MotoGP
De Angelis is fastest Honda RC212V rider on opening day of MotoGP test at Phillip Island
30 gennaio 2008 The surprise package of the day was Gresini Honda rider Alex De Angelis who set third fastest time even though this is the first time the MotoGP debutant has ridden his RC212V at Phillip Island. De Angelis felt strong all day and made good progress, working on geometry settings. His team-mate Shinya Nakano was also happy, using new front suspension settings to dial out the chatter that had hampered him at Sepang. Andrea Dovizioso started the day with the JiR Scot Honda in the same specification as on the final day of testing at Sepang, working towards finding a reasonable base set-up for his RCV around the superbly fast and flowing 4.448 km Australian circuit. Once the young Italian felt comfortable the team worked on suspension settings in combination with tyres from Michelin. Despite experiencing a niggling engine-braking problem Dovizioso set fourth fastest time for the day. Nicky Hayden is the sole Repsol Honda team rider testing the latest prototype of the factory RC212V that will be campaigned by official factory team in the 18-round 2008 MotoGP World Championship. Hayden’s team-mate Dani Pedrosa is recovering from a fractured second metacarpal of his right hand. Hayden, MotoGP World Champion in 2006, put in an incredible 107 laps testing both the prototype engine machine equipped with pneumatic valves and another engine using conventional valve springs. He ran the whole day with standard race tyres as he established a base for the team to work from over the next two days. Frenchman Randy de Puniet had a slow day by his own rapid standards. The LCR Honda rider experienced some front-end slides in high-speed corners and decided discretion was the best part of valour. His team technicians concentrated on suspension settings in combination with a range of Michelin tyres, allowing de Puniet to gain sufficient confidence in the front end to complete the day with a string of fast, consistent times. Honda rider quotes and lap times. Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1m 31.226s – 107 laps. “This is a completely different track to Sepang so we needed to reconfirm what we learned last week. That’s been the plan today, so we’ve been using reference tyres, we’ve not been doing any tyre testing so far, mainly just checking settings. This morning we checked both engines because the team needs data with the pneumatic valve engine too. The track seems to be in great shape and the weather’s good, so we’ve gotten a lot done. “With Dani not here I’m just focusing on my own thing, we’re completely different riders, so I’ve got to keep working on my own stuff. The big difference right now is that I’ve got more engineers working with me, because usually they have to split their time and focus on the both of us. I’m pretty lucky right now to have all the engineers focusing on me. “So far preseason is going well for us but nothing really matters till we get to that first race. I’m just working as hard as I can with the team so I can make the most of the opportunities and hopefully when we get to that race we’ll be ready to make some noise. Michelin is definitely working hard and we’ve seen some progress. Right now we’re positive.” Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 1m 30.70s – 80 laps. “I’m very satisfied with today’s progress. This was a very positive day from the technical point of view and also from the riding point of view. I arrived in Phillip Island a little bit apprehensive as in 250 and 125s I never found myself comfortable at this track and I never enjoyed it too much. With the 800 it’s fantastic! I love to go around the track and it’s very good going into those fast, long corners getting the bike sliding a lot, too! “I still have some small problems in Braking at the rear, which is affecting the lap time a little. The whole thing doesn’t bother me too much and we will find a solution. I’m adapting my riding position on the bike, but I would like to move the footpegs a little to the rear, so we shall change this. Today I concentrated very hard on the track to give a good performance and I’m happy that I have done this. The next two days will be full of intense and very hard work. The team and me will work hard with Michelin and try and find the optimum setting for the chassis.” Alex De Angelis, Gresini Honda: 1m 30.688s – 70 laps “I have recovered perfectly, my right arm doesn’t hurt anymore and this has helped me a lot. I immediately found a good feeling with the bike on this track, which is one of my favourites, and the track conditions today were almost perfect! I could lap with a good pace from the first laps. We have worked on geometry and my feeling has improved a lot during the day. Every test is like a new adventure for me, I have a good relationship with my team and I like the RC212V a lot. Today we tested only with race tyres and I’m very satisfied.” Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 1m 31.436s – 103 laps “When I went out this morning, after three laps only, I had the wrong feeling with the front, so we decided to work on suspension setting throughout the day. We focused our work on the front fork setting and race tyre testing, aiming to find a better feeling for this track. We tested many things and I did 103 laps. At the end of the day the feeling was much better and we’ve found the right way to proceed with our set-up work tomorrow.” Shinya Nakano, Gresini Honda: 1m 31.111s – 91 laps “We worked hard to solve the problems we had at Sepang, in particular the chatter. We tested a modified fork and we succeeded to minimize the problem. I feel very well – fit and motivated – and I did my best time of the day at the end of the afternoon when track conditions were not ideal, which means that I'm feeling very good.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: Did not test due to injuries received during last week’s MotoGP test at Sepang. The date of his return to testing has yet to be established. |
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