Motogp Test Jerez, Spain, Day two

2007-11-29 12:48
Pedrosa sets the pace as six Hondas fill the top seven places at Jerez

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa clocked the fastest time in testing today as the majority of the MotoGP field returned to bright sunny Jerez circuit for a second day of testing. The Spaniard's quick lap came on qualifying tyres at the end of a day on which he also set the pace on race rubber. His single flying lap of 1m 39.993s was only half a second off his own pole position time from the Spanish Grand Prix in March.

It was a good day for the Honda Gresini Team
whose riders Shinya Nakano and Alex de Angelis
finished in third and fourth places on their
2007-spec RC212Vs after late laps on qualifying
tyres. Having also tested set-up changes and race
tyres today, Nakano will aim to further improve
his pace on race rubber tomorrow. His rookie
team-mate continued his rapid MotoGP
familiarisation by working on machine and
electronic settings before the run on qualifiers.
The Italian also escaped unhurt from a fall today.

In the JiR Team Scot camp, fellow MotoGP rookie
Andrea Dovizioso impressed on his satellite
RC212V by setting the fifth fastest time with a
late lap on qualifying Michelins. The 250cc world
championship runner-up found improvements in the
front end stability of his Honda today and will
aim to find similar benefits at the rear of his machine under braking tomorrow.

2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden was one of the
quickest riders on race tyres today, being only
fractionally behind the pace of his Repsol Honda
team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, on race rubber. Hayden
focused on analysing machine set-up changes,
working with his team to gain more data on the
new RC212V's response to chassis adjustments.

Randy de Puniet, who has transferred from
Kawasaki to Honda for the 2008 season, was one of
only two riders in the top seven not to run on
qualifiers today, the other being Hayden. De
Puniet completed a committed 77-laps today, one
fewer that Hayden, as he worked on honing the
balance of his 2007-spec RC212V ahead of the coming season.

The only non-Honda rider in the top seven was
Valentino Rossi riding the Fiat Yamaha whose lap
on qualifying tyres was good enough for second
place, 0.141s behind Pedrosa. The three-day test
will come to a close at Jerez tomorrow and the
MotoGP winter test ban will commence on December 1.

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 39.993s - 53 laps
"We ended up with the fastest time of the day
which is nice, and the day's testing was pretty
productive. We started quite late again this
morning after waiting for the track conditions to
warm up and we also spent quite a lot of time
stopped in the garage making machine setting
changes, but this is normal for testing. In the
afternoon we did more laps, making further set-up
adjustments and continuing the work from
yesterday. We've been doing short runs of not
many laps because it's a new bike and there are
many small things to adjust. When we have done
this base work we will begin to do longer runs.
My fastest lap today was on qualifying tyres
because it's important to see how the bike reacts
with the extra grip. It was not a bad lap time,
especially since it's the first time with this
bike on qualifiers at Jerez, though we're not at
the level that we were at the end of the season
when I took the four pole positions in a row. We
didn't have time to test the other Michelin tyre
options here today so there's plenty of work still to do tomorrow."

Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda: 1m 40.692s - 78 laps
"I think we picked up where we left off yesterday
and the test went quite well again. We didn't
work any miracles out there but we chipped away
at the times and made some improvements. I wasn't
a lot faster today but I was able to take a
little bit off the lap time and was certainly
more consistent in my pace than before. I think
everyone in front of me today used qualifying
tyres and as far as the team knew nobody went
faster than 1m 40.6s on race tyres, which is
pretty encouraging because yesterday I was
definitely off by a couple of tenths on race
tyres. Today we were right in there, the team's
done a good job and we had quite a good day. We
were trying some quite big changes with the
chassis set-up today which is what you have to do
to learn how the bike reacts and behaves in
different conditions. Overall we collected a lot
of useful information and hopefully we can keep the progress going tomorrow."

Shinya Nakano, Honda Gresini: 1m 40.251s - 71
laps "I'm very satisfied. We worked with method
and the atmosphere in the garage is relaxed and
friendly. Today we tested some new front tyres,
finding a good direction. Then we worked on the
balance and finally we tested a qualifying tyre.
I'm very happy with today's lap time with the
qualifying tyre, but we need to improve the pace
with race tyres. In particular, we need to
improve the set-up, but I also have to improve my
riding style in order to get the maximum out of this bike".

Alex de Angelis, Honda Gresini: 1m 40.332s - 53
laps "I didn't expect to finish fourth and I'm
very happy. This result is an extra motivation
for the team too. This morning we tested some new
front tyres and we worked on the machine
settings. I'm continuing to familiarize myself
with the electronic settings and I feel a little
bit more confident. I'm quite satisfied with race
tyres too. We could do a little bit better, but
we lost a part of the afternoon session because I
crashed, fortunately without any harm to me.
Thanks to the ideal weather conditions, I could
complete many laps and take the most out of today's test session".

Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Team Scot, 1m 40.650s - 69
laps "Today went better than yesterday and I was
quite fast and not too far from the lap record,
although some other riders were a little faster
than me. Like yesterday I'm not so worried about
this or the overall time. The last two runs were
on qualifying tyres and it was very strange for
me! These were not such perfect laps because for
me there was so much-grip from the rear, but this
also causes some chatter from the front-end of
the bike and you have to brake early so I still
need some time to learn how to get the best from
qualifying tyres. We made some improvements today
to make the RC212V more stable at the front,
although we still have some work to do to improve
stability under braking. But overall I am happy!"

Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda, 1m 40.820s - 79 laps
"This morning we worked to improve the rear grip,
trying different solutions for the suspension and
the rear tyres. The results were not really good
but after lunch we made some new adjustments to
the bike balance and geometry and every time I
went out I was more confident. I clocked some
consistently fast times on race tyres because the
machine was more rideable - I did not use a
qualifier today. I feel satisfied about the work
we completed today but I am pretty sure we can go
faster. I came in a bit earlier because this
second day of testing has been very long and
tiring. We got some progress in some areas but in
other areas we still have some work to do tomorrow".

Source: Honda Pro Image

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