2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Phillip Island Melbourne, Australia October 12, 2007 Free Practice Two Results (wet conditions): 1. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:31.286, crash 2. Marco MELANDRI (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:31.555 3. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:31.802 4. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:31.934 5. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:31.996 6. Alex BARROS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:32.164, crash 7. Carlos CHECA (Honda), Michelin, 1:32.182 8. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:32.203 9. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:32.316 10. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:32.459 11. John HOPKINS (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:33.274 12. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Michelin, 1:33.838 13. Chaz DAVIES (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:33.910, crash 14. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:33.945 15. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:33.965 16. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:33.991 17. Toni ELIAS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:34.204 18. Makoto TAMADA (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:35.177 19. Kurtis ROBERTS (KR-Honda), Michelin, 1:36.121 More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Champion Stoner sets home pace at Phillip Island Round 16 Australia Free Practice Phillip Island Circuit, Friday 12 October 2007 2007 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner did it again in Phillip Island this afternoon by topping the opening practice sessions in preparation for this weekend’s Australian GP in spite of cool and occasional damp track conditions during the day. Stoner’s best afternoon lap, 1m31.286s, was a slight step back in time over his dominant morning best of 1m31.132s, which represented a notable 0.4s advantage over his nearest challenger today, fellow Bridgestone user Marco Melandri for the Honda Gresini team. A further four riders on Bridgestone tyres ended the day comfortably inside the top ten with Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet in fifth, Pramac d’Antin’s Alex Barros, Ducati’s Loris Capirossi and Kawasaki’s Ant West al l between 0.8s and 1.3s from Stoner’s pace. MotoGP fever has already started to take hold of Phillip Island with thousands of Australian fans expected this weekend to cheer on the home-grown trio of Stoner, West and Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen, all Bridgestone-equipped riders. After such a hectic and weather-hit first day, teams, riders and tyre manufacturers will be hoping for consistent weather conditions for the remainder of the weekend since everyone has got to be certain of the tyre choice for Sunday afternoon’s race. Tyre Talk with Tohru Ubukata Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development How disruptive was the weather during today’s practice sessions? “We have not had consistent weather conditions today with some dry and some wet running which has resulted in an interrupted and disjointed opening day overall. During this morning’s largely damp session, we put some laps on our softer specification wet tyres, but the afternoon session enabled us to get some data from the range of tyres that we have brought here this weekend.” What conclusions could you draw from the day? “This afternoon we focussed mainly on checking the performance of our medium specification tyres, but the rain shower late through the session prevented us from conducting any meaningful longer runs. However Randy completed a lot of laps in a non-consecutive run this afternoon, which was close to race distance, and this yielded some encouraging results in terms of performance and consistency. Nevertheless, we hope for some better weather conditions tomorrow morning so we can put a consecutive long run together to getter a fuller understanding for the race tyre performance here at Phillip Island this weekend.” Bridgestone Combined Free Practice Session Results Pos Rider Team Session 1 (pos) Session 2 (pos) Gap P1 Casey Stoner Ducati 1m31.132s (1) 1m31.286s (1) Fastest P2 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini 1m35.981s (14) 1m31.555s (2) +0.423s P5 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m32.471s (2) 1m31.996s (5) +0.864s P6 Alex Barros Pramac D’Antin 1m38.145s (17) 1m32.164s (6) +1.032s P8 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m33.975s (6) 1m32.203s (8) +1.071s P10 Anthony West Kawasaki 1m34.033s (7) 1m32.459s (10) +1.327s P11 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m33.862s (4) 1m33.274s (11) +2.142s P13 Chaz Davies Pramac D’Antin 1m36.118s (15) 1m33.910s (13) +2.778 s P14 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m34.728s (10) 1m33.945s (14) +2.813s P17 Toni Elias Honda Gresini 1m34.397s (9) 1m34.204s (17) +3.072s Weather: AM Session / Dry – Air 13°C, Track 16°C, Humidity 54% (taken from official MotoGP timing) PM Session / Dry – Air 14°C, Track 20°C, Humidity 45% (taken from official MotoGP timing) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Weather plays its part on the first day at Phillip Island Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen had to contend with the elements during today’s free practice session for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. Heavy rain in the morning meant the track was wet for the majority of the first session and both riders were unable to get to grips with the important set-up procedures needed to get their GSV-Rs ready for race-day. The afternoon session was a mix of sunshine and showers, but a constant strong wind also made things difficult for the two Suzuki riders. Hopkins (1’33.274, 32 laps) recorded the 11th fastest time during the two sessions with team-mate Vermeulen (1’33.945, 37 laps) riding his GSV-R in its one-off livery for the first time – just behind in 14th. World Champion Casey Stoner was quickest on his Bridgestone-shod Ducati. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will have a further free practice session tomorrow morning followed by the hour-long afternoon qualifying session – where both crews will be working flat out to get the bike set-up in readiness for Sunday’s 27-lap race. John Hopkins: “Well as far as today went the conditions were pretty horrible so it was a case of going out and trying to make the best of the situation! This morning was off and on with the wet then drying conditions and we didn’t get a lot done in that session. This afternoon was similar, but we managed to get a little bit more work done. The wind was horrendous and trying to set-up the bike and find a good tyre was pretty difficult. We are nowhere near close to a good set-up and we still have a lot of work to do and we are already thinking about Saturday and seeing what the conditions will do. I think we will make a lot of changes tomorrow and work hard with Bridgestone to make the best solution for Sunday!” Chris Vermeulen: “It was difficult day for everybody with those weather conditions. It’s typical Phillip Island where it can be raining, dry, windy and very warm all in a short space of time. It made it hard to get the bike set-up and get a good feeling, but my guys have done a great job and made things very comfortable for me. We have improved the bike with every dry bit of track-time we’ve had and have a clear direction of which way to go. The wind has been the most difficult thing today and it seemed to affect me a lot out there, so we will need to work on improving things to counter that tomorrow.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “It has been a very frustrating first day at Phillip Island. The changeable conditions and freezing winds has made it difficult for both riders to get into a rhythm or find an early initial setting that will help them come Sunday. “The only good thing was how stunning Chris’s one-off bike looked out on the track, now all we need to do is make it go another couple of seconds quicker and we’ll be happy!” More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: WINTRY WELCOME AT PHILLIP ISLAND Dramatically fluctuating weather conditions marked the start of the Australian Grand Prix today as MotoGP returned to Phillip Island for the 16th round of the world championship. The first practice session, held after a prolonged morning downpour, saw the riders head out on to the 4.45km track with Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet and Anthony West showing early promise ahead of Sunday’s 27 lap race. Both were soon featuring at or near the top of the time sheets before the heavens opened again, prompting virtually the whole field to return to the pits to sit out the worst of it. The afternoon session was run on a dry track and de Puniet took his 800cc Ninja ZX-RR to fifth fastest on combined times by the end of the hour, fractionally behind Valentino Rossi with a gap between them of a mere 0.062 seconds. The 26-year-old Frenchman’s time was also within a second of the day’s leading rider, newly-crowned world champion, Casey Stoner. Encountering only a few, minor problems during practice, de Puniet ended the day in positive mood. Already confident in the dry-weather tyres he used, he hopes that during the rain forecast for tomorrow, he’ll be able to define a wet set up too, leaving him fully prepared for the race. Australian, Anthony West, enjoying the first day of his home Grand Prix, also seemed pleased with progress made, despite the changing conditions. Small issues with grip, a common feature of the circuit where the abundance of long left-handers can prove problematic, failed to prevent a very substantial improvement in his lap times and he completed both sessions confident of further advancements to come. The 26-year-old from Queensland’s Gold Coast managed a best time of 1’32.459, beating nearest rival, John Hopkins’ time by 0.815 seconds. He also clocked a top speed of 310.8kph, just behind de Puniet’s peak of 311.1kph: a good sign that both Ninjas are on the case for Sunday. Randy De Puniet #14 – 5th – Best Lap 1’31.996 “I rode about 15 consecutive laps on the same rear tyre this afternoon and my times were pretty good. I’m in fifth position at the moment, which isn’t bad but, with a new tyre, I feel I could improve by half a second straight away. The bike’s feeling good. Today, we worked mostly on tyre choice because we never know what the conditions are going to be like here, which makes things quite difficult. However, if tomorrow is wet for qualifying, then we’ll be prepared whatever the weather does on Sunday. We had a bit of movement in the rear tyre today but nothing too bad; every year we have this problem but we all have to deal with the same thing. The chassis feels okay: we tried some different settings, and I’m happy with it, but still, tomorrow we can improve the bike and the lap times, I’m sure.” Anthony West #13 – 10th – Best Lap 1’32.459 “We had some problems with the tyre spinning but I think it was just the cold track and there wasn’t much we could do about that. Then we had that rain in the middle of the last session, as well as the rain this morning, so we’ve lost a bit of time to perfect our set up for the race, but I’m feeling good so far. Also, I’ve been taking it fairly steady, not pushing it 100 per cent yet, so I’m comfortable with times we’re doing, considering I’m not on the limit. The wind’s blowing us around on track quite a bit, so it’s hard to judge the set up sometimes, but yeah, we’re doing okay!” Naoya Kaneko Kawasaki Technical Manager “Tyre selection here in Phillip Island is quite hard as there are many left hand turns so we need to use tyres with a particularly hard compound on that side. This imbalance then makes it a bit trickier to control the tyre under hard acceleration. But this is the same for all the riders. Tomorrow, we need to make some adjustments to both bikes to bring our lap times down. Just alterations to the whole package, really, to bring us right up to speed, put us in a race-winning position and close the gap on Stoner.” More, from a press release issued by Konica Minolta Honda: KONICA MINOLTA Honda 12th in Australian Grand Prix practice session Changeable weather conditions have once more been the hallmark of the first practice sessions for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. Shinya Nakano and his KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team spent today’s two sessions adapting to the conditions and testing both slick and wet Michelin rubber. The mixture of wet and then dry weather in both hour-long sessions made for tricky track conditions around the undulating 2.764-mile circuit and the wind in the afternoon also made the going difficult around this exposed Island track. Tomorrow the Team will work on improving the turning capability of their Honda RC212V machine and test a number of Michelin tyres to find the best combination of set-up and suitable rubber for Sunday’s 27-lap race, whatever the weather conditions. Gianluca Montiron Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA Honda “I think today wasn’t very exciting as we had these changeable weather conditions once more. I expected a better result here, but the weather conditions haven’t helped us. It’s the same for everybody, but this low temperature will not help Shinya be aggressive on the bike, so the result of our first practice day is that we’re in the same position that we’ve been in most of the season 12th. I think every team and rider is hoping that the weather will be more stable for the rest of the weekend so that we can work on the set-up of the machine in either wet or dry conditions and make some progress.” Shinya Nakano Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (47 laps 1′ 33.838″) “Today we have experienced some very difficult conditions as it’s been both raining and windy today. It was dry at first this morning but then down came the rain again you really never know what the weather is going to do here! The forecast for the weekend is not so good so I tried to make many laps today to find a good feeling from the bike in all conditions. We are still far from the top, but we will improve and we do now have some data for tomorrow with which we can make some changes. The wind makes it difficult here, as on some fast corners you have to take care in case you get blown off line.” Giulio Bernardelle Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda “We have enjoyed some typical Australian weather here for the time of year here as this is just about the worst time of the season to be at Phillip Island! Today our major problem was that the temperature was very low as it barely touched 24 degrees on the ground. With the conditions continuously changing between wet and dry in the second free practice session, this meant that it was not possible to do a lot of work today. This morning we found a good front wet tyre but we haven’t made a choice on the rear, so if it does rain tomorrow we need to test some more tyres from Michelin. Our dry set-up is not so bad, but we need to improve the turn-in of the RC212V, so that it falls into the corners quicker. Tomorrow we will make some changes so we are confident we can improve this. The slick tyres we were able to use today were the softest choice available, thanks to the low temperature, but this choice will not be practical for Sunday’s race, so if the conditions are dry tomorrow we will need to choose again.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: STONER FASTEST ON THE ISLAND, CAPIROSSI EIGHTH SO FAR Ducati Marlboro Team rider and newly crowned World Champion Casey Stoner dominated day one of his home GP at Phillip Island today, topping both sessions despite constantly changing weather conditions. Team-mate Loris Capirossi was eighth fastest. The day was blustery and showery, with this morning’s session interrupted by a downpour. Conditions were sunnier this afternoon, though there were two brief lulls in proceedings when squalls hit the circuit after ten minutes and 45 minutes. Stoner’s afternoon session ended a couple of minutes early when he slid off without injury at the slow-speed Honda hairpin. CASEY STONER, fastest, 1m 31.132s “This afternoon we had more dry laps than this morning, but it started to rain a couple of times, so it was on and off and off on, just frustrating really. The wind makes it a little bit of a handful round here, but we were able to be fastest, with three laps from race distance on the tyres, so we are quite happy with the bike setting and the tyres. I think I still could’ve gone faster at the end but unfortunately the rear end came around on me as I was tipping into the Honda hairpin, it just slid away. We’re not really sure what happened, I think there must’ve been something on the circuit, we might go and check it out a bit later. We’ve still got a harder compound rear to test tomorrow and we’ve also got a different fairing – to make the bike more stable in windy conditions – which we’re going to try. We’ve tested it a few times, though temperature is an issue, so first we have to make sure that conditions are cold enough and I think they are, so that might give us a bit of an advantage.” LORIS CAPIROSSI, 8th fastest, 1m 32.203s “It has been a strange day, it seems like we came in and out of the garage a hundred times because it started raining and then the track dried and then it started raining again… and all this makes our work a bit more difficult. But I have to say I’m happy, we are going pretty well. We had just had one problem today – we thought we had two soft compound rear tyres for the day but in fact we only had one, so this afternoon I had to continue with the same tyre I used this morning. That makes me think we can go a lot better tomorrow. I’m happy with the work we’ve done so far, I love this track and we come into this race off a good race in Japan, so I really think we can have a good result here too.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: CHANGEABLE WEATHER MAKES FOR TRICKY FIRST DAY ON THE ISLAND Phillip Island greeted the MotoGP paddock with a full spectrum of unstable conditions today, as the weather switched back and forth between heavy rain and bright sunshine. Temperatures remained cool throughout the day thanks to a cold wind off the Bass Straight and it was a delicate day of set-up work for the Fiat Yamaha Team. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, both sporting a one-off red and white livery on their M1s inspired by Fiat’s famous ‘Abarth’ racing brand, finished the day fourth and 15th in the combined standings. After an extremely wet start to the day a dry line had begun to appear by the start of MotoGP practice, although it began to rain heavily again in the last twenty minutes of the session. Rossi made a good start to the day and finished the first session third, with Edwards in 11th. This afternoon’s practice was a much brighter and more stable affair weather-wise, save a few spots of rain mid-way through, and the riders had the chance to start working towards an effective race setting to suit the high-speed nature of the track. Rossi continued to make good progress and finished the day happy with an overall fourth position, 0.423 seconds from Casey Stoner, who topped the time sheets. Edwards meanwhile continued to struggle and was disappointed not to find a clear way forward with the setting of his M1 around what is one of his favourite tracks. Valentino Rossi Position: 4th Time: 1’31.934 Laps: 45 “The Weather today was unbelievable and the track went from wet to dry four or five times, which made it very difficult to understand. The conditions definitely weren’t the best, especially because it was very, very cold. Despite this it was not a bad day; we worked well, tried several different settings and found some good tyre possibilities to keep going with tomorrow. In fact we tried quite a lot of tyres, wet and dry, and our level for the first day in this respect is not so bad, although we will be in better shape if we have a little bit more temperature. At the end we are fourth but it’s okay, especially considering that we have a few problems still to deal with, including not enough weight on the front which means I’m not yet fast enough in the long corners. We have some ideas about how to improve on things for tomorrow. I love this track a lot and it’s always a great feeling to ride here and with the 800 it is no different. Of course today it wasn’t the best conditions to be riding in or to fully enjoy the track, but hopefully tomorrow will be better.” Colin Edwards Position: 15th Time: 1’33.965 Laps: 32 “Today was not the day I had hoped for starting out at Phillip Island. The bike was most definitely riding me for most of today and not the other way around! To be honest I was just holding on for most of the time and trying to survive and, try as we might, we couldn’t seem to get to a decent base setting. The bike felt pretty nervous and twitchy and we’re definitely going to have to change a few things to get it working. Obviously Valentino’s doing a lot better with the same bike so we need to look at what he’s doing to see if it can help us. We didn’t even really get to a stage today where we could gauge how good the tyres were so we’ve really got some work to do tonight. I’m disappointed because I’m always so excited to come here; it’s one of my favourite tracks and I haven’t ridden one good lap today. Anyway, we’ll have a big meeting tonight, look at the data and I have every faith that my guys will be able to turn things around as usual.” David Brivio Fiat Yamaha Team Director “Unfortunately the weather has been quite bad at times today and the conditions have not been easy for anyone. Despite this Valentino has made quite a good start and he is in a good position, so now we will just try to keep going like this tomorrow to finalise the best package for him. Colin has had more problems today and we have some work to do to get him into a position where he is comfortable, but it’s only Friday so we have time to study the data and make some changes. Now we hope that we have better weather tomorrow so everyone can enjoy being here and we can fulfil our potential.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Newly crowned MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner showed no signs of dropping his guard in his first on-track appearance since taking the title. Making his triumphant return to Australian soil, the Ducati factory rider was the only rider to clock a faster time in the morning session than in the afternoon, with a 1’31.132 lap of the Phillip Island circuit. Stoner suffered a crash in the closing stages of the second free practice session, one which was almost identical to that experienced just a few minutes earlier by Pramac d’Antin stand-in Chaz Davies. The second fastest rider of the day, which ran the full gamut of weather conditions making things difficult for the participants, was last year’s race winner Marco Melandri. The Italian was just over four tenths of a second off Stoner’s time, and is one of the few riders keen for the rain to fall on race day. Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi were third and fourth respectively, the highest placing Michelin riders. The duo are battling for second in the championship in the last three races of the year. The top six was completed by Randy de Puniet and Alex Barros, who undertook few laps in the second session and finished his run out with a light crash onboard his satellite Ducati. Carlos Checa and Loris Capirossi added to a strong representation for the veterans of MotoGP, ahead of pole record holder Nicky Hayden and local rider Anthony West. Chris Vermeulen had a difficult start to preparations for his home race, languishing in 14th at the scene of his maiden podium last year. Although he has struggled in qualifying at the last few races, Phillip Island could prove to be a case of ‘better the devil you know’ as he looks to start from a strong position and leapfrog team-mate John Hopkins in the standings. Vermeulen was running his Barry Sheene tribute livery, which will be used all weekend, for the first time today. Another new design was modelled by Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, who are running a white and red Abarth racing scheme for their second one-off livery of the year. A number of MotoGP riders also took part in an autograph session today, and the final slots in the event were occupied by former riders Mick Doohan and Kevin Magee, who had previously taken laps of the Phillip Island track. 250cc With a second 250cc world title in his sights, Jorge Lorenzo blasted out of the blocks in the first qualifying session at Phillip Island to take the provisional pole position. The Spaniard was the only rider to go round in under 1’34, within four tenths of a second off Sebastian Porto’s long standing circuit record lap. Lorenzo’s long-time adversary Hector Barbera put in the second quickest time, albeit seven tenths of a second off the reigning World Champion’s time on the opening day. The only two riders capable of snatching the title from Lorenzo’s grasp, Alex de Angelis and Andrea Dovizioso, complete the provisional front row. Marco Simoncelli and Alvaro Bautista round off the top six, ahead of Hiroshi Aoyama and Julian Simon. Bautista has fond memories of the Phillip Island circuit, having won the 125cc title at the track last season. 125cc Current 125cc World Championship leader Gabor Talmacsi put himself in the early driving seat at Phillip Island by taking provisional pole on day one. The Hungarian rider had put in a 1’39.134 lap of the Australian track to top the timesheets, although he didn’t have things entirely his way as he experienced a late crash after his hot lap. Team-mate and title rival Hector Faubel was close behind, with a time of 1’39.178 keeping him right up with Talmacsi. Tomoyoshi Koyama and Motegi race winner Mattia Pasini, getting to grips with the circuit after a pair of off-track excursions this morning, completed the provisional front row. The fastest rider in the morning session, Sergio Gadea headed the second row, accompanied by Lukas Pesek, Raffaele de Rosa and Lorenzo Zanetti in a surprise showing for the latter. Times were three seconds off the circuit record, owing to the unpredictable weather which left the riders taking tentative steps forward on their first encounters with the track. More, from a press release issued by Gresini Racing Honda: MELANDRI QUICKLY ON THE PACE AT PHILLIP ISLAND AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX – Free practice Gresini Honda rider Marco Melandri started the Australian Grand Prix on the front foot, clocking the second fastest time on a day that was marked by dramatically changeable weather at Phillip Island. Marco made the most of the short dry track time to work with his team on finding a good setting for the bike and at the end of today’s two free practice sessions he declared himself pleased with its performance in both wet and dry conditions. The weather did not play into the hands of Toni Elias, who again suffered weight transfer diffficulties and was unable to find a good feeling with his RC212V in the time available. Variable conditions are again the forecast for tomorrow, with improvements predicted for Sunday. MARCO MELANDRI (2nd, 1’31″555): “I’m quite happy with this first day. The characteristics of this circuit are more suited to our bike and my riding style. There are no real heavy braking areas – you have to be smooth with the bike, and I like that. The bike is manageable and is working well. I’ve got a good feeling with it in the wet and the dry but we have to improve because I’m sure the race pace will increase tomorrow. I’m confident but I just hope the weather stabilises a little because it was really tough to ride today. The wind was really strong and the conditions changed from corner to corner.” TONI ELIAS (17th, 1’34″204): “It’s been a tough day – the weather was a lottery – one minute rain, then sun, then raining again. The track dries quickly because of the wind but it’s not the same all over. Unfortunately this didn’t help us set the bike up and I was struggling to get weight onto the front and get enough heat into the rear tyre. I’m not happy and I’m hoping for better weather tomorrow in order to improve.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Media Service: DANI PEDROSA, THIRD ON A COLD DAY IN AUSTRALIA Rain, low temperatures and strong winds, the stars on Phillip Island Australia and the Circuit of Phillip Island have had its annual visit from the World Motorycling Championship today, and as is normal at this time of the year there wa changeable weather: with showers, low temperatures and strong winds, all this accompanied by sunny spells now and again. This directly affected the first practice sessions for the Australian GP, the track conditions were constantly changing. The changeable weather altered the two practice MotoGP sessions. In the top category the riders found wet zones after rain fell in the 125cc practice, and dry sections after the wind got to work on the Australian track. This delayed the entry of the riders onto the track because it was dangerous. Dani Pedrosa set the fifth best time in the morning after doing 20 laps, one of the riders who did the most laps. His teammate in the Repsol Honda Team, the American Nicky Hayden, set the 13th fastest time after doing 22 laps. In the afternoon the session began in strong winds but in the sun, although a shower fell 14 minutes before the end. Six minutes were left when the practice resumed and on a dry track, thanks to the wind. Dani Pedrosa set the third best time and Nicky Hayden the eighth. The two Repsol Honda Team riders were able to dedicate part of the dry session to the first test with the race tyres. The most fortunate riders today were those in 250cc, as they were able to practice almost all the two sessions in the dry, but with strong gusts of wind, above all in the first timed session of the afternoon. In the morning, Julián Simón set the 9th best time and his Repsol Honda Team teammate the 18th. In the afternoon Simón was eighth and Aoyama ninth. In 125cc, the morning practice was affected by showers and many riders fell. The two Repsol Honda Team riders were not on the long list of those who had fallen though. Bradley Smith set the 9th best time and Esteve Rabat the 29th. In the afternoon the strong wind blew the clouds away and the first timed session was in the dry, although the temperature was never any higher than 14th. Bradley Smith set the 13th fastest time and his teammate Esteve Rabat the 18th. Quotes MotoGP Nicky Hayden >> 1’32.316 secs. 47 laps, 209km. “What a strange day. It was like the big man was up there having a bit of a chuckle. This morning we started on rain tyres, went to intermediates then did about two laps on slicks, then it was raining again. At the end of the session it was back to slicks again. It was just about the same in the afternoon we’d get in a few dry laps and then the rain would come. Conditions were quite tough and there was a lot of wind so it wasn’t easy today, but Phillip Island at this time of year can be like that. I can’t really say that we got a good direction with the set-up because every time we went out the track condition was a little bit different. Nonetheless I feel a little bit better than my position suggests and my ideal time put me in about 6th. We’ll look at the data, make some changes tonight and see what the weather does tomorrow.” Dani Pedrosa >> 1’31.802 secs. 43 laps, 191km. “The conditions for practice today were changing all the time, from wet to dry and back again so quickly. It was also extremely windy especially in the afternoon and this made it really difficult to get consistent lap times going. I hope it’s more stable for the race on Sunday otherwise it could really be chaos out there. Today we mainly took the chance to test tyres and we were able to learn a certain amount for the conditions and temperatures we encountered. With the wind though it was very difficult to fully commit and it was always necessary to ride with something in reserve. Still the pace is not too bad and there’s room for improvement ahead of qualifying tomorrow. We’ll just have to see what the weather throws at us.” 250cc Julián Simón >> 1’35.333 secs. 44 laps, 196km. “Today’s practice did not go badly. We made a good test programme and we followed it. The truth is that I would like to be higher in the classification, but where I am is not bad. The weather conditions are quite bad and above all we needed to improve on the first and fourth sectors. Tomorrow we are going to test a longer gear since the sixth was a little short. We also have to test the chassis, and I think we will be able to get among the leaders and so tackle the race with optimism and a guarantee of doing it well.” Shuhei Aoyama >> 1’35.674 secs. 39 laps, 173km. “This morning the sensations were not so good, so we had to make some ajdustments. The afternoon went much better and the bike was going fine and like normal. At the end of the session I made a small mistake and so I did not set a good time, but the sensations were not bad. So tomorrow I will have to concentrate more on the ride so as to get a good result like the one at Motegi. “ 125cc Bradley Smith >> 1’40.407 secs. 33 laps, 147km. “Today was difficult with the wind. This was important because it is hard to ride in these conditions, especially a 125, since the bikes are very light and it is easy to be lifted up and you fall. The morning session was in the rain, I had some good sensations and I was ninth. In the afternoon, although I did not have bad sensations, we had some problems with the front end as the wind took me off the lines I had chosen and it was harder to turn. The bike worked quite well; we set good times on the different sectors, but not on a complete lap. I am not too pleased with myself because I did not do it as well as I can but that is also in part down to the weather. Tomorrow we hope that it will be dry and we can do things better, I think it is possible, and now we are going to concentrate on changing the bike and getting better sensations for tomorrow.” Esteve Rabat >> 1’41.036 secs. 31 laps, 138km. “Today it was very tough to ride in these conditions. In the morning it rained a lot and we spent lot of time in the pits. In the afternoon it was very windy. We had some problems with the chassis and suspension, and in the end neither of the two sessions went too well. We have to think about doing things better tomorrow, because I am sure it will go better becaue it is a circuit that I like a lot and I feel confident. Even though today was not so good I think we can do things a lot better. I hope the weather is better tomorrow.”