2007 FIM MotoGP World Championship Motegi, Japan September 21, 2007 Free Practice Two Results: 1. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), Michelin, 1:47.865 2. Randy DE PUNIET (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:48.254 3. Marco MELANDRI (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:48.351 4. John HOPKINS (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:48.361 5. Casey STONER (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:48.444 6. Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:48.457 7. Loris CAPIROSSI (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:48.499 8. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:48.529 9. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda), Michelin, 1:48.552 10. Makoto TAMADA (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:48.581 11. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:48.614 12. Shinya NAKANO (Honda), Michelin, 1:48.697 13. Carlos CHECA (Honda), Michelin, 1:48.715 14. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), Michelin, 1:48.782 15. Toni ELIAS (Honda), Bridgestone, 1:48.881 16. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Yamaha), Dunlop, 1:49.383, crash 17. Alex BARROS (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:49.392 18. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), Bridgestone, 1:49.555 19. Akira YANAGAWA (Kawasaki), Bridgestone, 1:50.229 20. Shinichi ITO (Ducati), Bridgestone, 1:50.769 21. Kurtis ROBERTS (KR-Honda), Michelin, 1:51.563 Free Practice One & Two Combined Times: 1. Pedrosa, 1:47.865 2. De Puniet, 1:48.254 3. Melandri, 1:48.351 4. Hopkins, 1:48.361 5. Stoner, 1:48.444 6. Akiyoshi, 1:48.457 7. Capirossi, 1:48.499 8. West, 1:48.529 9. Hayden, 1:48.552 10. Tamada, 1:48.581 11. Edwards, 1:48.614 12. Nakano, 1:48,697 13. Checa, 1:48.715 14. Rossi, 1:48.736 15. Elias, 1:48.827 16. Guintoli, 1:49.207 17. Barros, 1:49.392 18. Vermeulen, 1:49.555 19. Yanagawa, 1:50.229 20. Ito, 1:50.769 21. Roberts, 1:51.167 More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki Racing Team: KAWASAKI’S DE PUNIET ON THE PACE AT MOTEGI The A-Style Grand Prix of Japan started well for the Kawasaki Racing Team today as Randy de Puniet, Anthony West and Akira Yanagawa mounted their Ninja ZX-RR machines and took to the circuit at Motegi. De Puniet showed he was on form by ending the first two free practices in second place, on combined times, after putting in blistering performances in both the morning and afternoon sessions. With a best time of 1’48.254 at the end of the day, he knocked nearly half a second off his previous best, assisted by a lightning top speed of 284.8kmh. The 26-year-old Frenchman is determined to do well this weekend after a hugely disappointing Portuguese Grand Prix last week saw him retire with a mechanical problem. Happy with the progress made in setting up the bike so far, and riding at a scorching pace throughout the day, de Puniet is very much on course for the podium spot which, so far this season, has eluded him. Team mate, West, started the day in less positive fashion, still unable to find enough grip to give him the confidence to fulfil his and the bike’s potential. However, by the end of the afternoon session, the 26-year-old Australian was smiling as his best time of 1’48.529 put him in eighth position, just 0.030 seconds behind last year’s winner at Motegi, Loris Capirossi, and ahead of current world champion, Nicky Hayden. Assorted suspension tweaks and some successful choices of Bridgestone tyres seemed to have done the job in helping West feel more at home on the Ninja than he has at previous rounds. Meanwhile, wild card rider for the Japanese race, Akira Yanagawa, put in 28 laps over the two sessions on his ZX-RR and managed 19th place on the provisional grid. Stunned by the 800cc bike’s light weight and staggering power, the 36-year-old Japanese superbike rider struggled slightly to find a set up to suit his riding style but, with his dedicated crew and the back up of the factory team, he is confident he can fine tune the Ninja to his needs by the start of Sunday’s 24-lap race. It was a boiling hot day at Motegi, with temperatures reaching 34°C and the track temperature 46°C this afternoon. With the weather set to continue in this vein for the coming weekend, and the top 15 riders within a second of provisional pole man, Dani Pedrosa, it looks as if Sunday’s race could be a sizzling spectacle indeed. Randy De Puniet Kawasaki MotoGP Pilot #14 “That wasn’t a bad day! This morning we worked on the settings on the bike and this afternoon we tried a harder compound tyre, which was better for longevity because I did 20 laps on it and my time at the end of the session was still very good. We can improve a few bits and pieces, including adjusting the rear suspension slightly and perhaps working with a different rear tyre, but already, it’s pretty good and I’m happy.” Anthony West Kawasaki MotoGP Pilot #13 “This morning I didn’t feel so confident but all of a sudden, this afternoon, everything felt good on the bike. I struggled in the first session with rear grip, just spinning and sliding everywhere, then this afternoon it was so different: just from better grip I could get more of a lean angle in the corners and choose better lines. Essentially, I simply felt more comfortable on the bike. It was actually a heap easier to ride and go faster. In one corner, I even got my elbow on the ground once or twice and I’ve never had that before! It was all a big improvement and the times show that.” Akira Yanagawa Kawasaki MotoGP Wild Card #87 “I feel okay. I have a little problem with chatter on entering the corners but I suspect some of that may be down to me because my riding style is not suited yet to this bike. We need to find a solution to that, if we have time. Anyway, I have to compromise and I need to put in some more laps to get used to the feeling of the Ninja. This bike is like nothing I’ve ever ridden: like the chassis of a 125 with the engine of a rocket ship! I think you probably need a special technique for riding it but I’m sure we can make some further adjustments to help me get more from it.” More, from a press release issued by Konica Minolta Honda: KONICA MINOLTA Honda swelters at hot Japanese Grand Prix The first practice sessions for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix took place in sweltering weather conditions today. Once more the lap times were extremely close with the top 15 riders being covered by just one second. Shinya Nakano spent the day evaluating tyres and making suspension changes to his KONICA MINOLTA Honda RCV212V, as he tried to find a tyre and suspension combination that worked well around the 2.98mile Twin Ring Motegi circuit. After being in the top ten during the morning session, the former All-Japan 250cc champion slipped to 12th in the afternoon’s session, but is confident of making improvements before tomorrow’s qualifying session. Gianluca Montiron Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA Honda “Today I’m not completely satisfied as I think Shinya could have made a bigger step forward this afternoon, but with the new tyre regulations we must save our best tyre for tomorrow. In the morning our situation was better as Shinya was fast and consistent, but this afternoon as other people made big improvements our improvement was not as large, but Shinya was still able to make his best time towards the end. We know we have to work hard to find a good setting for tomorrow and we are sure that Shinya can make a good qualifying time, we just also need to try and be consistent during the full race distance, so we hope that any improvements we make will help Shinya’s overall race rhythm.” Shinya Nakano Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (48 laps 1′ 48.697″) “It’s good to be home! Today was quite good in the morning, although the afternoon session was even warmer so this made it difficult to choose our tyres. Tyre choice will be critical here and we may need to use a harder tyre than we first thought. Today we chose two tyres that we will use tomorrow and compare their performance. The nature of Motegi means that both tyre and suspension settings are key to a good lap time, so we will be working hard to find the right combination. I’m confident for qualifying tomorrow, although as we’ve seen today it’s going to be very close indeed!” Giulio Bernardelle Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda “Things are fairly positive, as our situation is not so different from Estoril because we’re not so far behind the top runners. In fact, perhaps we’re closer as only Dani Pedrosa was able to do a 1m47 lap. The main point we have been working on today is our ability to be able to run more consistently in the 48s, at the moment it’s not so easy for Shinya to do those times, so we need to do some more work on the bike to help achieve this. Today we can’t be really fast in the last three corners, but if we can solve this problem then it’s possible to cut 0.4s from our lap time. To do this we will have to work on our suspension settings, as there are lots of hard braking and hard accelerating points from low speed, so Motegi works the suspension quite hard. It’s very hot here today! Temperatures mean that we will finalise tyre choice tomorrow at some point. Here it seems that the morning temperatures aren’t too different from the afternoon which helps with consistency, although Sunday’s race may take place in cooler conditions.” More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Four Bridgestone-shod manufacturers in the top five at Motegi Round 15 Japan Free Practice Motegi Circuit, Friday 21 September 2007 In scorching heat, preparations for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix got underway in Motegi today with four of Bridgestone’s five teams represented firmly in the top five of the combined classification. Honda’s Dani Pedrosa set a searing pace to lead the pack after the opening day, but seven Bridgestone-shod riders lock out positions two to eight, led by Kawasaki’s Randy de Puniet. Honda Gresini’s Marco Melandri had a strong first day setting the third best time ahead of Suzuki’s John Hopkins and championship-leader Casey Stoner who claimed an overall fifth place on his Ducati. Japanese wildcard rider Kousuke Akiyoshi, who last raced at the Spanish GP in Jerez back in March, sprung a surprise sixth best time. Winner of the previous two MotoGP events at Motegi, Loris Capirossi, finished in seventh ahead of Anthony West who set a strong pace in eighth for Kawasaki. Bridgestone’s range of tyres have performed encouragingly on the first day for the company’s home GP, in spite of higher than anticipated track temperatures which reached close to 50°C this afternoon. Bridgestone’s plan for tomorrow is to conduct some longer unbroken runs with its teams to assess the tyre performance over a more representative distance at this 4.801km Motegi circuit. Tyre Talk with Junichi Kawajiri Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager, Motorcycle Race Tyre Development How satisified are you with today’s performance for Bridgestone’s home race weekend? “From a tyre performance point of view, I am quite pleased. We tested here at the end of August and we were able to define a particular direction for this weekend’s race which has given us encouraging results from today’s two sessions. We have four of our teams in the top five and have a lot of riders in the top ten, so the performance potential is clearly there. Dani Pedrosa seems to be very strong, though, and he is the benchmark after the opening day.” What is Bridgestone’s plan for Saturday? “We must continue to look at the performance of our tyres over longer runs. The track conditions today were very hot, reaching close to fifty degrees, and it is likely that we will face cooler temperatures on Sunday, so we must also take this into consideration when preparing for the race. Our range of tyres is competitive which each of the four manufacturers we supply with two Kawasaki riders, two Ducatis, two Suzukis and a Honda (Gresini) rider in the top eight, so I would like to continue this trend for the rest of the weekend. How does Bridgestone feel having three Japanese riders on Bridgestone tyres this weekend “It has been a pleasure to work again with these three Japanese riders- Kousuke Akiyoshi, Akira Yanagawa and Shinichi Ito. All three of these riders have previous experience on Bridgestone tyres so it will be interesting to listen to their feedback to see what progress we have made. We wish them all the best for their home GP.” Bridgestone Combined Free Practice Session Results Pos Rider Team Session 1 (pos) Session 2 (pos) Gap P2 Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 1m48.689s (4) 1m48.254s (2) +0.389s P3 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini 1m48.679s (3) 1m48.351s (3) +0.486s P4 John Hopkins Suzuki 1m48.766s (6) 1m48.361s (4) +0.496s P5 Casey Stoner Ducati 1m48.491s (2) 1m48.444s (5) +0.579s P6 Kousuke Akiyoshi Suzuki 1m49.127s (11) 1m48.452s (6) +0.592s P7 Loris Capirossi Ducati 1m49.527s (14) 1m48.499s (7) +0.634s P8 Anthony West Kawasaki 1m49.960s (15) 1m48.529s (8) +0.664s P15 Toni Elias Honda Gresini 1m48.827s (8) 1m48.881s (15) +0.962s P17 Alex Barros Pramac D’Antin 1m50.037s (16) 1m49.392s (17) +1.527s P18 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki 1m50.210s (17) 1m49.555s (18) +1.690s P19 Akira Yanagawa Kawasaki 1m50.606s (19) 1m50.229s (19) +2.364s P20 Shinichi Ito Pramac D’Antin 1m52.374s (21) 1m50.769s (20) +2.904s Weather: AM Session / Dry – Air 30°C, Track 36°C, Humidity 49% (taken from official MotoGP timing) More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Hopkins leads the way for Rizla Suzuki MotoGP John Hopkins was the fastest of the trio of Rizla Suzuki MotoGP racers during today’s free practice sessions at Motegi in preparation for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, as he recorded the fourth quickest time of the day. Hopkins (1’48.361, 45 laps) looked fast and settled right from the start of the day and topped the leaderboard during both hour-long sessions. The confident Anglo-American is pleased with the progress he and his team have made and is sure there is still more to come from both himself and his Rizla Suzuki GSV-R tomorrow. Team Test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi (1’48.457, 41 laps) produced a fantastic performance to clock the sixth fastest time and leave some much more experienced and famous riders in his wake. Appearing in only his third GP event Akiyoshi performed well on his ‘home’ circuit and showed that all the laps spent testing the 800cc GSV-R has proved very useful to him in a racing environment. Chris Vermeulen (P18, 1’49.555, 45 laps) struggled to find a smooth rhythm today around the 4.8km Motegi circuit. He will be working hard into the evening with his Crew Chief to try to rectify any details that they believe will help Vermeulen find the time to move up the timesheets and into a competitive position. Today’s practice was held in sunny and very hot conditions with air temperatures in the mid-30s and the track surface reaching over 50°C. Dani Pedrosa on his factory Honda set the best time of the day. The three Rizla Suzuki men have another free practice session on Saturday morning which will be followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s race is round 15 of the MotoGP World Championship and the action gets underway at 14.00hrs local time (05.00hrs GMT). John Hopkins: “The day went pretty good straight away as the Bridgestone tyres worked really well and so did the Suzuki. We’ve had a play around with a couple of things including the suspension, but we haven’t had to do a whole lot of set up because it all seemed to work well right out of the box. We’ll try a couple of things tomorrow and test the durability of one of the best tyres from today, but all-in-all we’re in pretty good shape and everything seems to be going well.” Kousuke Akiyoshi: “I am very pleased with my position and maybe quite surprised. It is good to be able to race the GSV-R after so much testing this year. I think I can go a bit quicker now and will be trying to get a good grid position tomorrow to help me for the race.” Chris Vermeulen: “It has not been a great day today! We struggled with some problems with the bike this morning which the mechanics sorted out very quickly between the sessions. This afternoon it felt like my first session really because anything I did this morning was a bit of a waste. We did get things going and made some progress in the session but I am disappointed with the lap-time. At the end I only really got one flying lap with the set-up that I liked and tomorrow we need to make a lot of progress so we can move up the order a bit.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “An encouraging day’s work for John and his crew and a tremendous performance by Akiyoshi! He and Nobuatsu Aoki have been responsible for some of the big improvements to the GSV-R this year and it’s good to see him wringing the bike’s neck rather than having to worry about the details of testing and I am sure his is really enjoying that as well! “Chris’s position isn’t good and there is a lot of work to do overnight to make sure that he comes out in the morning swinging and is able to show his full potential.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: Still in with the slimmest of mathematical chances to become 2007 MotoGP World Champion, Dani Pedrosa was the fastest rider at Motegi on day one of MotoGP practice for the A-Style Grand Prix of Japan. The Spaniard, who also made the unsurprising announcement today that he would be continuing as a Honda rider for at least the next two seasons, cut over a second and a half off his fastest time from this morning with a 1’47.865 lap of the Japanese track originally designed to test the manufacturer’s bikes. The pace was as fierce as the intense heat in the Far East, although Pedrosa’s time was far off the pole record set by Loris Capirossi last season. With the field looking evenly matched, tomorrow’s qualifying session could be one of the most closely contested of the season. For the moment, Pedrosa has been the only rider to have gone round in under 1’48, with his closest rival today being Randy de Puniet nearly four tenths of a second behind him. Just over a tenth of a second separated the remainder of the top six, all using Bridgestone tyres chasing the times of the Michelin-shod timesheet topper. Said top six consisted of Marco Melandri, who sneaked onto the podium last season and rides his last Japanese race for Gresini Honda this weekend, John Hopkins, possible World Champion Casey Stoner and Japanese wild card Kousuke Akiyoshi. Stoner could win the 2007 title this weekend, and a repeat of the excellent form shown by Loris Capirossi onboard the Ducati at Motegi in recent years would allow him to do so in style, but he will need to up his pace a notch if he is to take the crown with a win. Akiyoshi impressed onboard the Suzuki GSV-R800 which he has previously ridden this season at Jerez in another one-off appearance. Motegi race winner Loris Capirossi was just outside the top six, and ran off track in the afternoon session. He was joined in taking an excursion onto the gravel trap by reigning World Champion Nicky Hayden, who finished ninth behind Anthony West. Home rider Makoto Tamada completed the top ten as the highest placing Dunlop rider. Sparks flew in the early stages, as Casey Stoner lashed out at Carlos Checa as the Spanish veteran followed him around the track. Both riders looked heated as they showed their grievances with a series of gestures. Valentino Rossi had further mechanical problems with his Yamaha M1, having to return to his garage with 20 minutes to go as white smoke streamed out of the back of his bike. The Italian returned to the track soon afterwards, with no repeat of the problem. 250cc Proud new father Mika Kallio’s 1’52.053 lap of Twin Ring Motegi gave him provisional pole for the 250cc race, at the circuit where he has won the past two Grands Prix in the 125cc category. The KTM rider was a tenth of a second ahead of Hector Barbera as he took the top spot on day one at Motegi. The Finn became a dad for the first time after last week’s race at Estoril, and spent a couple of days in his homeland with his new arrival before flying out to Japan. The main Japanese hopeful for a win this weekend, 2005 and 2006 race victor Hiro Aoyama took a provisional front row start less than two tenths of a second behind his team-mate Kallio. With both KTM riders looking strong, Aoyama’s chances of a hat trick are promising at his most important race of the season. The front row is completed by Alex de Angelis, riding his first race since announcing his move up to MotoGP in 2008 with Gresini Honda. The Japanese factory’s highest placing rider in the quarter litre class so far is Andrea Dovizioso, also making the switch to MotoGP next season and in contention for this year’s 250cc World Championship. Reigning World Champion and current series leader Jorge Lorenzo joins his rival on row two, as do Julian Simon and younger Aoyama brother Shuhei. Thomas Luthi and Estoril race winner Alvaro Bautista complete the top ten. 125cc Hunting down pole position number eight of the 2007 season, Mattia Pasini opened qualifying proceedings at Motegi with a provisional top spot in the 125cc class. The Italian rider put in a time of 1’58.283 in the first qualifying session for Sunday’s race, under two tenths of a second faster than current World Championship leader Gabor Talmacsi. The top four all went round in under 1’59, as the provisional front row was rounded off by Simone Corsi and home rider Tomoyoshi Koyama. The latter qualified second for the 2005 race at Motegi, but has yet to better the fourth place achieved in the race that year on home soil. The second row is headed by title challenger Hector Faubel, ahead of Lukas Pesek and Bradley Smith, who had his best result of his debut season here last year. Nico Terol completes the row in eighth, with Sandro Cortese and Raffaele de Rosa the other two riders in the top ten. Pol Espargaro had a series of crashes today, all thankfully without serious consequences as he looks to repeat his Estoril podium. There was excitement at the end of the session as Koyama adjudged wild card Kazuma Watanabe of baulking him on a hot lap, showing his frustration with stern gestures. More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: HARD WORK AHEAD FOR YAMAHA IN MOTEGI Scorching sunshine welcomed the MotoGP paddock to Motegi today as the fifteenth round of the season got underway at the Japanese track. Temperatures reached a maximum of 34 degrees during this afternoon’s free practice and it was a difficult day’s work for the riders and teams alike, with Fiat Yamaha pair Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi finishing the day 11th and 14th respectively in the combined standings, which were topped by Dani Pedrosa. Just five days after his spectacular victory in Portugal, Rossi got off to a less auspicious start today, finishing the morning session fifth but dropping to fourteenth this afternoon after his number one bike suffered a technical problem and he was forced to complete the hour on his second machine. Edwards meanwhile did not fare much better, finding himself down in 13th this morning and climbing just two places in the second session, despite making some improvements to his set-up this afternoon. Colin Edwards Position: 11th Time: 1’48.614 Laps: 46 “This morning and early this afternoon things were not looking good at all! We couldn’t find the right setting or the right tyre and we were crossing our fingers that something was going to work out for us. Mid-way through the afternoon however we tried our last tyre and we were immediately one second faster, so at least there’s no doubt now that’s the right direction to follow. We’ve got a lot more work to do, both on setting and with the tyres, so we need to have a good look at the situation tonight to make sure we make the most of the time we’ve got left to us. We were two seconds off the pace and now we’ve closed that gap to one but that’s still way too much and we’re really going to have to pull out all the stops tomorrow.” Valentino Rossi Position: 14th Time: 1’48.736 Laps: 48 “Today was very, very hot, much more than we expected. We’re a long way behind because unfortunately we were following different set-ups with my two bikes and the one that was working better had a technical problem. On my second bike, with the different setting, I wasn’t able to improve and so here I am in 14th. The situation with the tyres is not so good and we have a lot of work to do, even if we know that Michelin can work here because they are in front with another rider. For us the situation isn’t great at the moment and we need to find a way to turn this around. It’s the first day and I know that if we can improve a few things then we can be in a better position. We have to do the maximum tomorrow and see where we get to.” Davide Brivio Fiat Yamaha Team Director “We have some work to do! We used today to assess the situation and see where we are, but it’s clear that we have some issues with both riders and we need to do our best to improve the situation. We will work with the best tyre we have available and hopefully if we find some small advantages with the bike then we can improve our position. Valentino had a problem with his engine this afternoon and so we will also be checking carefully to fully understand what has happened.” More, from a press release issued by Gresini Racing Honda: MELANDRI ON PODIUM PACE AT MOTEGI GRAND PRIX OF JAPAN – FREE PRACTICES MotoGP returned to Honda’s home at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit today as the first practice sessions for the Grand Prix of Japan took place. The Honda riders, who always tackle this event with special motivation, did not disappoint and today both Daniel Pedrosa and Marco Melandri were on podium pace in both the morning and afternoon sessions. Melandri was third fastest overall, four tenths behind provisional ‘pole’ setter Pedrosa, and was more than satisfied with his progress. Marco set a fast and consistent pace and is confident of taking another step forward tomorrow. Toni Elias is also confident despite ending the day down in fifteenth position today. The work on finding a compromise between traction and stability was only partially successful but the Spaniard is confident the team have at least identified the way they need to work tomorrow. The first day of practice took place in extremely high temperatures, with the track reaching 46° and humidity levels touching 36%. MARCO MELANDRI (3rd, 1’48″351): “I’m really satisfied with this first day of work. The bike has improved a lot in terms of power delivery and engine braking thanks to the new mapping that we received this morning. I’m happy because the bike is much more manageable now. I’m also happy with our choice of tyres – we’ve worked well with Bridgestone today and I hope to make another small step forward with my race pace tomorrow. This is a particularly difficult track to manage fuel. The heat today was most unusual for this time of year but the forecast is for the weather to change. I’m happy because we’ll be ready for wet or dry conditions.” TONI ELIAS (15th, 1’48″881): “We’ ve done a lot of good work with the team today and in general I am happy. We tested a lot of things – not everything gave the result we were looking for but it was important for us to find the right way to work. The Bridgestone tyres are working very well here and because of the intense heat we decided to save some of the softer tyres for tomorrow.” FAUSTO GRESINI: “Marco has done a good job again and I am happy. The bike has improved a lot from the last race and that has allowed Marco to get immediately on the pace. Tomorrow we’ll work to take another step forward. Toni, meanwhile, has been working hard on his setting and even though he is still struggling a bit with the set up, he always gives his maximum on the track and we have to compliment him on that.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM RIDERS WORKING HARD AT MOTEGI Ducati Marlboro Team riders Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi completed day one of practice for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix fifth and seventh fastest. Riding in searing heat – with afternoon ambient temperatures in the mid-30s and track temperatures nudging 50 degrees – both men worked hard on set-up and are hopeful of improving tomorrow. World Championship leader Stoner ended the day 0.579s off ‘provisional pole’, while 2005 and 2006 Motegi winner Capirossi was a further 0.055 seconds down. CASEY STONER, 5th fastest, 1m 48.444s “I’m a bit disappointed with today because we couldn’t find a good set-up and we just went around in circles. This afternoon we tried something with the chassis but it didn’t work and we didn’t have enough time to go back to the same settings we had this morning, so we spent a lot of time making a lot of changes and it definitely wasn’t a great day. To be honest there isn’t one area where we have a big problem, we just need to generally improve in a lot of areas, so tomorrow we will start again with the bike settings we had this morning and we will continue working from there in a different direction. I’m confident we can improve because this morning’s set-up wasn’t bad at all”. LORIS CAPIROSSI, 7th fastest, 1m 48.499s “Here we have tried something really different on the set up. I rode four or five laps, one of them behind John [Hopkins], and I was able to be quite fast, even if I had to push really hard. Anyway, tomorrow I think we will make a few more little changes and we should have the chance to improve. It’s difficult, because I’m still struggling with the power delivery. At this track you need a lot of power at low revs and we don’t have so much, it’s one of our limitations. We are trying to get around this problem by working on the set-up in order to find more torque. We have also made some changes to the gearbox. The team is reacting very well, we are trying many things and we hope that we can improve tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Repsol Media Service: DANI PEDROSA SETS THE PACE DURING TRAINING ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE JAPANESE GP Best time for the Repsol Honda Team rider in the two sessions of free training. Nicky Hayden ninth on the first day of training. Dani Pedrosa clearly dominated this first day of free training before the Japanese GP. The Repsol Honda Team rider set the best time in the morning session, beating the championship leader Casey Stoner, who was second, by a little over two tenths of a second. In the afternoon Pedrosa was once again the fastest, this time ahead of the Frenchman De Puniet, and by over three tenths. After the good performance of the Repsol rider in the recent Portuguese GP, where he finished second behind Rossi, today Pedrosa demonstrated that the improvements made to the Honda RC212V are starting to bear fruit. A perfect day for Pedrosa, who in addition to being the fastest, officially announced that he has extended his contract with Honda and the Repsol Honda Team for two more seasons. Nicky Hayden was not so competitive today although he is working with his team to find the best set up for the race on Sunday. Hayden was seventh in the morning session and ninth in the second free training session. In 250cc, it was a positive first day for the Repsol Honda Team riders Julián Simón and the local Shuhei Aoyama. Simón`s and Aoyama`s Hondas were more competitive than at other circuits, Motegi demands strong braking and then aceleration when the bike is almost stationary, and that meant that they set times that give rise to optimism. In the morning Simón was sixth and Aoyama tenth. In the afternoon, in the first timed session, Simón set the seventh best time and Aoyama eighth, this put the two provisionally on the second row of the grid. There was also a good start for the young riders in the Repsol Honda 125cc Team on the first day of free training before the Japanese GP. In the morning session Bradley Smith set the 11th best time and his teammate Esteve Rabat was 16th. In the afternoon the young Briton was in the leading ten during the whole session, and finished 7th nine tenths behind the best lap time, set by the Italian Pasini. Esteve Rabat also improved his times in the afternoon and his final position was 11th. Quotes MotoGP Nicky Hayden >> 1’48.552 secs “This morning went relatively smoothly but this afternoon I had a few problems and couldn’t find a good rhythm. I made a few mistakes and almost crashed one time and was in the dirt another time. It just wasn’t really flowing really well and I’ll definitely have to clean that up for tomorrow. It wasn’t the greatest of starts and for sure I’d like to be closer to the front right out of the gate. The track temperature is quite warm and it’s going to be important to get some good feel and traction. A lot of riders seem pretty close right now so we’ll have to make some improvements for tomorrow morning.” Dani Pedrosa >> 1’47.865 secs “As a first day today went quite well and the pace I could maintain was pretty fast and consistent, so I am happy so far. It was hot in the morning session and then it got even hotter in the afternoon, but still the balance of the bike felt good. I like this track and we must continue to improve the set-up tomorrow because this is only the first day and for sure our rivals will be working hard to overtake us. I am very happy to have signed for Honda again today and I hope we can continue this weekend in the positive way we have started.” 250cc Julián Simón >> 1’52.549 secs. 42 laps, 202 km. “This was not a bad day but we have to continue improving. The part of the circuit where we lose most time is the T4. There are three sections with braking where we have to improve the stability, but we are working on this and I think that for tomorrow we will have the solution. My right forearm is not as painful as it was in Portugal, and I hope that this is not something that stops me putting in a good performance in the race.” Shuhei Aoyama >> 1’52.555 secs. 40 laps, 192km. “I felt fine on the bike both this morning and in the afternoon. At the beginning of the timed training I was trying to improve the set up, but I did not make much progress. In the end I used a new tyre to try and lower my times, and I could have set a ’51, although I do not know why, my time ended up being a ‘52.8. Whatever the reason I had good sensations. I will try to do the best I can tomorrow.” 125cc Bradley Smith >> 1’59.235 secs. 35 laps, 168km. “I am pleased with how the day went, becasuse in spite of the problems I managed to finish in 7th position. Here the bike is going better than in previous races. The engine and the chassis are fine, and we only have some problems with the suspension. Today I was competitive; the others will improve tomorrow for sure, but we can also improve. I am just hoping to be as close as possible to the leaders.” Esteve Rabat >> 1’59.575 secs. 32 laps, 154km. “The truth is that it was a difficult day because in the morning the track was dirty and it was very hot in the afternoon, this meant it was very tiring to ride. What is more we had some problems with the back wheel. The bike did not go as well as I would have liked, but in the timed session we improved the chassis a little, and I am pleased because the difference is not as big compared to other circuits. Tomorrow I hope to improve the set up a little.”