HONDA SWEEPS TOP FOUR SPOTS OF SEPANG TEST

2011-02-24 21:27
Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) led a Honda sweep of the top four spots by topping the time sheets for the third day in a row by running the fastest ever lap of the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia.

The 2007 World Champion wasted no time getting up to speed, taking advantage of the relatively cooler morning temperature to dip under two minutes on his second tour of the 5548m track. Stoner’s lap of 1m, 59.665s was half a second faster than he’d gone on Wednesday and a target that proved untouchable. The only rider to make a serious run at Stoner was team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V). The Spaniard also dropped below two minutes on his second lap, then improved his time on his third lap to finish at 1m, 59.803s.

After his morning run for the record, Stoner worked with his technicians to decide which chassis to use going forward, as well as testing the electronics on the engine braking system. Then followed a simulated race run of 16 laps – the race is 20 laps – during which his pace was much faster than that of the 2010 race-winner. Pedrosa wasn’t as certain on his chassis choice – he tested both the 2010 and a modified 2011 version – and will reserve his final decision for the test in Qatar just prior to the season kick-off. He also worked through various engine mapping and suspension solutions.

Third on the day went to Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V), the fastest rider at the previous test here three weeks ago. The Italian second year MotoGP rider was fastest on the seventh of his 46 laps. His best time of 2m, 0.163s was also under the previous best lap of 2m, 0.518s set by his close friend Valentino Rossi in 2009. After putting his name among the leaders, Simoncelli spent most of the afternoon doing a simulated race run of 21 laps. “Super Sic” couldn’t match his Wednesday race pace, but put it down to choosing the harder Bridgestone rear tyre, which wasn’t as effective today.

So complete has been Honda’s domination of the pre-season testing, that Honda RC212V riders have not only been fastest on all six days, an unprecedented feat over the first two tests, but other than the first day of the early February test Honda riders finished one-two every day.

And today Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V) made it four Hondas in a row by nearly joining his fellow Honda riders under the previous record lap. Like Stoner, Pedrosa, and Simoncelli, Dovizioso used the harder compound front Bridgestone and the softer rear tyre to set his fast time early on. His successful outing finished with a 15-lap endurance run. The one hitch in his test was a lack of mid-corner grip while running with a full fuel tank, something he and his team will work to resolve in the test prior to the first round in Qatar.

Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Honda Gresini) was fastest in the hot middle of the day. His best lap of 2m, 1.328s came on his 20th of 48. The time was his fastest ever at Sepang as he continued the development work on the Honda RC212V. The Japanese star found a good baseline from which to improve at the final test of the pre-season in a few weeks’ time.

Toni Elias (LRC Honda MotoGP) had an exhausting day of development. The Spaniard opted not to perform a race simulation, instead working in short bursts to improve the set-up of the Honda RC212V. Other than a five-lap run early in the day, the 2010 Moto2 World Champion never ran more than three laps in a row, while trying to find his comfort zone after a year away from the premier class.

The teams now have just under three weeks before the March 13-14 final pre-season test at the Losail Circuit in Qatar. For the first time ever, the race weekend will be spread over four days, with the first day of practice on Thursday, March 17 and working up to the season-opener under the lights on Sunday evening, March 20.

HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES

Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V): 1st, 1m, 59.665s
“We had a good day comparing the chassis' again and I'm happy we have made our decision on which one we'll use for the season. We also tried a lot of electronics with engine braking and found improvements in a few areas, and some losses in others so we need to rectify these. The chassis we've chosen always behaves in the way we want it to; no matter what set-up we use, we are also able to adapt it fairly easily. So when we get to Qatar in a few weeks we'll be able to test different set-up's at the same time and get more track time on it. Some changes can be quite time consuming to do, so having the two bikes with identical chassis will be useful. The test here has been very productive for us; we did a long run here today - almost race distance - and gathered some key information. I'm feeling more and more comfortable on the RC212V and I can't wait to get to Qatar.”

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): 2nd, 1m, 59.803s
“We did a very good three days testing; both tests here in Sepang have been very positive. We improved the braking and worked a lot with different chassis configurations and electronics. It's been a much better winter test than last year, even if we know that everybody will improve for the first race. I'm leaving Sepang satisfied and I think testing in Qatar will give further opportunity to check our work at another circuit, with a different layout and track conditions to what we have had here. I've spent more or less the same time with last year's chassis and the modified 2011 chassis and my best lap time was with the 2011 version, but it will be nice to check it again in Qatar and take there the final decision. I think the bike and myself are in a good shape and we are getting to Qatar with more confidence than last year, but we need to keep our feet on the ground because we had many problems at the beginning of last season and then we improved a lot, so the others can do the same. Nothing is clear until we start racing.”

Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Gresini Honda): 3rd, 2m, 0.163s
“I am very happy for the time I did this morning. But today we were a bit confused during the race simulation. Yesterday, with the hard rubber I could be very fast, but this afternoon, from the beginning, I was considerably worse; I could not do the same time. Anyway, I'm pretty calm, because the performance today was determined by a choice of tyres, which was not just a good idea - maybe it would be better to opt for a soft rubber like other people did - and I was fast in in the race simulation. But I repeat, we are not at all worried and even go away from Malaysia very happy with the work done in these three days and also happy to change the track because after six days of evidence in these two tests at the Sepang circuit, I was quite exhausted by now.”

Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): 4th, 2m, 0.541s
“The good point is that we are really fast, and to have the first two tests like this is a great thing. Also, when we tried the race simulation we were fast, so this is confirmed that we are strong and can fight. However, after completing the simulation I discovered a problem in the front - as I had in some races in 2009 - after a few laps I lose some grip in the middle of the corner. I will leave this test very happy, but we're far from perfect. We need to study what we changed that caused this problem as it occurred after we added just five litres more of fuel. Anyway, even with this problem I completed many fast laps and we are very fast compared to last year. I feel without the problem I had in the front of the bike, I would be able to achieve a similar pace to Dani and Casey, so I'm happy about this.”

Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Gresini Honda): 9th, 2m, 1.328s
“Finally we have finished these tests, which have been very challenging for me. We have done so much work that I was partly satisfied and partly not. The team supported me a lot and together we are able to understand the way to go about the technical solutions to be taken for the season. In the end I'm happy and I can not wait to arrive in Qatar for the next test and begin to build on the great work on this circuit. I am happy to work with these guys and I hope to shortly give them satisfaction.”

Toni Elias (LCR Honda): 16th, 2m, 2.941s 2m, 2.410s
“If we consider the three days in total we took a step forward on suspension set-up and chassis geometry. Now that we have a much clearer idea of the direction to go in I am happy with the work we have done. I´m not as happy with my lap time, but we were too busy working through other things. These days we have done several comparative tests and found a different feeling on the bike compared with the first outing here three weeks ago. Now we will check the data we gathered to be more competitive in Qatar for the last test session before the season starts. I want to thank the guys for their efforts because they are helping me a lot to adapt to this bike.”

Source: Honda Pro Image

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