Honda dominated this first day of testing at Sepang 2, with Repsol riders Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa taking the first and second spots on the time charts, both testing different aspects on their machines, Stoner on chassis comparison, while Pedrosa concentrated on electronics.
Casey Stoner :“We had a really good day today.
From the beginning I felt more comfortable with the bike again, like I understood the bike a little better.
We managed to work on set-up, but we are still doing a chassis comparison, finding strong points and weak points on both.
It’s difficult to choose one or the other.
Whatever set-up we throw at them we seem to be able to run pretty similar lap times.
We’re very happy with the progress we made today and everything and everybody seems to be working well.
”Dani Pedrosa:“We made the most of the test today, which is a good job, because it looks like tomorrow we will get some rain.
In the morning, we focused on some different electronic mappings to improve the entering and exit of the corners and in the afternoon we did some set-up modifications on the chassis to improve the stability on braking.
The track temperature was high at the middle of the day and the track was quite slippery, but we did a good test and tomorrow we will work on smaller details.
Also, physically my shoulder felt better on the bike than in the first test.
I had two more weeks and I’ve become stronger from training, so my condition is getting better.
” Other Honda Repsol rider Andrea Dovizioso posted the 5th best time of the day, behind two Yamaha riders, Jorge Lorenzo and Colin Edwards on the private Tech3 machine.
Andrea Dovizioso:“I’m really happy about how we have started this second test.
Honda engineers have made a very good job on the engine brake with the electronic system to improve the feeling on the rear and these are really good because, I have to say, that it was our main problem last year and we couldn’t make such a big step forward as we did today.
We have decreased the chattering compared to the first test and the stability on the rear, so I’m very satisfied.
We were able to be fast from the beginning and, even though we were not looking for a lap time today, we tried three different tyre compounds and we had a good pace with all of them.
”While privateers from Team Gresini continued their strong show.
Hiroshi Aoyama:“I did a lot of laps and a lot of work.
I have done several comparative tests and found a different feeling, but in the end I was feeling much better with the technical parts that I already knew.
Tomorrow I will continue to do the work, but it certainly is not easy to find a good condition with new solutions and, anyway, we will see.
In any case, it was an interesting day to understand which direction to take to continue to work successfully for the season that is approaching.
”Marco Simoncelli:“We have resumed from the last test of twenty days ago always here at Sepang.
Today the track conditions were not optimal and, in any case, I have not tried for a lap time, but we have engaged in many trials.
We tested different set-ups and electronics and will continue to do so tomorrow.
I’m pretty happy because the tyres had twenty laps and could make for interesting times of around 2 ‘02.
Honestly, we’re a little far from first because we have a gap of a second, but I am confident because I have not used the very soft rubber.
I repeat, as a first step we are not far from the best and so I’m happy.
”Toni Elias is starting to re-adapt to MotoGP and not having the flu bug as in the previous test let him push to take 13th.
Toni Elias: “Today I am really happy because we have found some directions and I could lap with more confidence.
On these conditions it is not easy as the track surface reached 61 degrees today, but I wanted to take the most of the bike despite the heat.
Basically, we have worked to develop the machine base set-up using the data we gathered before and my pace is getting better lap by lap.
We didn’t make an exciting lap-time today, but we aimed to improve the bike working on chassis geometry and suspension regulations.
Of course there is still work to do, but I am more confident now because we took a first step forward.
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