Dani Pedrosa fastest RC212V rider at Jerez MotoGP test

MotoGP pre-season testing was brought to a close at the 4.423km Jerez circuit, Spain today as the grand prix teams completed their final three-day winter test session in preparation for the gruelling 18-round world championship series that opens at Doha, Qatar on March 10 - the first ever race under the new 800cc capacity regulations.

The next time they meet the fruits of their labours will be tested to the full in one of the most eagerly awaited contests for several years. Winter testing has produced no clear indication of which man or machine starts the season as favourite to win the most coveted title in motorcycle racing.

Honda teams and riders completed the winter test programme with solid performances from all RC212V powered machines with Repsol Honda factory team rider Dani Pedrosa setting second fastest time of the day, just 0.133s behind Valentino Rossi. Pedrosa’s team mate, MotoGP World Champion Nicky Hayden ended the test as fourth fastest man on the 20-rider grid.

Pedrosa and Hayden both spent the majority of the final day fine tuning their chassis and suspension settings before under going extensive tyre testing for Michelin. The two men running fast consistent race simulations prior to setting up their RCVs to run with qualifying tyres in the 40-minute televised shoot out.

Pedrosa came to Jerez determined to better his best lap time set at Jerez in November and did just that by an impressive 1.4s. The young Spaniard pushed his tyres to the limit and he leaves for Qatar in positive frame of mind.

Hayden, who missed the same test due to under going corrective surgery, had limited time on qualifying tyres this winter preferring to devote his time to working on race rubber and consequently had no marker to aim at ending the day one second off Pedrosa’s best time.

Gresini Honda rider Marco Melandri had set fastest lap times on the opening two-days of the test but failed to make a big impression on qualifying tyres today. The Italian performed consistently well on race tyres all winter and ran a race simulation today with encouraging results but feels he needs to take a big step forward on qualifying rubber.

Toni Elias, on the second Gresini RC212V, was the most improved Honda rider at the Jerez test. In previous tests the diminutive Spaniard had been off the pace but his faith in tyre supplier Bridgestone was rewarded with a range of tyres more suited to his style. Elias feels he is making progress in his development of the RC212V.

Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda, was disappointed with his performance today having failed to put together a perfect lap on qualifying tyres. He found the balance of the machine was not ideal and he suffered from front-end chatter. However, the popular Japanese rider was pleased with the performance of the RCV on race rubber.

Seasoned campaigner Carlos Checa enjoyed a productive three-days at Jerez. The LCR Honda rider and chief mechanic Ramon Forcada have adopted a step-by-step strategy over the winter and Spaniard Checa is close to race ready. He has good race pace and is improving his performances on qualifying tyres. Checa feels the front end needs more fine-tuning but in general he leaves for Qatar with the feeling the team are on course for a good season.

Team Roberts leave Jerez in great shape as they head for Qatar and the opening GP of the season. The team technicians have developed the Honda powered KR212V to a very competitive standard during the series of arduous winter tests. The prototype KR212V covered 4,500 km over the winter and the Jerez test saw the team technicians establish a close to optimum machine balance that has eradicated the niggling front-end grip problems that rider Kenny Roberts Jnr identified as his only real concern. This was achieved by modifying the trail and suspension settings, without losing rear end grip.

At Jerez Kenny Jnr tested Michelin qualifying tyres for the first time with the latest version of the Team Roberts chassis and the results have confirmed the chassis – engine combination can run a full race distance at a fast consistent pace and perform equally well on qualifying rubber.

Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1m 39.556s – 101 laps. “It was definitely fun to get out there again with the boys with something on the line – the timed session gave it a bit of an edge today and was a little bit of a tease before the first race. The position is not too bad but my time is quite a long way from the front. I haven’t spent much time on qualifying tyres at the winter tests so it was good to get that time here and put in a few quick laps. Some of the other riders really put in some hot laps today so credit to them. The conditions towards the end of the session were dodgy because there was a fine mist of rain falling which made it interesting – and riding on qualifiers is always exciting enough anyway. I feel like perhaps we’re still missing a little something to get the speed I want but I’m excited to go racing – I’m really looking forward to it.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 38.527s – 97 laps. “I’m very happy with the 40-minute timed session because I really didn’t expect to be this fast. I improved the lap time on qualifying tyres by a lot from the last time I rode here. This was the goal for the session and I did it, so I’m happy. It’s been a really good test for me because we will only have limited time in which to test tyres this season. It was a good competition with Valentino today but I was not focused on his times, I just wanted to put these tyres on the limit and concentrate on myself, which is what I did. It’s been a valuable three days, we have made progress with the set-up of the bike for the race and also qualifying, so I’m hoping we’re ready for the first round at Qatar.”

Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: 1m 40.396s - 88 laps “It was a difficult day but this 3 day testing session very important to collect data and understand many things about the bike. This afternoon I also made a race simulation and we improved the race rhythm. We need to make a step forward with the qualifying tyre but I’m confident that the Bridgestone technicians will do their best. I’m confident because I trust a lot my team and our partners”.

Toni Elias, Gresini Honda: 1m 40.202s – 85 laps. “We are struggling a bit because we need to adjust the bike to the new tyres so we need to work a lot on suspension and chassis. All in all, I’m confident because the Bridgestone technicians are working very hard and the team is doing a great job”.

Carlos Checa, LCR Honda: 1m 40.100s – 85 laps. "Today we mainly worked on tyres testing with Michelin. We got some improvements in the front end but it's not fixed yet. My pace on race tyres is pretty good but I still struggle on qualifiers. Anyway I feel satisfied because this time I upped my pace on qualifiers compared to the rest of the winter tests and this is positive. Now we must find a solution for the engine because I need more power especially on fast tracks such as Qatar, Istanbul and Shanghai. Honestly we did a great job during the winter to adapt to this new machine but I could go faster and hope that HRC can help me somehow".

Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda: 1m 40.242s - 83 laps. “I’m quite disappointed about my performance on qualifying tyres, but I could never put a perfect lap together. Also with qualifying tyres fitted the balance of the bike wasn’t so good with a return of some chatter at the front-end of the bike. Thankfully in the afternoon we concentrated once more on race tyres and settings. With two tyres to test I did two series of 10 consistent laps and we learned a lot from that, so I’m quite happy and confident about our performance come the race here at the end of next month.”

Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR212V: 1m 40.083s – 84 laps. “When we were satisfied with the chassis performance we basically spent the day tyre testing. I ran qualifying tyres for the first time and I’m happy with the results. We also put in a long run on development tyres and that was good too. Testing has been good for us and we are a long way ahead of where we were at this stage last year but you can have too much testing – now its time to go racing and we’re ready. I’m really looking forward to Qatar.”