FIM MotoGP World Championship Brno, Czech Republic August 24, 2012 Free Practice Two Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 1:56.858 2. Jorge LORENZO, Spain (YAMAHA), 1:56.911, crash 3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (YAMAHA), 1:57.055 4. Cal CRUTCHLOW, UK (YAMAHA), 1:57.215 5. Stefan BRADL, Germany (HONDA), 1:57.250 6. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 1:57.315 7. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (HONDA), 1:57.573 8. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 1:57.790, crash 9. Aleix ESPARGARO, Spain (Aprilia-ART), 1:59.185 10. Toni ELIAS, Spain (DUCATI), 1:59.228 11. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (DUCATI), 1:59.251 12. Randy DE PUNIET, France (Aprilia-ART), 1:59.498 13. Michele PIRRO, Italy (Honda-FTR), 1:59.833 14. Yonny HERNANDEZ, Colombia (Kawasaki-BQR/FTR), 1:59.886 15. Mattia PASINI, Italy (Aprilia-Speed Master/ART), 2:00.258 16. Colin EDWARDS, USA (BMW-SUTER), 2:00.296 17. Ivan SILVA, Spain (Kawasaki-BQR/FTR), 2:00.773 18. James ELLISON, UK (Aprilia-PBM/ART), 2:01.137 19. Danilo PETRUCCI, Italy (Aprilia-IODA), 2:01.625 More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Dovizioso and Crutchlow impress in Brno practice The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team enjoyed a positive start to the bwin Grand Prix Ceske Republiky today after Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow both mounted a strong challenge for the top three in hot and sunny conditions at the Brno circuit. Dovizioso arrived back in Europe brimming with confidence after scoring his fifth podium in seven races at the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend. And his impressive form continued today after a lap of 1.57.189 put the Italian in third position in this morning’s opening practice session. With temperatures soaring to a demanding 28 degrees, Dovizioso improved his pace to a 1.57.055 this afternoon to finish third quickest again and his time was just 0.144s behind World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo in second position. British rider Crutchlow was also satisfied with his fast pace after he finished fourth fastest in both sessions. The 26-year-old made a confident start this morning with a lap of 1.57.418 and in the second session he was able to lower his pace to a 1.57.215. Just 0.160s split Dovizioso and Crutchlow on the combined timesheets and both are optimistic that overnight tweaks to improve the set-up of their YZR-M1 machines they can fight for a front row start in tomorrow’s qualifying session ahead of Sunday’s 22-lap race. Andrea Dovizioso 3rd 1.57.055 35 laps: “I am really satisfied with the work we have done today. Obviously we arrive here in great shape after the fantastic podium in Indianapolis and immediately I was comfortable with the bike and the big positive is in both sessions I was very close to the front. I was only 0.186s behind Dani this morning and 0.197s behind him this afternoon and it is great to start the weekend being so competitive. In every race I have been on the podium this season I have not started this strongly, so hopefully this is a good indication that we will be very strong in the race on Sunday. The good thing about today is we can start to work immediately on improving the set-up of the bike because unlike in Indianapolis, the Brno track isn’t dirty and there was a lot of grip. I’d like it to be a little easier to make the lap time beca use it feels I am quite close to the limit on the front. But we have a plan for tomorrow that should help us in that area.” Cal Crutchlow 4th 1.57.215 37 laps: “Today wasn’t a bad start to the weekend because I was fourth in both sessions and very close to Andrea. But we can definitely make some improvements to the bike. This afternoon I struggled quite a lot with the hard tyre and we need to have a look at the data closely to get more of an understanding why. I’ve got good pace on the soft tyre and I’m convinced I can be a bit quicker because I didn’t put in a soft tyre until right at the end of this afternoon’s session. I feel confident for tomorrow and am sure we can challenge for a decent grid position for Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by Ducati: Positive start for Ducati Team at Brno The Ducati Team today began its preparations for Sunday’s Czech Republic Grand Prix, with Valentino Rossi posting the sixth-best time in the first two free-practice sessions. On a sunny day with mild temperatures, the Italian rode at a good, consistent pace. On his fastest lap, his gap to the front was under half a second. In the meantime, Nicky Hayden reported from the U.S. that the hand he injured in Indianapolis is improving and that he is confident he’ll be able to return for the Misano Grand Prix. Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 6th (1:57.315) “I’m happy because we went pretty well today, and in particular, the gap to the front makes us fairly optimistic. This is a beautiful track that I like a lot. It’s where I got my first win and my first world title, and we were also pretty strong here last year on the Ducati. Both of today’s sessions were good. We worked well, trying to find the best setup compromise for this circuit, and when we put on the soft tyre, we were finally able to improve the performance and to do a number of laps not too far from the leaders’ times. The pace is also decent. The riders ahead certainly still have some margin, so tomorrow, in addition to choosing which tyre to use in the race, we’ll have to try to improve a bit ourselves as well. At the moment, the soft is performing better, but we’ll see.” More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing: REAL IMPROVEMENTS FOR TONI ELIAS ABOARD HIS DUCATI MACHINE AT BRNO CIRCUIT The Pramac Ducati Racing Team returned to action in Brno today with the substitute rider Toni Elias, who during the opening two practice sessions, made a positive start to his preparation for SundayÂ’s Czech Republic Grand Prix. Toni was able to improve his best lap time from the morning session to the afternoon free practice, working hard with the White and Green Team to find a good setup and to improve his feeling with the bike as a consequence. Tomorrow the weather forecast could shuffle the cards, due to a light rain predicted for the last free practice as well as the qualifying session. Toni Elias – Pramac Racing Team Rider – FP1 13th place in 1Â’59.881; FP2 10th place in 1:Â’59.228 “IÂ’m quite satisfied. My feeling, both with the bike and the team, is improving a lot compared to the Laguna Seca and Indy races. TodayÂ’s goal was to beat the time of 1Â’:58, but I was not able to achieve that time. Tomorrow IÂ’ll grit my teeth, to decrease my lap times by one second or more. IÂ’m confident that we can do a steady step forward.” Marco Rigamonti – Track Engineer Pramac Racing Team – “Lap after lap Toni begins to have the right feeling with the bike and now we aren’t as far from the other MotoGP machines, compared to the two American rounds. So we have positive confirmations today. Now we have to refine to gain a few tenths of a second, working on a variety of aspects on our bike and trying to capture a good grid position during tomorrow’s qualifying.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: Pedrosa continues momentum on Day 1 in Brno Fresh from his fantastic win in Indianapolis just five days ago, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa continued his fine form in Brno today topping the time sheets on the first day of Free Practice. Dani, fastest in the morning was victim of a strange incident when a rider in front of him strayed slightly off track kicking some stones into his path. Such was the impact that the stones smashed Dani’s front screen on his Honda and stones also hit his helmet and left foot which left the Spanish rider limping after the impact, nevertheless he finished FP1 in first position. Dani managed to shake of the pain in time for FP2 and traded fastest laps throughout the session with Jorge Lorenzo. Dani eventually came out on top with a 1’56.858 time on lap 11 of 17. DANI PEDROSA 1st 1’56.858 “Today we spent time working on the tyres and set up of the bike. We were trying to get the maximum time on the track as tomorrow we don’t know how the weather will be so it was important to have a lot of time in the dry. The feelings were improving but we still have some work to do especially with electronics and suspension. I was pretty lucky with the incident this morning as it could have been a lot worse. There were two massive rocks that flew up, one hit my left foot hard and the other one hit my screen and chin. At the beginning I thought I had broken something in my foot but fortunately it’s ok, just a lot of swelling, anyway the pain is going down from this morning so that’s a good thing”. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha MotoGP Team: Yamaha Get Back on Track in Brno Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies were back on track today in Brno for the first sessions of the Grand Prix of Czech Republic. After a very difficult weekend in Indianapolis both riders were enjoying the fast flowing Brno circuit and were quick to find pace in the morning. Both were unfortunate to crash in the afternoon session but no injuries were sustained and both were able to continue. Spies crashed on his preferred bike set up, compromising the remainder of the second session riding with less ideal bike settings whilst Lorenzo was able to continue dueling with Dani Pedrosa for the top two positions. Jorge Lorenzo Position : 2nd Time: 1’56.911 Laps: 19 “Today was much better than Indianapolis, we tried to improve the bike but we still need to find some solutions for more grip in the corners. I had a small crash in a slow corner, I tried to lean a little more and found the limit of the grip. I’m quite satisfied overall, we are there with Dani fighting for the best lap time every practice which is good.” Ben Spies Position : 7th Time: 1’57.446 Laps: 14 “The second session wasn’t great for us but the first session was really good. We went out in the afternoon and the bike was working really well but we had an older front tyre from the morning on. I just think I might have been pushing a little too hard at that point with the track temperature being a little hotter and we had a small low side crash. Unfortunately the second bike had a very different setting on it which I wasn’t comfortable on. It was too far off to really make a step forward. We know the pace is good with the original setting so we’ll work on improving that tomorrow.” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “An ok first day today, the small crash was a pity but nothing really damaged and no injuries. It’s very tight at the top; it looks like they are trying to get maximum grip out of the tyre and everyone seems to be struggling a little with similar issues. Let’s see for tomorrow if it can be a bit smoother and we can improve the lap time.” Massimo Meregalli Team Director “Ben had a little crash in the afternoon which compromised the second practice. Unfortunately we were trying two different set ups and the one he crashed with was the one that he was more comfortable with. The feeling he had with the other was not perfect. This morning he ran really well and is confident with the set up and the tyres. We’ll work on some improvements tonight and tomorrow I don’t think we’ll be far from the best set up.” More, from a press release issued by NGM Mobile Forward Racing: Edwards in 16th place at the Brno free practice First day of free practices at Brno and first impressions at the Czeck circuit for Colin Edwards and the NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team. The American rider had the 16th best time this afternoon in the MotoGP free practice with his Suter BMW, with a gap of 3,428 seconds from Dani Pedrosa. Tomorrow the Texan rider and his team will continue to work on the setting of the bike and the electronics in search of a faster lap time. Colin Edwards – 5 “The morning started out alright, the feeling was ok. We made some changes and obviously made it better than this morning. With the gearing, we didn’t know what the gearing here so we played around with different gears trying to figure out what works best. This afternoon, what we thought was going to be good is basically the same. Our main concern is still the electronics, they are not yet consistent enough.” Sergio Verbena Crew Chief “This morning we decided to work in another direction in terms of the setting of the bike compared to the one used in previous races and Colin seems to like it. The gap right now is about three and a half seconds from the best lap time, which at a long racetrack such as this one seems reasonable. We will be making modifications on the setting of the bike for tomorrow and we hope to find the solution to the electronics problems we have encountered.” More, from a press release issued by Speed Master: PASINI SETS THE FIFTEENTH TIME ON THE BRNO TRACK IN FP2 The twelfth round of the 2012 season for the MotoGP class kicked off today, at the circuit of Brno. During the first free practice session, Mattia Pasini and his technicians mainly worked on the electronics and on the suspensions of the ART bike, verifying some solutions that were thought for the Czech track. In the afternoon, Pasini confirmed a smilar pace to the first session of the day: with his crew, he focused on reducing the chattering on the front, arranging some changes to the set-up. The best final time that the Italian set is of 2’00.258 (fifteenth position). Mattia Pasini #54 – 15th with 2’00.258 “We knew this was a track that is a little more difficult for us, after the last few GP rounds. Today, what’s more, we had to deal with some chattering on the front, and therefore we preferred to focus on that, trying to improve the performance of my ART machine. Now we’ll work to achieve a good feeling with the bike and to be stronger in tomorrow’s sessions, once we sort out the data we put together today.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Pedrosa leads Friday practice in Czech Republic Round 12: Czech Republic Grand Prix Free Practice One and Two Brno, Friday 23 August 2012 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Soft, Medium, Extra-hard. Rear: Medium, Hard (Asymmetric) Bridgestone wet tyre compounds available: Soft (Main), Hard (Alternative) Weather: FP1 – Dry. Ambient 26-26°C; Track 34-34°C (Bridgestone measurement) FP2 – Dry. Ambient 29-29°C; Track 42-43°C (Bridgestone measurement) Dani Pedrosa was fastest in both practice sessions today as the Repsol Honda rider topped yet another session in this year’s MotoGP™ championship. After setting the best time in the morning FP1 session, Pedrosa set a time of 1’56.858 in FP2 to end the session and the day as the quickest rider, just 0.053 seconds ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo, while Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Andrea Dovizioso was third fastest overall with a time of 1’57.055. Almost every rider set their best lap time of the day on the combination of the softer rear and harder front slicks at a circuit where having good rear grip for drive out of corners, and the highest amount of front-end stability for confidence under braking and in high-speed corners is of utmost importance. Some riders performed long runs on the softer rear slick in FP2 with feedback suggesting good levels of durability with this option for both the works and CRT bikes, with widespread evaluation of the harder option rear slick – which was seldom used today – expected to take place tomorrow. Weather forecasts indicate a good chance of rain tomorrow with Bridgestone’s main wet tyre for this weekend being the soft compound, although every rider will also have access to a limited number of the alternative hard compound wet tyre. If rain does occur in between sessions tomorrow causing track conditions to deteriorate without leaving the tarmac fully wet, the superior warm-up performance and edge grip of the softer slick compounds will make these options more suitable to riders heading out on a damp but drying track. The MotoGP™ riders will next take to the Brno circuit for FP3 at 1010 local time (GMT +2) before the one hour qualifying session begins at 1355. Shinji Aoki – Manager, Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development Department “Today we had warm and dry weather with most riders preferring the combination of the harder front and softer rear slick. Rider feedback from both the works and CRT riders indicates that the softer rear option is working well, with good levels of grip being maintained over longer runs, though testing of the harder rear slick tomorrow will help teams decide which is the better race option for them. At this stage it looks like we could have rain tomorrow and perhaps Sunday, in which case we will have both the soft compound as well as a limited number of hard compound wet tyres on standby for riders to use. The top eight riders today set personal best lap times within six-tenths of a second of each other, so this bodes well for a closely fought qualifying session tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: BRADL TARGETS FRONT ROW START AFTER BRNO GP OPENING DAY Brno, 24th August: riders were back out on track for the bwin Grand Prix ÄŒeské Republiky opening day at the popular Brno track. After a little time to rest this week even Stefan Bradl moved from Indy to Europe to contest the Czech track setting the 5th fastest lap time of the day (1’57.250). The German considers Brno one of his favourite circuits having collected his first victory in 125cc and the third place in last year’s Moto2 race so his first outing riding the RCV looked very promising as Bradl even set the fastest time in the first sector of the 5.403km track. Stefan: “The first free session this morning was a bit strange but I knew we had a better potential and finally we made a good practice in the afternoon. I am happy about the 5th position but there’s something to adjust in the overall package especially in the front because it seemed that we overheat the tyre at the end of the session causing some movements. That issue stopped me a bit in recording a good average lap time but at the end the pace was quite consistent. I am in good form and very motivated but we must improve the bike even in the rear because we are not at 100% right now”. More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: As the MotoGP™ classes got their first taste of the track for this weekend’s bwin Grand Prix ÄŒeské republiky at Brno it was Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa who set the tone after posting the fastest time of the day in the premier-class ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso. Set in hot conditions on the harder rear tyre, a lap in the high 1.56s placed him ahead of Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo, who was a surprise crasher half way through the afternoon session, focussing his efforts on the softer rear tyre. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Andrea Dovizioso completed the top three as he continued his good form this season, finishing less that two tenths off the top. In fourth, his teammate Cal Crutchlow was having a good day as he put in a fast lap at the end of the afternoon practice, matching his performance of the morning. LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl set the fifth quickest time of the day, with the German even setting the fastest time in the first sector of the track. Sixth place was occupied by Ducati Team’s Valentino Rossi, who had one of his best outings all season, finishing less than half a second off Pedrosa’s Honda. In seventh, Yamaha’s Ben Spies suffered a crash in the afternoon session, and was unable to better his time from the morning. San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista went eighth fastest, also crashing out in the afternoon with three minutes left after pushing for a faster lap. His best time was also set in the morning. Power Electronics Aspar’s Randy de Puniet finished the day in ninth and as top CRT and was the only other rider in the top ten not to improve in the afternoon. His teammate Aleix Espargaró set the tenth fastest time of the day, yet also dropped his bike in the gravel with only two minutes left in the latter session. Pramac Racing Team’s Toni Elías, standing in for the injured Héctor Barberá was 11th. Avintia Blusens’ Yonny Hernandez caused the red flag to come out briefly for air-bag fence repairs, after crashing his bike for the second time in the day in the second practice, while Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci was a crasher in the morning session. None of the riders were hurt in the incidents. Moto2™ On the first day of free practice at the bwin Grand Prix ÄŒeské republiky in Brno it was Pons 40 HP Tuenti’s Pol Espargaró who set the fastest time ahead of Interwetten-Paddock’s Tom Lüthi and NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis. Espargaró set his quickest lap late in the morning session, when track conditions proved their most ideal. Lüthi on the other hand, who had been on the pace throughout the day, was on his best form in the afternoon until he crashed his bike 20 minutes before the end. And despite not being able to get back out on track, his time of 2.03’103 put him just a fraction behind the Spaniard. Third quickest was NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Alex de Angelis, finishing just ahead of Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding. The Brit had looked on record pace in the afternoon session, yet his best lap was scrapped, due to him cutting the track at turn two. Came IodaRacing Project’s Simone Corsi put in a terrific performance for fifth, ahead of Team CatalunyaCaixa Repsol’s Marc Márquez, who was less than two tenths down on the Italian. Speed Master’s Andrea Iannone clocked the seventh fastest time of the afternoon, as he looks to fight for the win once more like he did last year. Redding’s teammate Mika Kallio, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto2’s Nico Terol and Italtrans Racing Team’s Claudio Corti, a crasher in the morning practice, completed the top ten. As well as Lüthi, other fallers included Desguaces La Torre SAG’s Marcel Schrötter, Corti’s teammate Takaaki Nakagami, Kiefer Racing’s Max Neukirchner and Espargaró’s teammate Axel Pons. Neukirchner’s fall resulted in a fracture of the third metacarpus in his right hand. Moto3™ It was Blusens Avintia’s Maverick Viñales who went quickest on the first day of practice at the bwin Grand Prix ÄŒeské republiky in front of Jakub Kornfeil and Danny Kent by setting the top time in the afternoon session. Spaniard Viñales was in scorching form on the opening day, as he posted the fastest time of 2.09’480 to make his intentions clear this weekend, having to make up for his DNF last time out. It was however local rider Kornfeil on board his Redox-Ongetta-Centro Seta that stole the show to take second spot of the day with a lap just under three tenths off the top. Red Bull KTM Ajo’s Danny Kent finished the day in third, doing well to recover from his crash in the morning. AirAsia-SIC-Ajo’s Zulfahmi Khairuddin had led a large part of the afternoon practice, yet was unable to capitalise on this in the final stages. He nonetheless ended the day in a respectable fourth, ahead of San Carlo Gresini Moto3’s Niccolò Antonelli, who improved significantly on his showing in the morning session. RW Racing GP’s Luis Salom, last race’s winner, brought his bike home in sixth, over seven tenths off Viñales in top spot. Behind him, the morning’s pace setter, Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3’s Jonas Folger came in seventh, with Racing Team Germany’s Louis Rossi behind. Red Bull KTM Ajo ‘s Sandro Cortese had a subdued day for his standards finishing ninth, and only jumped into that position after his final lap in the afternoon practice, with Estrella Galicia 0,0’s Miguel Oliveira completing the top ten. Oliveira’s teammate Alex Rins crashed out of the session with 16 minutes left, whilst MZ Racing’s Toni Finsterbusch did the same earlier in the afternoon. The morning session was also marred with crashes, as Mahindra Racing’s Ricardo Moretti took out Andalucia JHK T-Shirt Laglisse’s Alberto Moncayo, while Caretta Technology’s stand-in rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi slid off track at the same time as Technomag-CIP-TSR’s Alan Techer. Moretti suffered fractures to his number 6 and 7 ribs on his right side, while Techer was concussed, rendering him unfit for the race. More, from a press release issued by Power Electronics Aspar Team: POWER ELECTRONICS ASPAR PAIR IN TOP TEN AT BRNO De Puniet and Espargaró dominate CRT field in Czech Republic After a crash-strewn GP in Indianapolis last weekend red flag fever continued in MotoGP today, free practice being brought to a temporary halt in both the morning an the afternoon after first Valentino Rossi dragged gravel onto the track and then Yonny Hernandez crashed and burst an air fence. Ben Spies, Jorge Lorenzo and Aleix Espargaró also hit the deck on a day that saw Dani Pedrosa clock the fastest time as he looks to strengthen his title challenge in the absence of his injured team-mate Casey Stoner. It was largely a day of experimentation for POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar riders Espargaró and Randy De Puniet although both were satisfied with their performances by the close of play. De Puniet clocked an impressive 1’58.667 this morning but was unable to match his pace in the afternoon whilst the reverse was true of Espargaró, who struggled with his set-up in the opening session but later found his feet after changing back to the base setting that served him so well at Mugello last month. The pair continue to set the pace amongst the CRT bikes on track and again outpaced several factory prototypes today on their way to ninth and tenth place. 9th Randy De Puniet 1.58.667 (33 laps): “We had a good session this morning when we put the soft tyre in and had a lot of grip mid-corner. We changed a few things with the gearbox setting this afternoon and it didn’t work so we’ll have to take a step backwards tomorrow. We have also done some tyre testing and again the feeling wasn’t the same as this morning but it is important to try these things in practice so you can rule certain things out. At the end of the session we got back into the groove we had this morning so we’ll use those same settings tomorrow.” 10th Aleix Espargaró 1.59.185 (30 laps): “I am happy with this afternoon;s session because we improved a lot from this morning. I wasn’t feeling comfortable with the bike but we made some big changes on my second bike and went back to the setting we had at Mugello. Like Brno it is a fast track and quite similar in a few other ways so we were able to make some big improvements quite quickly and my lap time was dropping further when we ran into some traffic at the end. Anyway this afternoon’s session has given me confidence for the rest of the weekend. Everything we tried worked so we know what we need to do tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Cardion AB Motoracing: Abaja started race weekend on eleventh place in Friday’s practice sessions The first day of this year’s bwin Czech Republic Grand Prix saw Karel Abraham finishing in eleventh place 2. 393 seconds behind the fastest rider Dani Pedrosa. Karel Abraham “The day didn’t start out too bad, but unfortunately we didn’t manage to make any progress as the day went on. The changes we made to improve the bike in the afternoon had precisely the opposite effect things got worse in the afternoon. At the end of the second training session we tried out the second bike with the new engine, but it had real problems with the front end. In fact, it was so dodgy I didn’t fancy finishing the last lap and rode it straight to the pits. I don’t like to say it, but compared to the last two races I feel less confident on the bike. At the same time, though, I believe I’m riding near enough close to the limit.” Marco Grana, chief mechanic, team Cardion AB Motoracing “We’ve got two problems that need sorting out. The main one is that we are slow entering almost every corner; the other problem is that the bike is really unstable on the rear wheel. The first problem is also up to Karel to solve: he has to start braking later because this is where we’re losing out. On the other hand, we’ve got a really good top speed of 305 kph, and our lap times are comparable to last year’s; this year, though, that won’t be enough. Tomorrow we’ll try completely resetting the chassis, which hopefully will help Karel feel a bit surer of himself on the bike when entering corners. This is the area we need to focus on if we’re to improve our times.”