Both Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden were able to reduce their lap times in this first session of night testing at the Losail circuit.
Both riders made it into the top ten, eighth and ninth respectively and were also finally less than a second from Dani Pedrosa, who was the top rider of the night with his formidable Honda.
The Italian champion who has been struggling during the pre-season tests also suffered his first fall from his machine, but luckily didn’t pick up any physical consequences and was even able to joke about it.
“It wasn’t bad for a first day.
I was able to ride the bike better, and I enjoyed myself.
Although I was just eighth, my times aren’t too far from the top: seven tenths is still a big difference, but anyway it’s progress, considering that I did my best time with a very used tyre.
We worked well on the settings, even if in a couple parts of the circuit I’m still not fast enough, and we’ll have to try some more solutions tomorrow.
As for the shoulder, I’m happy because I have a little more strength, and that enables me to ride better.
““Today I also had my first crash on a Ducati, which I naturally did intentionally because after a while, you have to do a little fall….
All joking aside, I entered too quickly and lost the front: I was able to pick it up and avoid crashing while I was on the track, but I dropped it in the gravel, no big deal though.
”While Nicky Hayden said, “Right out of the gate, it wasn’t too bad, and then we were up against a wall for a while.
The team made one little change with ride height and I was able to get a decent lap time and get consistent.
In parts of the track I felt pretty good, but there are spots where the steering still needs to improve.
If we can do better in those areas, we should be able to drop the lap time.
I feel a little bit closer than Malaysia, but we certainly need to go quicker tomorrow.
”
