FIRST DAY OF TESTING FOR THE FORTUNA HONDA AT BRNO First day of testing for the MotoGP teams at Brno after the Czech Republic GP. The Fortuna Honda riders profited of today’s test session to work in preparation of the next commitment, the 13th round of the championship scheduled at Sepang, Malaysia, on the 10th September. Marco Melandri after a well deserved 5th position conquered yesterday, focused today on tyre testing together with Michelin technicians and tested some set up solutions in order to improve the performance of the bike with qualifying tyres. Positive test session for Toni Elias who focused on working on weight distribution without looking for the lap time. Tomorrow second and last day of testing for the Spanish rider of the Fortuna Honda team at Brno. As scheduled Marco Melandri finished his test session today. MARCO MELANDRI (1’57″96, 85 laps): “We tested different solutions in order to improve acceleration and top speed but unfortunately we were not able to find the results we expected. We also worked on different set up solutions in order to use at its best the qualifying tyre, so important for the grid position and the race result.” TONI ELIAS (1’59″435, 62 laps): “I’m happy of the way of working. We focused on the preparation of the race without looking for the lap time. We worked a lot on weight distribution in order to improve the weight transfer in braking.” UNOFFICIAL LAP TIMES 1. V.Rossi (ita/Yamaha) 1’57″315 2. N.Hayden (usa/Honda) 1’57″653 3. M.Melandri (Ita/honda) 1’57″96 15. T.Elias (Sp/Honda) 1’59″435 More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: CAPIROSSI COMPLETES HIS MAIDEN TEST WITH THE DESMOSEDICI GP7 The day after his superb win at Brno, Loris Capirossi makes his track debut with the new 800cc Ducati Desmosedici. Sete Gibernau, also present in the pit garage, had to sit out and watch. In the wake of Loris Capirossi’s fifth win in MotoGP – and his second of the year – at the Brno track on Sunday, the Ducati pit garage was today the scene for more frenetic activity as the Italian team geared up for another important day of action at the Czech Republic circuit. The new Desmosedici GP7 was finally given to Sunday’s race winner and official Ducati Marlboro team rider Loris Capirossi to test for the first time. The new 800 cc powered machine, created by Technical Director Filippo Preziosi together with his team of Ducati Corse engineers just under one year ago, had its first shakedown tests in the hands of test-rider Vittoriano Guareschi, who put the bike through its early paces at the Mugello circuit, where it made its debut on May 2nd. At 12.20 this morning the bike that will be entered in the 2007 MotoGP Championship by the Ducati Marlboro Team was given to Loris to test and the Italian was immediately impressed right from the start. After carrying out a series of tyre tests with the GP6 in the morning, the Italian set to work with the GP7 and completed 28 laps with the new machine, his best being 1m59.6s. Vittoriano Guareschi and Shinichi Ito (both present with their respective test teams at Brno) together with Sete Gibernau were also in the Ducati garage, watching Loris test the GP7. The Spanish rider, who missed out on last weekend’s exciting race after doctors advised him not to take part, wanted to see the new machine in action. If all goes according to plan, Sete will be back on the track at the next GP at Sepang, Malaysia on September 10th. Filippo Preziosi (Ducati Corse Technical Director) “Today was another important day for all of us. Of course it is far too early to give a definitive opinion on the GP7 because it was the first time Loris had stepped onto the bike and because we still have to face up to our rivals. I can only say that I am satisfied: the bike seems to have got off to a good start. We have structured the project in an attempt to iron out some of the weak points of the GP6 that emerged chiefly with the chassis: we think we have identified them and have managed to resolve them. In fact Loris’s comments that the bike reacts well and has a good ‘rideability’ are positive. For sure it’s a good start but we’ve still got a lot of work to do: the bike that won the race yesterday is the one we’ve been working on for the last four years and this one has just been born. A big thanks to all the guys in Ducati Corse, the guys in the team and all our sponsors who believe in us and who give us important support all year round”. Loris Capirossi “This morning I did some tyre testing which went quite well and which might allow us to have some interesting developments for the next few races. Then we started with the GP7. As a first test it was very positive even though the bike still has to be developed. We expect to have to do a lot of work but the first impression was positive. The bike’s handling has improved a lot and that’s important. This bike has to be ridden in a different way to the GP6, it’s actually very enjoyable, a bit like a 250 machine and testing it now was interesting and useful so we can immediately start to work on it. The engine is different, obviously less powerful but it makes a great noise! It has been a fantastic day, I’m very happy and tomorrow we’ll continue to work hard”. Sete Gibernau “Yesterday I was over the moon for Loris’s win! I feel part of the family and I am always happy when the guys do well. The GP7 is a very important project and I also wanted to be here for the test. Loris said that the bike is going well and I would love to be able to test it as well but for the moment it’s better not to. I should be back on the track in Malaysia: mentally I’m at 100% and I hope that the tests I’ll be doing next week will confirm that I will be physically as well. The plate broke at Laguna Seca and now I’ve got two inside me, held together with 15 screws. If it breaks again, it’ll be much worse because I’ll have to have a bone graft from my hip to repair it. In any case, I’m sure that this rest period is doing me good and hopefully things will be OK for September 10th: I’ve had too much vacation and now I can’t wait to be back in action!” More, from a press release issued by Honda Racing: HAYDEN FASTEST HONDA RIDER AT POST CZECH REPUBLIC MOTOGP TEST Repsol Honda factory team rider Nicky Hayden set the second fastest time at the today’s post Czech Republic GP MotoGP test held at the 5.403 Brno circuit. American Hayden, who heads the world championship points standing after 12 of 17 rounds, worked hard developing the evolution chassis of his RC211V Honda, first tested at the British GP earlier this season. With so many races in such a short period of time Hayden has been unable to try the new plot since the British event but today he lapped consistently in the 1m 58s bracket and ended the session encouraged by the progress the team have made to the overall performance of the new RC211V since he first tried the chassis. The championship leader will continue testing the new chassis tomorrow. Hayden’s team mate, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa spent his day trying to improve his race set up yesterday and also tested a range of Michelin front tyres on his RCV. Pedrosa, who holds second place in the championship, 25 points down on Hayden, improved his feeling with the bike and ended his one-day test in a positive mood. The Fortuna Honda team worked on a variety of developments for their RC211V machines. Marco Melandri was looking to improve both acceleration and top end of his machine while Toni Elias was chasing better overall machine balance in a bid to eradicate the ‘Pitching’ he experienced early in the race on Sunday. Melandri’s crew made adjustments to the electronic mapping and tried some different engine settings. Elias was not looking for fast lap times preferring to concentrate on improving stability while under braking while riding with a full fuel load and has been partially successful. He will continue in the same direction tomorrow. Konica Minolta Honda RC211V rider Makoto Tamada was half a second faster today than his best lap time in yesterdays race but the Japanese star was not completely convinced the new Michelin tyres and suspension settings he tested delivered optimum performance. Tamada put in just 44 laps during the test and hopes the data gathered will help carry him to a better performance at the Malaysia than at recent races. Team Roberts continue to improve the chassis performance of the Honda powered KR211V. The chassis is close to the original design but with modifications based on data gathered from the three different chassis configurations raced this season. Team engineers prepared the machine with a revised seating position and repositioned fuel tank and team rider Kenny Roberts Junior put in consistently fast lap times ending the test pleased with his days work as the team ‘Test rider.’ Honda rider lap times and quotes. Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 1m 57.653s 79 laps. “Overall I’m definitely encouraged by today. I got in a lot of quality laps and the guys in my team worked hard. We were working with the chassis, trying some of the parts we used at Donington earlier in the season, and we definitely found some improvements. I was able to run a lot more consistently in the 1m 58s today compared to the weekend so I’m quite happy about how it went. We’ll come back tomorrow and try and get another full day’s work in and look for any edge we can find.” Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 58.782s 74 laps. “Today was a good test. We tried to find some improvement from yesterday’s race set-up and improve on some weak points we had over the weekend. I think we found some improvements in the feeling from the bike but of course we will only really know for sure when we come to another race. We were also doing some front tyre testing for Michelin which went well.” Marco Melandri, Fortuna Honda: 1m 57.960s – 85 laps. “We tried various set up solutions to improve acceleration and a little top speed but without great results. We did not have new parts from HRC but they have been working with us today with what we have available. We also worked to improve our performance on qualifying tyres because we have suffered in qualifying at recent races. We did make an improvement but not by much. At the end of the day we tested the same types of tyres we ran in qualifying and the race so I can say today was positive in some ways. I am quite satisfied.” Toni Elias, Fortuna Honda: 1m 59.435s – 62 laps. “We worked a lot on the weight distribution of the bike, I raced with too much weight on the front end yesterday. We tried many things on the set up and it has been a process of elimination and I am quite satisfied with our work today. If we carry on working in this direction tomorrow I am confident we will can begin with a reasonable set up condition at the next few races.” Casey Stoner, LCR Honda: 1m 58.172s 54 laps. “We have a new rear shock system and it worked well with the font forks. We tried a series of tyres for Michelin with the new suspension, two of them were not better than our race tyres of yesterday but the other were very good. In the race I ran out of grip at half race distance, after about 11-laps. With the good set today I set my fastest lap with a rear that had run 14 lap and a front that had 18 laps on it. So we made a big step forward on the suspension and I’m pleased with that. Now I’m ready for Sepang and I’m off home to Australia to get ready for Malaysia.” Makoto Tamada, Konica Minolta Honda: 1m 58.758s 55 laps. “Today we have been working on new race tyres from Michelin and some suspension settings but without getting too much better. We tried two different tyres the first tyre was no better than what we have had before. The second tyre was close to the tyre we ran in the race and we were half a second faster than in the race yesterday. But track conditions were better this morning than yesterday.” Kenny Roberts Jnr, KR Honda: 1m 58.567s 70 laps. “We are just the test team today. We have been working with the new(er) chassis, which has a different riding position. The tank is also shorter but sits higher up. We have also been working on different positions with the rear shock and some tyres from Michelin. Basically the chassis we have is the original with much of the stuff we have learned along the way this season. You could say we are working towards next season in some respects. My feeling with the bike as it is today is much better than in the GP, its more comfortable to ride and the lap times are better, so its been a positive day for us. We will keep going in the same direction on chassis and suspension and see how far we can go.”