FIM MotoGP World Championship Shanghai, China May 2, 2008 Free Practice Two Results: 1. Casey STONER (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, 2:00.163 2. Valentino ROSSI (Yam YZR-M1), Bridgestone, 2:00.215 3. Dani PEDROSA (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 2:00.361 4. Shinya NAKANO (Hon RC212V), Bridgestone, 2:00.553 5. John HOPKINS (Kaw ZX-RR), Bridgestone, 2:00.591 6. Nicky HAYDEN (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 2:00.607 7. Alex DE ANGELIS (Hon RC212V), Bridgestone, 2:00.931 8. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suz GSV-R), Bridgestone, 2:00.964 9. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 2:01.027 10. Colin EDWARDS (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, 2:01.064 11. Toni ELIAS (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, 2:01.326 12. Chris VERMEULEN (Suz GSV-R), Bridgestone, 2:01.504 13. James TOSELAND (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, 2:01.798 14. Marco MELANDRI (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, 2:01.913 15. Anthony WEST (Kaw ZX-RR), Bridgestone, 2:02.002 16. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Duc GP08), Bridgestone, 2:02.348 17. Randy DE PUNIET (Hon RC212V), Michelin, 2:02.407 18. Jorge LORENZO (Yam YZR-M1), Michelin, no time posted Best Combined Practice Times: 1. ROSSI, 1:59.906 2. STONER, 2:00.163 3. PEDROSA, 2:00.361 4. NAKANO, 2:00.553 5. HOPKINS, 2:00.591 6. HAYDEN, 2:00.607 7. DE ANGELIS, 2:00.931 8. CAPIROSSI, 2:00.964 9. DOVIZIOSO, 2:00.974 10. EDWARDS, 2:01.064 11. ELIAS, 2:01.326 12. VERMEULEN, 2:01.504 13. TOSELAND, 2:01.798 14. MELANDRI, 2:01.913 15. WEST, 2:01.984 16. DE PUNIET, 2:02.026 17. GUINTOLI, 2:02.348 18. LORENZO, 2:02.480 More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Strong start for Bridgestone riders in Shanghai Round 4: China Free Practice Shanghai International Circuit, Friday 2 May 2008 All six teams using Bridgestone tyres performed strongly in today’s opening two practice rounds at the Shanghai International Circuit, in preparation for Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix. Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi was the quickest rider over the entire day, and was the only man to lap under the 2-minute mark, setting a best lap time of 1m59.906s in this morning’s session. Fastest this afternoon was last year’s Chinese race winner Casey Stoner, whose best time of 2m00.163 placed him strongly in second position in the combined practice classification after a competitive day for the reigning champion. The strength in depth of Bridgestone’s teams was highlighted by the performance of San Carlo Honda Gresini duo Shinya Nakano and Alex de Angelis, who excelled in fourth and seventh positions respectively. Kawasaki’s John Hopkins continued where he left off in Estoril with a strong fifth place, Loris Capirossi made the top eight for Suzuki, while the ever-improving Alice Team were unlucky to miss out on the top ten with Toni Elias in a nevertheless encouraging 11th place. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development Are you satisfied with the outcome of today’s practice sessions? “I think it has been a very satisfactory first day for us, and we have seen all six of our teams able to compete for top ten positions throughout both practice sessions. Such performances would indicate that our tyres have competitive pace here in the conditions we have seen today, so I am quite pleased so far. Naturally, this is only the first day and there is not much separating the top riders so we have more important evaluation work to carry out tomorrow morning to make sure we are in the best shape for Sunday’s race.” What range of tyres has been evaluated today? “Some of our riders used this afternoon’s session to run with our latest specification rear tyres, but we have also looked at our existing generation of rear and front tyres. In the hotter conditions this afternoon we tested our hardest available compound with some riders and even this showed a good performance level. Generally, across our range of tyres, the grip levels have been good and there is a lot of potential. However, we need to look more closely at the tyre performance over longer runs to assess the durability in race trim, something that we hope to accomplish during tomorrow.” Bridgestone-shod Riders’ Combined Practice Session Results Pos. Rider Team Session 1 (pos) Session 2 (pos) Gap P1 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m59.906s (P1) 2m00.215s (P2) Fastest P2 Casey Stoner Ducati Corse 2m00.318s (P2) 2m00.163s (P1) +0.257s P4 Shinya Nakano San Carlo Honda Gresini 2m01.513s (P9) 2m00.553s (P4) +0.647s P5 John Hopkins Kawasaki Racing Team 2m01.153s (P5) 2m00.591s (P5) +0.685s P7 Alex de Angelis San Carlo Honda Gresini 2m02.091s (P13) 2m00.931s (P7) +1.025s P8 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2m01.249s (P6) 2m00.964s (P8) +1.068s P11 Toni Elias Alice Team 2m02.199s (P14) 2m01.326s (P11) +1.420s P12 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2m01.588s (P10) 2m01.504s (P12) +1.598s P14 Marco Melandri Ducati Corse 2m04.857s (P18) 2m01.913s (P14) +2.007s P15 Anthony West Kawasaki Racing Team 2m01.984s (P11) 2m02.002s (P15) +2.078s P17 Sylvain Guintoli Alice Team 2m03.174s (P17) 2m02.348s (P16) +2.442s Weather: Session 1 / Dry Air 25°C, Track 40°C (Bridgestone measurement) Session 2 / Dry Air 28°C, Track 50°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by JiR Team Scot Honda: First day at ‘magnificent’ Shanghai track for Andrea Dovizioso Summer weather today greeted the JiR Team Scot squad at the Shanghai race circuit for the first day of practice. The big difference in temperature between the morning and afternoon sessions was the crucial point of the working programme for both team and rider. After posting the fourth best time in the morning, Andrea Dovizioso concentrated in the afternoon looking for the best choice of tyres while also adapting to the big difference in temperature. After finding a good setting on the bike with the electronic engine management system, the work went well until the end of the day. Tomorrow will be vitally important to ensure optimum settings of the Honda RC212V and grid position for Sunday’s race. Cirano Mularoni Team Manager, JiR Team Scot “The first day today here at Shanghai we did a good job and the team worked well and fast and we found some correct technical solutions allowing Andrea to dedicate himself to other aspects of performance. Andrea is consistent and this shows that he has got used to the track with the bike and that he’s on the right level to improve. I’m pretty much confident that we can obtain a good result tomorrow and on Sunday. I must give big thanks to all our technical partners who have helped so much today.” Andrea Dovizioso Rider, JiR Team Scot MotoGP HONDA RC212V Best time: 9th – 2′ 01.027″ “Obviously I’m not so happy that I wasn’t as fast in the afternoon when it was hotter. This is the way, but because my pace is consistent I know we have room to make things even better and go faster still. The main problem of the afternoon session was the big difference of temperature and this made the racetrack much slower. I’m pretty much satisfied on the balance of the bike: we have no problems at all with suspension and also during hard braking I am now entering corners without any chatter. We wanted to try many tyres solution today and we did this to have the big picture of all the possible differences we need thanks to the temperature difference. Tomorrow we will concentrate on the fine-tuning of the package in race configuration.” Gianni Berti Technical Co-ordinator, JiR Team Scot “The first part of day it was important to see where we stood from a technical and mechanical point of view so pretty much the whole afternoon we concentrated by doing lots of work with our Michelin tyres. We soon realised that the big difference in temperature was affecting the whole day’s work and that the increased temperature we experienced later on in the day wasn’t making track conditions any better or faster for us.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers Loris Capirossi and Chris Vermeulen both made positive steps towards finding the best set-up for their Suzuki GSV-R’s during the first day of free practice today for this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. Capirossi recorded the eighth quickest time of the day with a fastest lap of 2’00.964 from his 42 laps. The Italian’s best time was just over a second off the fastest lap of the day and Capirossi is confident that there is more to come from him and his machine over the forthcoming weekend. Vermeulen was just outside the top-10 with the 12th fastest time. He set his best time during a long run on the same Bridgestone race tyre this afternoon, but Suzuki’s Australian star was concentrating more on getting the optimum set-up for his GSV-R than out-and-out fast laps. Vermeulen is determined to make some big improvements tomorrow when he tries one of the new generation of Bridgestone tyres that he has available to him. Today’s track temperatures reached 52ºC around the 5,281m Shanghai International Circuit and clear skies and bright sunshine helped push air temperatures up to 28 ºC. Valentino Rossi on his Bridgestone-shod Factory Yamaha set the quickest time of the day. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP was joined at the track today by Mr Masahiro Nishikawa, General Manager of Suzuki’s Motorcycle Engine Design Department. He will stay with the team for the weekend as it continues to prepare for the 22-lap race that gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (07.00hrs GMT) on Sunday. Loris Capirossi: “It’s been quite a positive day for us because we have tried many things and we have found a good setting for the bike. We went a bit softer on the front set-up this afternoon and although it is still not perfect we know what needs changing on the bike tomorrow. We are not yet 100% certain on the tyre for the race, but we have a good idea and we will run it for a lot of laps tomorrow to make sure it will be right for the race. I am close to the top-guy and I made a couple of mistakes on my last two laps or I would have gone even quicker. I think this could be a great weekend for us!” Chris Vermeulen: “We tried a lot of things with the bike set-up today and definitely made some big steps forward this afternoon. I used the same tyre for the whole afternoon session, which was probably not the best option as I struggled to get as much grip as I wanted when we were making so many changes to the bike. The good news is that Loris used a tyre today that I didn’t and it seemed to be a big step forward for him, and as I have it in my allocation I will run that tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to seeing the difference it makes. We are confident for this weekend and are looking forward to what should be a good race.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “It’s not been a bad day’s work at all today. The Bridgestone tyres and the Suzuki GSV-R both seem to be a good match to the Shanghai circuit. We’ve still got a lot of detailed work to close the gap on the very fastest riders, but both the guys have a clear plan and a good level of confidence that we can take big steps tomorrow. “It’s also been a pleasure to welcome Mr Nishikawa, to his first MotoGP event outside of Japan and we hope that we can put on a decent show for him this weekend, and make sure that he returns to some more events in the future!” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: PROMISING START FOR KAWASAKI IN CHINA The Grand Prix of China began today with the first two practice sessions of the weekend. In perfect warm, dry conditions, the premier class field headed out onto the 5.281km circuit at Shanghai with Kawasaki riders, John Hopkins and Anthony West, aboard their Bridgestone-shod Ninja ZX-RRs. The 24-year-old Hopkins who, on starting Sunday’s race, will become the youngest ever rider to achieve the landmark of partaking in 100 MotoGP rounds, came fifth fastest in both sessions, improving his times in the afternoon with a best lap of 2’00.591. Just over half a second off the leader, the Anglo-American is looking strong at the track, which boasts a fast, sweeping layout, well suited to the Kawasaki machine. Meanwhile, West put his best lap in during the morning practice, with a time of 2’01.984 and a staggering top speed of 320.0kmh. The 27-year-old Australian was one of a number of riders, including pack-leader Valentino Rossi, whose early times were their strongest of the day and, as the Kawasaki squad experimented with settings on the ZX-RR, West’s position on combined times was 15th in the group. Practice continues tomorrow morning, followed by the qualifying session in the afternoon, at 13.55 hours, local time, prior to Sunday’s 22-lap race. John Hopkins #21: 5th – 28 Laps 2’00.591 “Today we worked on setting up the machine to suit my preferences around this circuit. I really like this track and I’ve always gone quite well here. In the afternoon session we tried a few different Bridgestone tyre combinations to find a choice that will last the distance on Sunday. We also evaluated various parts and we’ve finished practice very positively. I’m feeling confident and tomorrow we need to qualify well to put us in the best possible stead for the race.” Anthony West #13: 15th – 39 Laps 2’01.984 “Although the times are not brilliant, we are making some progress and our fastest laps have been in the closing stages of each session. Hopefully, this means there is more to come, and we can continue going faster. Our biggest problem is with the power delivery and corner exit, where I feel we are losing a lot of time due to a lack of traction. Tonight we will review the data and try to find a solution to continue moving forwards.” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “In practice today we’ve been working on our Shanghai race set-up. We haven’t needed to make many changes for John from the last round at Estoril, so we’ve just been optimising the base setting we already have. We are not that far from the front but we need to improve the machine performance a little to be with the leaders. Anthony is slowly regaining his confidence and although his lap times are not quite where he needs to be, he is moving forwards. We will look at the data overnight and see which areas he needs to improve on tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Rossi takes early Shanghai advantage with morning time Pramac Grand Prix of China – Friday May 2nd Report Day 1 motogp Valentino Rossi´s morning lap of 1´59.906 was enough to take the early advantage in the MotoGP combined free practice standings at the Pramac Grand Prix of China, with not even the Italian himself able to beat his hot lap in the second session. The Fiat Yamaha rider finished second in the afternoon runout, behind 2007 Shanghai racewinner and reigning World Champion Casey Stoner. However, Stoner´s 2´00.186 lap was not sufficient to better Rossi´s marker, falling just over two-tenths of a second short. Both riders had grip problems on their final outing of the day, avoiding highsides on the sun-heated asphalt but losing time making corrections. Rossi ran off track, a fate that also befell Alice Team´s Toni Elias and Rizla Suzuki´s Loris Capirossi. The top three in the combined results involved all three previous winners of the Chinese round of the World Championship, with Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa pursuing the leading duo at the scene of his 2006 maiden MotoGP victory. Claiming a newfound level of comfort with his San Carlo Gresini Honda RC212V in Thursday´s press conference, Shinya Nakano gave weight to his statement by recording the day´s fourth fastest time. He was quicker than the likes of 2007 podium finisher John Hopkins and 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden, riding the factory version of the Honda machine. Fully recovered from his Estoril tonsillitis, Alex de Angelis was seventh on the timesheet on the second satellite San Carlo Honda, ahead of Capirossi, JiR Team Scot´s Andrea Dovizioso and Tech 3 Yamaha veteran Colin Edwards. MotoGP World Championship leader Jorge Lorenzo did not come out for the afternoon session, having been taken to hospital for examination. The Spaniard suffered a highside in his first premier class Shanghai session, picking up a chipped bone in his left ankle and some damage to his lower right leg. It is not yet known if the Fiat Yamaha rider will return to action on Saturday as he looks to maintain his 100% pole position record. 250cc Alvaro Bautista took provisional pole in an action-packed first 250cc qualifying session, as one of three riders in contention for the top spot in the final seconds. The Mapfre Aspar rider had to work hard to confirm the position, with himself, quarter-litre category leader Mika Kallio and fellow Spaniard Hector Barbera all on pole pace on their final lap. Kallio occupied the place for just the briefest of moments, before Bautista bit back with a 2´05.035 hot lap as the session drew to a close. Kallio was just under four tenths of a second slower than his title rival, with Barbera a further tenth behind onboard his Team Toth Aprilia machine. The latter was involved in a near-collision with Emmi-Caffe Latte´s Thomas Luthi, forcing the Swiss rider to sit up. Luthi finished the session in fourth. Polaris World rider Mattia Pasini heads the provisional second row, ahead of Julian Simon, Hector Faubel and Marco Simoncelli. Simoncelli was included on the list of crashers in the qualifying session, as were Doni Tata Pradita and Russel Gomez, who had a late coming together between their respective Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia and Blusens Aprilia bikes. 125cc Stefan Bradl is on provisional pole for the 125cc Pramac Grand Prix of China, having recorded a late, late hot lap of 2´13.218 in the opening qualifying session in Shanghai. The German, riding for Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing in 2008, has never been on pole in the World Championship, but is now in prime position to break his duck. He was the quickest participant in a session in which the top thirteen all rode round within the same second. Bradley Smith looked to have taken the provisional pole spot with his own late surge, but missed out by just six hundredths of a second. Smith had earlier experienced a lowside crash on his Polaris World Aprilia. The Briton was not adversely affected by the incident. The morning practice session´s fastest rider Nico Terol maintained his good form, pencilled in for the front row alongside the top two and Jack&Jones WRB team-mate Simone Corsi. The latter is the current series leader, on a two-race run of consecutive victories. Reigning World Champion Gabor Talmacsi ran off track at the end of the session, and currently lies in fifth, ahead of Bancaja Aspar colleague Sergio Gadea, Onde 200 KTM´s Raffaele de Rosa and Ajo Motorsport rider Mike di Meglio. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: POSITIVE DAY FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM IN CHINA The Grand Prix of China kicked off today with Casey Stoner back on the pace, the World Champion lapping second fastest in the morning session and quickest in the afternoon to end the day on top of the timesheets. Marco Melandri suffered some technical problems during the morning session but recovered to improve his feeling with the machine in the afternoon. The setback meant the Italian was unable to complete the entire programme that was planned for him today but he hopes to make continued progress tomorrow. Stoner, meanwhile, is relieved to have recovered his feeling with the front end but says there is still work to do tomorrow. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 2nd fastest (2’00.215) “It’s more comfortable for us here. The last two races didn’t go well in practice but I believe they could have still been two decent results and for a variety of reasons they turned into not so good ones. We couldn’t seem to get things right, no matter what we did or what we tried, but this weekend we seem to be back in control again. Front feel is a lot better here, I’m slowly getting my confidence back and I think we can continue to do that over the rest of the weekend. We’re getting better and better with rear grip but we’re still nowhere near perfect. We struggled last year turning the bike in the fast corners at some tracks and we’re still working on it now. We’re going to make a couple of big changes to one of the bikes tomorrow and hopefully that can improve the lap time.” MARCO MELANDRI – (Ducati Marlboro Team) 14th fastest (2’01.913) “Unfortunately we lost a lot of time today because of two important setbacks and that stopped me from getting through all the work we had planned. This morning it was a problem with the engine, which wasn’t performing to its maximum potential in certain areas of the track, and we only worked out what the problem was at the end. In the afternoon we were working on weight distribution when the bike stopped. It was a silly little thing with the electronics but it broke my rhythm and I didn’t have time to test tyres. But even though we only did a few, unproductive laps, we knows what works here and I’m confident that we have the information to improve the bike and the results compared to the last few races.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI ON TOP IN HOT AND HUMID SHANGHAI Valentino Rossi made a strong start to his Chinese challenge in Shanghai today, finishing on top of the combined standings as the only rider to dip under the 1’59 mark. High temperatures are set to continue tomorrow but a strong chance of rain on Sunday could turn the race into a mirror of 2005, when Rossi won a soaking inaugural Chinese Grand Prix. The Fiat Yamaha Team rider was fast from the off this morning and topped the time sheets for the majority of the first session. This afternoon the track temperature increased and Rossi finished second to Casey Stoner, but his time of 1’59.906 from the morning was good enough to leave him at the top of the overall time sheets for the day. Rossi’s team-mate Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile had a bad crash this morning and injured both ankles; the 20-year-old will now wait for tomorrow before making a decision about riding. Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 1’59.906 Laps: 47 “I’m quite happy with the start we’ve made. We were able to go fast from the start this morning and the bike setting and the Bridgestone tyres are working very well together. We were faster this morning because this afternoon the temperature of the asphalt reached more than 40 degrees and in these conditions the tyres start to slide a bit, which makes it harder. Anyway we have many different tyres to try, plenty of choices and I am quite relaxed. My rhythm is very good, I can ride more or less how I want and I think we’re in good shape. It seems Stoner and I are a little bit faster than the others and so it looks like it could be another battle like last year! Our bike has more top speed here now so this is important for the long straight, but my corner speed is also good. The problem could be that the weather on Sunday might be completely different to how it is now; as usual I prefer to race in the dry but I think we are in quite good shape in the wet as well. I am sorry for Lorenzo’s crash, it was quite a bad one and now I hope that he is able to recover enough to try to race on Sunday.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “Jorge’s crash was very unfortunate and I hope that he is able to recover enough to try tomorrow; we wish him well. Valentino has had a good day because the bike worked very well from the start this morning and we were able to start to work on the details straight away. Now we just need to continue to fine-tune our setting and tyre choice for tomorrow afternoon and Sunday. The problem is that we’re working on setting the bike for the hot, humid conditions we have at the moment and on Sunday it might be wet, but let’s hope not!” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO FACES TOUGH TASK AFTER HEAVY MORNING CRASH Fiat Yamaha Team rider Jorge Lorenzo has suffered a fractured left ankle and severe trauma and bruising to parts of the right ankle and foot after crashing in this morning’s first free practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix. The 20-year-old joint World Championship leader was thrown from his M1 during a dramatic high-side at the chicane after turn one, mid-way through the session, on just his tenth lap. After an initial examination at the circuit clinic Lorenzo was taken to the Huashan hospital in Shanghai for an MRI scan and further detailed diagnosis, before returning to the track and spending the remainder of the day resting at the Clinica Mobile. His condition will be re-assessed in the morning before any decision is taken about riding. Dr Claudio Costa of the Clinica Mobile said: “Detailed examination has revealed that Jorge has re-fractured the top of the malleolo bone in the middle of the left ankle. Furthermore, the MRI scan showed that there are severe impact oedemas to the right heel, the astragalo bone and the tibia, but fortunately no signs of further fractures. The diagnosis shows the violence of the trauma he suffered to both his feet in the crash and Jorge now faces a very difficult task to participate in tomorrow’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.” Ramon Forcada Crew Chief “It’s a great pity this has happened, right at the start of Jorge’s weekend; we were focused on his arm following his recent operation and we were quite confident that he could ride as usual. It was a very bad crash and it is not clear yet what happened because we lost all the data when the equipment was damaged at the time. As far as we can see from the TV, he lost grip on the rear. I do not know if Jorge will be able to ride tomorrow, but in any case we have lost two sessions and we will have to work today in order to prepare the bike with an ideal set-up for tomorrow. It will be hard, very hard, as tough as Jorge is!” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDA FIND GOOD DIRECTION ON DAY ONE Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai First day of practice, Friday May 2 2008 Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden made a solid start to this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai, ending the day’s two practice sessions third and sixth fastest. In hot and humid conditions the pair both made good progress with their RC212Vs, fine-tuning settings for this unusual circuit which features MotoGP’s fastest straight and its heaviest braking demands, the penultimate corner requiring riders to decelerate from more than 320km/h to just 50km/h. This afternoon Pedrosa’s RC212V was the second fastest motorcycle on that straight at 326.0km/h. Spaniard Pedrosa, currently joint leader of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship, focused his efforts on his RC212V’s chassis and tyre combination. American Hayden made a big jump forward following this morning’s outing, after which his crew made crucial changes to rear-suspension set-up and other detail settings, allowing him to cut an impressive eight tenths of a second from his first session pace. Dani Pedrosa, third fastest, 2m 00.361s “Today’s two sessions were quite good for the first day, but we still need to improve our overall package here. During both sessions we concentrated mostly on chassis set-up and tyre choice, working to improve overall performance. My pace was faster this afternoon but not quite what we had expected, so we need to keep on working. Tomorrow we will aim to make another step forward, we will try to find a couple of tenths by making some more detail chassis adjustments and by working closely with the Michelin technicians to find the best tyres. I’m feeling confident for Saturday”. Nicky Hayden, sixth fastest, 2m 00.607s “This afternoon was quite a lot better than this morning. Even though our position isn’t a lot better, our gap to the front has come down a lot. After the morning session we changed the spring and made quite a lot of other small changes. Straight away this afternoon the bike worked a lot better and I enjoyed riding it more. I felt pretty comfortable out there. My team did a good job to make some good improvements, so thanks to them. We definitely found some good direction between FP1 and FP2, so hopefully if we can keep working in that direction we’ll be a lot closer again tomorrow. But we need another big step if we’re to really improve.” Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager “We started from the base set-up we worked on at Estoril, and today the team focused on suspension settings and tyre choice. This track is very demanding for tyres, so the Michelin technicians are working hard to give us what we need for Sunday’s race. Both Dani and Nicky made good improvements from the morning session to the afternoon session, which makes us confident that we can continue moving forward tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Media Service: DANI PEDROSA, THIRD FASTEST TIME ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE CHINA GRAND PRIX Teammate Nicky Hayden ran the sixth fastest time. The same position for Julián Simón in the 250cc category MotoGP is still going through a tight and intense season, and this first day of training sessions for the China Grand Prix, disputed on the Shanghai Circuit, was an exciting new chapter. Three riders stood out among the rest during these first training sessions: Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, and Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, who were the fastest both during the morning session and also in the afternoon. The leader of the classification chart, Jorge Lorenzo -at a draw with Dani Pedrosa-, today suffered a spectacular fall during this morning’s free training sessions, an incident which prevented him from running in the afternoon. Taking both sessions into account, Rossi was the fastest -with his fastest lap time this morning-, while Stoner was second, and Pedrosa, third. The Repsol rider ran the third fastest time in both free training sessions. Nicky Hayden also showed a good performance on the Chinese track. In the morning, the Repsol Honda Team rider was eighth, and in the afternoon, sixth, with the improvements introduced by his team for the Honda RC212V. After both sessions, Hayden ran an overall sixth fastest time. In the 250cc category, the day did not start too well for Julián Simón, who this morning hit the ground in this weekend’s first training session. The fall happened on bend number 6 -to the left- when the front tyre of his KTM FRR 250cc lost adherence. Simón had a few problems with the setup of his bike, especially with the gear ratio, which made him lose precious time during the afternoon’s first timed session. However, Simón finally ran the sixth fastest time, hoping to improve tomorrow and to make it to the first row on the grid. In the smallest of the three categories, Esteve Rabat was back in action today on the circuit where a year ago he took his only podium position to-date in a World Championship. Rabat ran the ninth fastest time in the first free training session -his best result so far on the KTM-, and expected to perform just as well in the first timed session. But in the afternoon, Rabat and his technical team encountered problems with the setup of the suspension which prevented him from running any faster, finally running the 24th fastest time. Marc Màrquez, on his first visit to the Chinese track, was 26th in the morning and 28th in the afternoon, though in his case he admits that he needs some more time to get used to the track and progressively improve his lap times. Quotes MotoGP Dani Pedrosa >> third fastest, 2m 00.361s “Today’s two sessions were quite good for the first day, but we still need to improve our overall package here. During both sessions we concentrated mostly on chassis set-up and tyre choice, working to improve overall performance. My pace was faster this afternoon but not quite what we had expected, so we need to keep on working. Tomorrow we will aim to make another step forward, we will try to find a couple of tenths by making some more detail chassis adjustments and by working closely with the Michelin technicians to find the best tyres. I’m feeling confident for Saturday”. Nicky Hayden >> sixth fastest, 2m 00.607s “This afternoon was quite a lot better than this morning. Even though our position isn’t a lot better, our gap to the front has come down a lot. After the morning session we changed the spring and made quite a lot of other small changes. Straight away this afternoon the bike worked a lot better and I enjoyed riding it more. I felt pretty comfortable out there. My team did a good job to make some good improvements, so thanks to them. We definitely found some good direction between FP1 and FP2, so hopefully if we can keep working in that direction we’ll be a lot closer again tomorrow. But we need another big step if we’re to really improve.” 250cc Julián Simón >> 2’06.238 secs, 34 laps 180 Km. “Our gear ratio was wrong today, based on what information we had, and that prevented us from running on the straightaway as fast as we could have. This mistake made us lose a lot of time, because the straightaway here is very important, and our sixth gear was too long, which gave us some trouble. In the end we solved a few problems, mainly with the chassis, which gave us the chance to improve our times and keep motivated for tomorrow. I like this circuit a lot and I think this bike can perform well here. This morning I tried out a few different things; though there was the problem with the top speed, I was probably riding too fast and I hit the ground. It was just another fall, my front wheel skidded, but I’m OK. It might have been a mistake, because it wasn’t a timed session, and was still the first free session, but this is part of the race. As for tomorrow, I’m looking forward to being up in the lead.” 125cc Esteve Rabat >> 2’16.109 secs, 28 laps, 148 Km. “We’re here in China once again, on my favourite track and where I took my first podium. This morning I went out there and let the bike run for a while, saw what the circuit was like, taking it easy. At the beginning the track was a bit dirty, but we managed to finish among the first ten. But this afternoon we had a few problems with the suspension; during the second lap I noticed that if I opened up the gas the rear of the bike would skid. I don’t exactly know what happened. Now we’ll try to see what it was, to try and improve for tomorrow. I’m sure we can do much better tomorrow.” Marc Márquez >> 2’16.629 secs, 31 laps, 164 Km. “It was a complicated day, because the circuit’s very long and we do quite few laps. We still don’t know what setup we’ll use for the bike. This afternoon we’ll have to get down to work with the information we have and make the adjustments to the bike, to try and do our best tomorrow. What impressed me the most about this circuit was the width of the track. There are very long and tricky bends, so you have to adapt. My arm is in perfect condition and isn’t giving me any problems. We only have to concentrate on riding fast. I was passed by a few riders, but for the time being I can’t follow them, both because of my riding and because of the bike, but we’ll see if I can get closer to them tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Alice Ducati: ELIAS GRAZES THE TOP TEN. GUINTOLI SEVENTEENTH The improvements done in the last test at Estoril have helped the Alice Team in the first day of free practice in China, on the Shanghai circuit. In fact, the Alice Team Spanish rider, Toni Elias, has concluded the firsts two hours of work with the eleventh best lap time notwithstanding a small electronic problem didn’t allow him to be on track in the last ten minutes of the day. The other Alice Team rider, Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli, couldn’t make it to do the same, ending the day in seventeenth position. The asphalt temperature reached this morning 42 degrees and 50 degrees in the afternoon. Tomorrow another day of free practice for the Alice Team duo, before the afternoon qualifying session. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Technical Director “We are mostly satisfied because after the Portuguese test we have found some convincing solutions that allowed us to improve our performances also on this track. The thing that make us smile even more, is that probably this is the first time that we kept on improving throughout the session. Usually we would alternate, with improvements coming in between total blackouts. We can be confident in our work for the future.” Toni Elias – Alice Team Rider (11th best lap time in 2:01.326, Total laps 34) “I am happy because we have really improved today. After Portugal we have found the right way to take. Since the morning we were in good shape and in the afternoon we have improved by almost a second, which is quite good. At the end of the second session, we had a problem that didn’t allow us to ride in the last ten minutes. It’s a pity because I could have finish in the top ten, but we have to think positive and tomorrow I hope to be even more close to the fastest riders.” Sylvain Guintoli – Alice Team Rider (17th best lap time in 2:02.348, Total laps 45) “This afternoon rhythm was much better compare to the first session. Mostly in the last fifteenth minutes we have found a good set up for the bike. We hope to be able to improve our position tomorrow. I am happy of the Bridgestone tyres and also of the suspensions. The bike was incredibly fast on the straight, in fact, we have obtained the fastest speed of the day grazing 330 km/h. I have to find the right way to ride the bike as soon as possible, I know I have what is needed to be much further up in the classification.”