PEDROSA FASTEST HONDA MAN ON DAY TWO OF JEREZ MOTOGP TEST
. By Bikeland Staff
The second day of the three day MotoGP test at Jerez began with the
same wet conditions as yesterday that caused disruption for the
entire opening day. It was lunchtime before the rain stopped and the
track began to dry out allowing the riders to fit slick tyres and get
down to serious testing and development work. The rain returned at
17.00. ending any chance of faster lap times.
Dani Pedrosa was again the fastest RC213V rider. The Repsol Honda
teamster spent a large part of the dry time confirming machine
settings developed at earlier MotoGP winter tests concentrating on
rear suspension and electronics. His Repsol Honda team-mate Marc
Marquez worked on rear end grip in a bid to improve his performance
but ended the day a little frustrated that his efforts did not
deliver the hoped for results. Both riders need dry track time
tomorrow in order to complete the programme HRC engineers have set for Jerez.
Alvaro Bautista's day ended early, two hours before the end when he
crashed his Fun&Go Honda Gresini RC213V. Bautista was taken to the
track side medical center for treatment which revealed two small
fractures to the fingers his left hand. However, Bautista had made
good use of the dry track top to record sixth fastest time of the day
while testing new Showa suspension parts.
Stefan Bradl was another RC213V rider to fall, his second crash in
two days, the slippery surface was his undoing today but he escaped
unhurt and will be fit to test tomorrow when he hopes for optimum
conditions to complete his winter test programme by fine-tuning the
set-up of his RC213V.
Fun&Go Honda Gresini CRT rider Bryan Staring got the dry weather he
so desperately needed to learn all he could about his new mount and
the Jerez circuit and was delighted with his performance on day two
of the test. The Australian ran 39 laps today and set fast consistent
times during the dry period to end the session with growing
confidence in the machine and his Gresini Honda pit crew.
Honda rider quotes:
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Hnda: 4th. 1m 39.630s.
"Today we were lucky enough to be able to complete some dry laps
which was important, even though the track was quite dirty. We
reconfirmed some things from the other tests here at a different
track, nothing really new. Unfortunately we were not able to complete
the whole programme before the rain came again but happy that we did
some laps. Let's hope tomorrow stays dry so we can continue our
programme and finish in the best way before Qatar"
Alvaro Bautista, Fun&Go Honda Gresini: 6th. 1m 40.686s.
"We didn't need the crash because we were having a good day and
getting a lot of work done together with Showa. The latest updates
were working well but we didn't get to finish the programme we had
planned. It's a shame but the only consolation is that we would have
had to stop shortly afterwards anyway because of the rain.
Unfortunately I ended up with fractures to two of my fingers and a
knee strain which has put the final day of the test in doubt. We will
let the Clinica Mobile doctors assess my condition in the morning and
take it from there."
Marc Marquex, Repsol Hnda: 7th. 1m 40.714s.
"We managed 36 laps and improved quite a lot from the beginning to
the end but we can still improve a lot further. At first I found
myself riding the Moto2 lines but gradually I learnt and began taking
different lines which suit the MotoGP machine better. We worked on
the rear grip and struggled to improve, maybe we spent too much time
in this area. However, we fixed some problems and now we have some
new issues to deal with that we must work on tomorrow"
Stefan Bradl, LCR Honda: 8th. 1m 40.783s.
"Today it was not the perfect day for us but at least we had some dry
conditions. However, poor grip conditions after yesterdays washout
with the front end going into corners, in the braking area. It took
us some time to analyze the problem and I also crashed because if a
lack of confidence with the front. When we had adjusted the problem I
could lap with more confidence increasing the felling with the bike
but I know we still have to fine-tune the package to go faster."
Bryan Staring, Fun&Go Honda Gresini: 21st. 1m 42.107s.
"I am really happy because we have been able to make a lot of
progress compared to yesterday and, with the help of the team, set
some fast and consistent lap times. I have to say that I really love
Jerez, I reckon it is one of the nicest tracks in the world and that
has given me another push. Now we need to confirm our pace tomorrow
and try to show everybody and myself what my true potential is."