IRTA MotoGP test Barcelona, Spain. Day one of three-day test. March 18, 2005. Biaggi fastest on day one of IRTA Barcelona test Honda riders quickly settled into their stride on the opening day of the three-day MotoGP test at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona, with Repsol Honda factory team rider Max Biaggi topping the time sheet. Biaggi worked hard on the geometry of his Honda RC211V eventually finding the set up he needed to be fast around the fast 4.727km circuit. The Italian edged out fellow Honda RCV rider Sete Gibernau (Telefonica MoviStar) with a lap time 1.5 seconds faster than Gibernau’s lap record set at the grad prix in 2004. Makoto Tamada set third fastest time on his Konica Minolta RCV Honda. Japanese star Tamada was using Michelin tyres for the first time at Catalunya worked on he chassis and suspension settings before racking up series of fast times as the day drew to a close. Marco Melandri, on the second Telefonica MoviStar liveried RCV, was the surprise package of the opening of the test setting fourth fastest time. Melandri topped the time sheet twice before bettered in the closing 30 minutes. The Italian youngster, in his first season on a Honda, has been impressive all through winter testing slowly building up his pace at each test as he began to master the 990cc V5 GP machine. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda) felt he had not ridden at his best, ended his day in mid-pack. Hayden lacked a little confidence in the front end The Camel Honda team of Alex Barros and Troy Bayliss continued where they had left off at the Qatar test, Barros working on front suspension and tyres, Bayliss on the overall balance of his RCV. With the front end now to his liking Barros will concentrate on tyre testing tomorrow. Honda rider lap times and quotes. Max Biaggi, Repsol Honda: 1m 43.158s 85 laps “We’ve been working the whole day to find the right set-up for this track. The newly laid surface makes it definitely faster. Someone came here to win the car at stake for Sundays fastest lap, not me. I have one already and it works well enough. My goal is to improve the race setting. We tried some new front tyres, but basically the bike is still the same. Tomorrow well test some new parts, mainly suspension. We are looking for an easier way of riding our RCV, especially in the corners. Im very satisfied with my team, we are all giving the best. There is the right atmosphere to deliver our job.” Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1m 44.284s 84 laps. “It was cool to be back on the track with everyone, kinda fun. Honestly, I didnt feel my best today. Physically I felt okay but I wasnt riding up the level I know Im capable of. I didnt feel totally confident with the front of the machine hopefully this will come tomorrow. No panic we have three days here and Im confident we can pick it up a bit. The new surface at the circuit is really good. We just need to get the confidence level up especially into the corners.” Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 1m 43.347s – “I’m very satisfied because also when I don’t find a track in its pefect condition like it was this morning, I make it to be fast because the feeling with the bike and the tyres is at a optimal level. Tomorrow and on Sunday I am sure we’ll achieve better lap times as for what I know Michelin brought us some new interesting tyres to test.” Sete Gibernau, Telefonica MoviStar Honda: 1m 43.254s 74 laps. “To say it is the first day we’ve done a good job. We’ve tested a lot of things and that always means you lose time because you have to come in to pit so often. Despite that we’ve been at the top from the start and that has to be a good sign. We’ve got less things to test tomorrow so we’ll be able to focus a little more on certain aspects. I’m very happy because Honda have brought us a bit of everything we asked for and we set a good pace every time we went out.” Marco Melandri, Telefonica MoviStar Honda: 1m 43.433s 77 laps. “In Qatar I knew I had taken a step forward in terms of confidence and I felt much more sure of myself coming into these tests. The results shows that I feel more and more comfortable with the bike every day and I am working hard to adapt my riding style to it. I’ve just tried to concentrate on myself and prepare as well as possible for the races. I didn’t put soft tyres on at any point. We’re making progress and, if we get through our programme tomorrow as we have done today, I want to do a race simulation on Sunday” Alex Barros, Camel Honda: 1m 43.902s 9 laps. “Today was a challenging day, which ended a few minutes early because we had tested all the tyres we had been handed. The whole day we were struggling with the forks; we did thousands of tests but none of them seemed to work, with none of the tyres. At the end we changed them and everything was solved in an instant. Now we have found out that there was a little technical problem with a sensor, nothing serious, but enough to stop me from riding my best. As soon as we made the change, using the same settings and the same tyres as before I rode half a second quicker. It’s a shame that it was just over an hour before the end. That doesn’t matter though, now I know we are ready and we can go well.” Troy Bayliss, Camel Honda: 1m 44.403s 90 laps. “I’m very satisfied because we are working well. Today I did so many laps and there was some positive progression. We picked out the direction we will work in and I fell confident now. I’m sure we will improve, we are just at the beginning of this very important test and we have to make the most of it so we can be ready for the first race.” More, From a press released issued by Eckl Kawasaki Racing Team: MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2005 IRTA PRE-SEASON TEST CIRCUIT DE CATALUNYA, SPAIN 18 MARCH 2005 PERFECT WEATHER FOR RECORD BREAKING DAY AT BARCELONA The three-day IRTA test opened at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona today with glorious spring weather producing near perfect track conditions. Kawasaki ZX-RR riders Shinya Nakano and Alex Hofmann made the most of clear sunny skies and 30 degree track temperatures to post impressive lap times that were personal best performances at this track. Nakano was more than a second under his previous best race lap, while Hofmann was 1.7s seconds quicker than in the Catalunya GP last year. Nakano and Hofmann were just two of 15 riders under the current track record held by Sete Gibernau. The dramatic drop in lap times reflects the continuing progress in machine and tyre development and the fact that the 4.7 km Circuit de Catalunya was completely resurfaced over the winter break. Nakano and Hofmann have been joined by Japanese test rider Kazuki Shimizu at the Barcelona test. Nakano and Shimizu are concentrating on evaluating the big bang version of Kawasaki’s 990cc, in-line four cylinder motor. Meanwhile Hofmann’s ZX-RR continues to run with last year’s screamer engine configuration. Hofmann will be supplied with big bang motors for next week’s IRTA test in Jerez. Today Hofmann concentrated on chassis and tyre testing including evaluation of swinging arm and weight distribution set-ups. Evaluation of a range of new Bridgestone tyres, both front and rear, is also part of the three-day test program. Shinya Nakano #56 – 77 laps (1’44.325) “Today I was able to confirm my preference of big-bang engine specification, at least for the first two races. I prefer the earlier of the two versions, which gives me more control and feeling on the throttle, although we still have some work to do on fine-tuning the engine braking system. Even though I’m a second faster than my best race lap here it is not enough, because everyone else is going faster.” Alex Hofmann #66 – 77 laps (1’44.546) “The new track surface is generally much smoother, although in some places the work has moved the bumps from one part of the track to another. I tried a couple of versions of the 2005 chassis, with different stiffness, and some new rear tyres from Bridgestone. The new track surface appears to have changed wear rates on the tyres so this will be an important part of testing over the weekend. I’m a racer and would prefer to have some track time with the big bang motor but that is not an option with limited supply and I must respect Kawasaki’s decision for Shinya to do that part of the testing.” Ichiro Yoda – Technical Director “We have two different versions of the big bang motor here with different firing orders, and Shinya and Kazuki compared those today. From this we have confirmed the configuration we will use for the opening two GPs in Jerez and Estoril. Shinya prefers the earlier version of the big bang, it gives him more control, and this will be the motor that both Shinya and Alex will use in the opening races. We will continue further development and revise that decision after the first two events” More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Racing: Suzuki makes competitive start to Catalunya test Team SUZUKI MotoGP continued its development of the GSV-R with both Kenny Roberts Jr and John Hopkins recording competitive lap-times in the first Official MotoGP test at the Circuit de Catalunya in Spain today. Roberts Jr and Hopkins were both running at the front of the timesheets early in the day, showing just how far the GSV-R race bike has improved following recent developments and early pre-season tests. Roberts Jr completed 43-laps during the eight-hour long test while working on front end feel and grip. He posted his fastest lap of the 4.7km track at 1min 44.282 – putting him just over a second off the fastest time of the day set by Honda’s Max Biaggi. Hopkins completed 37-laps as his crew worked on setting up his GSV-R race bike. He posted a fastest lap of 1min 44.849 which was over a second quicker than his best race time last year. Testing continues at the Barcelona circuit all-day tomorrow and Sunday morning, before a timed session on Sunday afternoon. Kenny Roberts Jr: “I am looking for more front end feel from my GSV-R and we spent most of today working on the fork and chassis settings. We have a direction and plan on how to improve this tomorrow. “A big positive to come from today was the strength of the engine. The Suzuki is definitely up on horsepower compared to last year, and this gives us so much more potential. We’re still working on a lot of developments and I’m looking forward to getting the best out of what we have” John Hopkins: “I’m really excited about the GSV-R and today shows how much better it is getting – I’ve knocked a lot of time off my fastest lap from last year. “I tested both my bikes with different set-ups and they both showed big improvements since our last test at Phillip Island. If we keep going at this rate of development we will be challenging the front runners, that’s everybody’s target.” Paul Denning, Team Manager: “Kenny worked on getting the set-up right for his GSV-R and I’m sure that will pay dividends for him tomorrow. John had a bit of bad luck with a small crash this afternoon but he’s unhurt and is determined to improve on his times over the weekend. “We all know that there is still a long way to go during this test but the initial feeling is very positive.” MotoGP Test-Free Practice classification: 1.Max Biaggi (Honda) 1’43.158: 2.Sete Gibernau (Honda) 1’43.254: 3.Makoto Tamada (Honda) 1’43.347: 4.Marco Melandri (Honda) 1’43.433: 5.Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1’43.518: 6.Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1’43.882: 7.Alex Barros (Honda) 1’43.902: 8.Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1’43.974: 9.Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1’44.282: 10. Kenny Roberts Jr (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) 1’44.282: 17.John Hopkins (TEAM SUZUKI MOTOGP) 1’44.849: More, from a press release issued by Gauloises Yamaha Team: Catalunya IRTA Tests Catalunya, Spain Friday 18th March Seven days after packing up from their most recent test session at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia, the Gauloises Yamaha Team continued with their intense pre-season development programme today, the first day of the MotoGP Official Tests at the Catalunya circuit in Spain. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards took advantage of bright sunshine and ideal ambient temperatures of 23ºC to evaluate the performance of their 2005 version YZR-M1 machines, adorned in the team’s stunning new livery for the first time. Having previously tested at Sepang and Phillip Island so far this year, the Catalunya circuit represents a fresh new challenge for the riders and the machine. The Spanish track’s wide variety of corners, recently-laid track surface and 1047m straight, one of the longest on the MotoGP World Championship calendar, gives the team the opportunity to improve its overall package. Rossi and Edwards today worked largely on finding a good base set-up for their new machines but were both consistently amongst the fastest riders on track, and ended the day with the fifth and sixth fastest times respectively. The fastest lap of the eight-hour session was set by Max Biaggi (Honda) with a time of 1’43.158. The MotoGP Official Tests continue until Sunday, when Rossi will look to repeat his success from last year in the BMW Award, a televised 40-minute timed session which is offering the prize of a BMW Series 1 car to the fastest rider. VALENTINO ROSSI (1’43.518, 73 laps) “We’re having quite a few problems finding the right set-up and I haven’t had great feeling so far, especially with the front. I hope tomorrow we feel better but we need to find a solution to this problem. We have to work engine performance as well over the next two days and find out what’s going wrong. Anyway, I am confident that the team will find out the way we need to go and we have two more days to get there.” COLIN EDWARDS (1’43.882, 72 laps) “Catalunya is a very different style of circuit to Phillip Island and we were able to evaluate some different things with the new bike, although the actual material we had available was the same as the past tests. The long straight here has shown that we’re probably a little bit down on top speed at the moment but we’re making up for that everywhere else so I’m pretty happy with how things are going. The grip isn’t the best at the moment with the new surface but it just needs a while to bake and I imagine it will be much better by the time the race comes around here in June.” DAVIDE BRIVIO – TEAM DIRECTOR “This is a new track for us with the 2005 bike so it’s the perfect opportunity for us to test out a few different things. Colin tested a lot of tyres again for Michelin and he rode smoothly throughout the day without too many problems. However, Valentino is still not completely happy with the bike and he is having some problems with the front end. Hopefully tomorrow we can work to find some solutions for him. In general it was a typical first day of tests.” TIMES: 1. Max Biaggi (Repsol Honda Team) 1’43.158 2. Sete Gibernau (Team Movistar Honda) 1’43.254 3. Makoto Tamada (Konica Minolta Honda) 1’43.347 4. Marco Melandri (Team Movistar Honda) 1’43.433 5. VALENTINO ROSSI (GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM) 1’43.518 6. COLIN EDWARDS (GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM) 1’43.882 7. Alex Barros (Camel Honda) 1’43.902 8. Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1’43.974 9. Carlos Checa (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1’44.102 10. Kenny Roberts (Team Suzuki MotoGP) 1’44.282