POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar riders continue adaptation to Ducati-Michelin package

2015-11-12 17:04
The second and final day of post-season tests at the Ricardo Tormo circuit took place today, as the teams gathered vital data for their winter development programmes. Like yesterday the track was open from 10am until 5pm, with the riders spending the time adapting to the new tyres provided by Michelin, the new sole supplier to MotoGP. The teams were able to choose between the old and new electronics packages for this test, as they will be allowed to do for the remainder of 2015, although from the first test of 2016 they will all have to go with the new. The transition to new material – tyres, electronics and in some cases machinery - has not proved easy and like yesterday there were a multitude of crashes today. The exciting thing is that the lap times were close, with over half the grid lapping in the 1'31s today, although that pace is still some way shy of the fastest laps during last weekend's Grand Prix.

Today was a second opportunity for the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar Team to test out their new material at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, with the local outfit having switched to Ducati power for 2016 and with a new rider in Yonny Hernández on board. In just two days with the Aspar Team the Colombian rider has already shown his potential and using the 'old' Open electronics he was able to improve his lap times and finish just 1.5 seconds off the fastest lap of the test. Hernández was one of just a handful of riders not to crash over the last two days, his team-mate Eugene Laverty one of many to test the gravel traps as he adapted to the new tyres and, in his case, a new bike. The Irishman also used the Open electronics today and he made some excellent late progress to post a 1'32.377 on his final run, closing the gap to pacesetter Marc Márquez to just 1.3 seconds. The next track date for the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar to look forward to is a three-day test at Jerez on the 25, 26th and 27th November.

20th Yonny Hernández 1.32.510: “Even though the position is not spectacular we finished just 1.5 seconds off the best lap time today and even that is not a true reflection because we are still working with the Open electronics, which we won't be using next year. We will try the new material in the next test at Jerez but the important thing for now is that we have gathered a lot of information that will be useful to us in that test. The team has a lot of work to do to get to know this bike and I need to adapt to the tyres. It has been a positive test and I am sure that we will take a step forward at Jerez. It is incredible how many crashes there have been here; from our side we just tried to be careful and build our confidence. The relationship with the team has been fabulous from the first minute, the technical staff are top quality and my feeling has been fantastic. Hopefully we can gradually build things up and improve our level.”

17th Eugene Laverty 1.32.377: “The most important thing was to finish this test in a positive way because we lost time over the past two days because I crashed three times. With just one bike we lost a lot of hours in repairs. We started off pretty quickly and on just my second outing I matched my best lap on the Honda, but the crashes slowed our progress. In the end we found the cause of the crashes, made some changes to the setting and then I could go fast. Basically the reason was that the chassis balance was too much in the Bridgestone style, and so was my riding. With a new bike and new tyres there is always a period of adjustment but the important thing is that we got there in the end. At 3:30pm today I wasn't happy but in the last hour and a half we made a lot of progress, the bike started to feel like my own and now I can leave the test happy. As far as the new tyres are concerned I think they can suit my style and I should be able to make the most of the good grip on the rear, which should suit the Ducati too. I am excited, there is plenty of reason for optimism. Even on my fastest lap today I sacrificed the right-handers because I'd had a few crashes there so didn't want to take any risks. To set that lap time without pushing in every corner, I'm happy. We are not too far from the top Ducati so the goal for the next test is to close that gap."

Source: AsparTeam

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