Casey Stoner set the record straight on the first day of IRTA testing with a flying lap on his final run of the day at the Jerez circuit and strangely enough for the Australian he actually did a good number of laps, 54 to be precise and didn’t suffer any chatter, something that the Honda RC213V had suffered from during both Sepang tests which Stoner believes is caused by the new tires.
Like Pedrosa, he thinks its the different circuit and asphalt that has masked the problem and not some solution the team has came up with.
“Today has been quite good, we did race distance with a soft set of tyres this morning and we were getting quicker and quicker as we progressed but I think also the circuit was getting better,” said Stoner.
“Then we put the hard tyre on and did a tyre comparison and we had very similar feelings to what we had in Sepang.
We tried a few things with the chassis as the bike was proving slow to turn in the corner but in general it is working well especially at the end of the tyre life.
On the last exit we did our fastest lap on a new soft rear tyre.
It’s been a good first day”.
Despite having run in second for most of the of day and finishing third in the finale, Dani Pedrosa wasn’t that happy, because the small Spaniard had trouble getting back into the testing mode after three weeks without riding his Honda.
“It’s been a pretty tough day, the mechanics had a lot of work to do in the garage and I’ve been stationary a long time, so it was not easy to get into the rhythm quickly,” said Dani Pedrosa.
“But I’m happy because we have a clear idea about the changes we need to do on the bike to improve tomorrow, especially on braking and the exits of the corners.
We also tested the new front Bridgestone tyre, but just for a few laps, so I will keep testing it tomorrow to know if it’s better.
Unfortunately, in the afternoon I had a problem on one bike and I couldn’t use it any more, so I spent quite a long time in the box between runs and thinking about the changes we want to do.
We didn’t have too much chattering today, but I think it’s because of the circuit characteristics”.
