race.
Pedrosa has struggled to adapt to the Ohlins suspension system that the Honda factory team has chosen to run this season but today he finally made the sort of progress he has been chasing all season. Dovizioso has more experience with Ohlins and he was on the pace from the outset today. The Italian was very pleased with the new swinging arm and chassis specifications which, together with updated engine performance, particularly the increased acceleration, allowed him to slash seven-tenths off his best race lap with a time of 1m 39.760s.
LCR Honda rider Randy de Puniet was disappointed with his performance in Sunday’s 27 lap race. The Frenchman started the race form sixth on the grid but a bad start and traffic restricted him to a ninth place finish in the race. De Puniet was consistently fast all day today his best lap one second better than his best race lap yesterday.
The San Carlo Honda Gresini duo of Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli put their track time to good use today with both men setting faster lap times than during Sunday’s race. More importantly the test allowed the Gresini team technicians the time they need to test the multipule chassis and suspension options available to them in order to get the best out of the overall set up on the Bridgestone control tyres.
Melandri was stronger today than during the race weekend, his race simulation was the most encouraging result and the team made progress on set up while using the softer Bridgestone tyre compound, something that has plagued Melandri from the beginning of the season.
MotoGP Rookie Simoncelli has suffered with rear grip problems since he first rode the RCV and still has much work if he is to improve his rolling chassis set up to a point where he is completely comfortable. He made progress in some areas and was almost half a second faster during the test than in the race.
Hiro Aoyama, Interwetten Honda, put in a marathon session today running 97 laps of the Andalucian circuit. The Japanese MotoGP Rookie still has much to learn about the RC212V and spent the day working on general machine set up trying several alternative configurations and was pleased with the results having set lap times faster than during the GP on Sunday, his best over one second faster than his best race lap..
Honda rider quotes and lap times:
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1st. 1m 39.425s – 60 laps. “This was a useful day of testing and we spent some time working in detail on suspension adjustments - some of the things we didn’t have the time to test in the pre-season because we were focusing on other issues. We also tried a modified spec engine and collected some information for the development engineers, but it’s too early to say whether it’s a step forward yet because we only had two runs out of the pits with it. The crash was a little strange and I wasn’t expecting it, but the important thing is that I’m not hurt and I can look forward to Le Mans which is a circuit I’ve raced well at before. I’m looking forward to the next round.”
Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda: 4th. 1m 39.609s – 63 laps.
Unavailable at time of distribution.
Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda: 5th. 1m 39.760s – 71 laps. “I’m happy with my lap time today and, although the track conditions were better than yesterday, 39.7 is a good time on the Bridgestone harder option tyre and it’s only two tenths behind the fastest time set with that tyre, so I’m pretty satisfied with that. Our machine lacks a bit of stability so it’s not easy to be consistent but I’m really happy with the new parts Honda has brought here. We tried the new chassis and swingarm which have improved the last part of the braking area and corner entry. The new specification engine has improved the acceleration slightly and we’ll look at the data and decide if we’ll use it in the upcoming races.”
Marco Melandri, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 11th. 1m 40.129s – 84 laps. "It has been a really positive day which we have spent working on our race pace, having suffered a little yesterday after a few laps with a full tank. We made some changes and completed a race simulation to see if they had the desired effect and I’m quite happy with what we found. I also tried for a fast time on a soft tyre but I ran into too many riders on track and didn’t manage to improve by the few tenths that I could have but really that wasn’t the priority today. Things are progressing now and although we are still some way short of the top guys we still have to take things step by step. My pace today was noticeably stronger than yesterday, when I only managed two laps in the 1’40s and spent the rest of the time in the mid-1’41s. Today I was consistently in the 1’40s so I’m confident about going to Le M ans, where I hope we can take another step forward."
Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 12th. 1m 40.370s – 83 laps. "I’m quite happy because we found a few positive things today. We haven’t completely resolved the problem I had in the race but we reduced it and I managed to improve my pace on a consistent basis on hard tyres so I’m happy. We didn’t manage to find any more rear grip but we took other steps forward, like improving my speed on a soft tyre, so we go to Le Mans with high hopes of doing well. With time to sit down and analyse the data we gathered here, working out what worked and what didn’t, I’m sure we can improve even more in time for the next race. We could do with test days like these more often!"
Hiro Aoyama, Interwetten Honda: 15th. 1m 40.470s – 97 laps
“We did a lot of testing today and we were able to find some positive things. I could gain some more experience because of this test and I have some ideas for the upcoming Grand Prix. The average lap times were better than in the race, this means we improved and that is good. I would have loved to be even faster, but I will keep that for the next time.”
1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 1’39.425s.
2 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha 1’39.480s.
3 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha 1’39.506s.
4 Randy De Puniet LRC Honda 1’39.609s.
5 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda 1’39.760s.
6 Casey Stoner Marlboro Ducati 1’39.786s.
7 Nicky Hayden Marlboro Ducati 1’39.906s.
8 Ben Spies Yamaha Tech3 1’39.958s.
9 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki 1’40.040s.
10 Colin Edwards Yamaha Tech3 1’40.042s.
11 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda 1’40.129s.
12 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda 1’40.370s.
13 Mika Kallio Pramac Ducati 1’40.446s.
14 Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki 1’40.463s.
15 Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 1’40.470s.
16 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Ducati 1’40.686s.
17 Hector Barbera Aspar MotoGP team 1’40.932s.