MELANDRI AND ELIAS: POSITIVE AFTER RACE TEST AT MISANO The Honda Gresini squad went back on track today after the yesterday great performance that saw Marco Melandri finishing 4° after starting from the 12th position and Toni Elias 7° rrecovering from a start from 5th row. The Honda Gresini riders focused on tyre testing and tested different set up solutions. MARCO MELANDRI (1’34″37): “Together with the Bridgestone technicians we tested in preparation of the next races. I also used all the time at disposal to work on the set up of the bike recovering the time lost on Friday because of the rain and on Saturday because of my crash during the morning practices. We found some interesting solutions and I’m happy because the bike is working well. Today I still had some pain so a preferred not to make too many laps in a row”. TONI ELIAS (1’35″22): “the race yesterday was very demanding and at the end I was really tired. I suffered a lot for my leg so Today I couldn’t push too much. In total I completed 85 laps, not bad if I consider my physical conditions. Today we focused on tyre testing and we worked on the set up and I could improve my race rhythm. Now I need some days of rest before starting the preparation for the Portugal GP” UNOFFICIAL LAP TIMES 1. C.Stoner (Ducati Marlboro) 1’34″1 2. N.Hayden (Repsol Honda) 1’34” 24 3. D.Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) 1’34″29 4. C.Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki) 1’34″30 5. V.Rossi (Fiat Yamaha1’34″34 6. M.Melandri (Honda Gresini) 1’34″37 7. C.Edwards (Fiat Yamaha) 1’34″40 8. R.DePuniet (Kawasaki) 1’34″54 9. J.Hopkins (Rizla Suzuki) 1’34″62 10. C.Checa (Honda LCR) 1’34″66 12. T.Elias (Honda Gresini) 1’35″22 More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: STONER & CAPIROSSI COMPLETE POSITIVE TEST SESSION AT MISANO BODY { font-family : Verdana, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; } The day after Casey Stoner’s historic San Marino Grand Prix victory that gave Ducati its first-ever MotoGP win on home tarmac, Stoner and team-mate Loris Capirossi, who yesterday charged through from 13th to fifth position, were back on track today for testing. Another day of good weather allowed the Ducati Marlboro Team riders to concentrate on Bridgestone race tyre tests and on machine set-up. Stoner did a best of 1m 34.11s during his 58 laps, while Capirossi did a best of 1m 35.79s during his 40 laps. The Ducati Marlboro Team now prepares for the next MotoGP event – round 14 at Estoril (Portugal) on September 16. Casey Stoner Best lap: 1m 34.11s, on race tyres (total of 58 laps) “We are very happy with today. We had a few tyres to test, very similar to those we had tested after the race at Brno. We have once again found some very positive points which could give us a step forward at future races. Also, we tried another step with the chassis, again similar to what we did at Brno, just to confirm things, and once again we did consistently very fast times. It has been a very positive test for us, though also a quite a long and hot day.” Loris Capirossi Best lap: 1m 35.79s, on race tyres (total of 40 laps) “Today we made some tyre tests and we tried some changes to the set-up, aiming to sort out the problems we had during the weekend. Concerning the Bridgestone tyres, I had got a good feeling today and I think we’re starting a good job for the future, but concerning the set-up tests, we weren’t able to make the steps forward we were hoping for.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: Event: Misano Test Date: Monday, 3rd September 2007 Ambient temperature: 25 degrees C Track temperature: 42 degrees C Humidity: 61% POSITIVE TEST FOR FIAT YAMAHA TEAM IN MISANO Fiat Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were back out on track in Misano today, keen to put the bad memories of yesterday’s race behind them and start moving forward before the last five races of the season. Once again the principle focus for both riders was tyre testing and there were some encouraging steps made this afternoon, with some of the new material that Michelin brought throwing out some promising results. Rossi and Edwards finished the day fourth and sixth fastest according to the unofficial time sheets, after completing 57 and 94 laps respectively. The team will now have a short break before reconvening in Estoril next week for the Portuguese Grand Prix. Valentino Rossi Position: 4th Time: 1’34.34 Laps: 57 “The disappointment of yesterday hasn’t gone away but of course the best way to deal with it has been to get back to work, and this is what we’ve done today. Our engineers have looked at the engine and it seems that the problem was something which could have occurred also in the old one, so it was just bad luck for us. The new engine gives us some speed advantage over the old one so we will keep on working on its development. This afternoon we tried some new tyres and we found some very interesting and positive things. It seems that Michelin have done a good job in their recent work and it was definitely a much more positive test than in Brno, so we’re quite happy with our day’s work.” Colin Edwards Position: 6th Time: 1’34.44 Laps: 94 “This morning we were working on the right side of the tyre following the problems we had yesterday and to be honest we didn’t really make much progress. However after lunch Michelin brought out some new stuff which I tried and immediately liked and so we just kept working in that direction throughout the afternoon. I was doing mid 34s very comfortably and it really felt better and better as we went on, so I was really pleased. We tried some new electronic stuff and a new shock for Ohlins but it was mostly about tyres and it was great to be making some progress. I think I can honestly say that this was the most constructive test we’ve done in the last six months; it was a good way to round off an otherwise bad weekend and it’s put us all in a positive frame of mind for the next race.” Test Times 1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’34.10 2. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team 1’34.24 3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’34.29 4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’34.34 5. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda Gresini 1’34.37 6. Colin Edwards (USA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’34.44 7. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team 1’34.54 8. John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’34.58 9. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda LCR 1’34.66 10. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 1’35.31 11. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’35.37 12. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda Gresini 1’35.44 13. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki 1’35.61 14. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’35.80 15. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 1’37.07 More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing: Misano MotoGP Test Monday September 3, 2007 Misano Circuit, Santa Monica, Italy REPSOL HONDA PUTS IN THE HARD MILES AT MISANO The Repsol Honda Team completed a positive day’s testing at Misano on Monday as many MotoGP teams remained at the scene of yesterday’s San Marino Grand Prix. Putting the disappointment of the second corner incident that ended the chances of both Repsol Honda riders behind them, the team ran through and extensive programme of Michelin tyre testing and machine set-up adjustments ahead of the next round of the World Championship in Portugal on September 16. Nicky Hayden put in an astonishing effort today, once again proving that though his title defence is effectively over the World Champion has lost none of his work ethic or motivation. The 26-year-old American completed 134 laps of the 4.180km (2.596-mile) Misano circuit, the equivalent of nearly five race distances, and amassed an incredible 3.5 hours of riding time all at full pace. It was time well spent as Hayden recorded a best lap of 1m 34.26s on Michelin race tyres while lapping consistently in the 1m 34s bracket. Dani Pedrosa also put in a full day’s work, completing 95 laps on his RC212V. The Spaniard spent valuable time assessing further adjustments to chassis settings, referencing data that was gathered over the race weekend. Michelin supplied a range of race tyre options to test before Pedrosa set his best time of the day on a qualifier recording a lap of 1m 34.36s. Lying third in the World Championship, the 21-year-old will be looking for a strong result in Portugal in a fortnight to close the 18-point gap to Valentino Rossi in second place. Nicky Hayden Best lap time: 1m 34.26s 134 laps “I’m pretty happy with this test. I did a 1m 34.2s lap on race tyres which is quite decent and it actually makes the first lap incident yesterday even more frustrating. We were probably closer to the pace yesterday than even I thought because today, without really making any changes, we were able to go quite a lot quicker. Also when I ran off track yesterday it cut the tyre and so we weren’t able to learn anything in the race. I’m not going to fool anybody and say we had anything to match Stoner but I was able to lap pretty comfortably in the 1m 34s this afternoon. The track condition improved and that helped quite a bit too. We did some serious work with Michelin and they are really putting in the effort, though I can’t say we found a whole lot because towards the end I went back to a reference tyre and did my best lap of the weekend. The team did a really good job and worked hard so a big thanks to them they’re as committed as ever. We’ll go to Portugal and try to use some this information.” Dani Pedrosa Best lap time: 1m 34.36s 95 laps “This was a useful test today and we were able to get some information about the bike and tyres at this track that we missed out on in the race yesterday. It can seem quite difficult to come back and test after such a disappointing race result I only completed a couple of hundred metres before I was taken down but once we were out on track the conditions were quite good and we could spend some good time testing tyres and also some settings adjustments. I’m looking forward to the next race now and really want to do a good job there and get the sort of result the team deserves.”