FRUITFUL FIRST TEST CONTINUES FOR REPSOL HONDA TEAM2009-11-10 21:24The Repsol Honda Team today joined most of the MotoGP field at the Valencia circuit as the final test of the 2009 season continued. Staring at around 11am, both Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso ran through a useful testing programme today and declared themselves satisfied with progress. Today’s mission for the factory Honda pair was not to pursue outright fastest laps, but instead to continue gathering data on the 2010-spec RC212V machine. While some of the riders who will not return for tomorrow morning’s test session went in search of ultimate lap times, Pedrosa and Dovizioso instead explored a diverse range of setting options. Pedrosa shaved further time from his best from yesterday and set a lap of 1m 33.088s. Dovizioso also improved his pace from yesterday, setting his fastest time on only his eighth lap out of the pits this morning. At around lunchtime Dovi was unfortunate to have a highside fall on cold tyres, but the tough Italian was able to return to the track in the afternoon and continue lapping at a good pace, despite having suffered a strong impact on the left hip which caused a small fracture. The Repsol Honda Team will return here tomorrow for a final morning of testing before finally wrapping up for the 2009 season. Dani Pedrosa - Best lap 1m 33.025s “We completed a useful day’s testing today, and although I didn’t do a huge number of laps, we covered quite a lot of ground. Some of the adjustments we were making with the machine and suspension were quite big to allow us to fully understand the new chassis, and with these kind of changes you inevitably spend quite a lot of time in the pits. Also, we weren’t going after ultimate lap times - just continuing to get familiar with the new parts and understand how settings changes affect the performance. That’s normal, and now is the time to do this work, step-by-step. Tomorrow we’ll come back here for the final session of the season.” Andrea Dovizioso - Best lap 1m 33.546s “This morning we started well. I went out with a soft tyre that I used from the day before and I did my best lap really early on - on lap eight - and I had a good feeling out there. The track conditions and temperature were better than yesterday and allowed us to get through some useful work. When we changed from soft to hard tyres, I was trying to bring them up to temperature by sliding a little bit when I highsided without warning. I’ve injured my hip a little and it’s painful - but I carried on riding and fortunately the pain is not so bad when I’m on the bike. Overall though, I was much more satisfied today - especially with the braking stability - and we’ll continue testing a few more things tomorrow, focusing on the chassis.” Valencia Test lap times - Day 2 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha 1m 31.939 62 laps Casey Stoner Marlboro Ducati 1m 32.195 44 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha 1m 32.528 55 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha 1m 32.942 61 Nicky Hayden Marlboro Ducati 1m 32.981 84 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 1m 33.025 46 Randy de Puniet LCR Honda 1m 33.111 76 Mika Kallio Pramac Racing 1m 33.125 84 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki 1m 33.211 64 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda 1m 33.326 85 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Racing 1m 33.345 74 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda 1m 33.546 44 Hector Barbera Aspar Team 1m 34.206 100 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda 1m 34.230 79 Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki 1m 34.540 74 Hiroshi Aoyama Interwetten Honda 1m 35.261 88 Source: Repsol Honda Team Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
Headlines
|