FIM MotoGP World Championship Sepang, Malaysia October 21 Free Practice Two Results (all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Dani PEDROSA, Spain (HONDA), 2:01.250 2. Casey STONER, Australia (HONDA), 2:02.070 3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Italy (HONDA), 2:02.664 4. Marco SIMONCELLI, Italy (HONDA), 2:02.823 5. Hiroshi AOYAMA, Japan (HONDA), 2:02.951 6. Colin EDWARDS, USA (YAMAHA), 2:02.991 7. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Spain (SUZUKI), 2:03.123 8. Randy DE PUNIET, France (DUCATI), 2:03.159 9. Ben SPIES, USA (YAMAHA), 2:03.312 10. Karel ABRAHAM, Czech Republic (DUCATI), 2:03.318 11. Nicky HAYDEN, USA (DUCATI), 2:03.445 12. Loris CAPIROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 2:03.595 13. Valentino ROSSI, Italy (DUCATI), 2:03.677 14. John HOPKINS, USA (SUZUKI), 2:03.885 15. Cal CRUTCHLOW, Great Britain (YAMAHA), 2:03.901 16. Toni ELIAS, Spain (HONDA), 2:04.071 17. Hector BARBERA, Spain (DUCATI), 2:04.603 18. Katsuyuki NAKASUGA, Japan (YAMAHA), 2:05.996 More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Pedrosa sets the pace on sweltering first day in Malaysia Round 17: Malaysian GP Free Practice One & Two Sepang, Friday 21 October 2011 Bridgestone slick compounds available: Front: Hard, Ex Hard. Rear: Medium, Hard After the first two free practice sessions for the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend, it was Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa who topped the timesheets, dipping under the lap record from the very first session in what is shaping up to be a fast weekend at Sepang. Pedrosa use the harder front and softer option rear Bridgestone slicks to set his best lap, which saw him 0.8seconds ahead of teammate and recently-crowned World Champion Casey Stoner, whilst Andrea Dovizioso was third quickest for a Repsol Honda 1-2-3. In fact, with San Carlo Gresini’s Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama fourth and fifth, it was an all-Honda top five. Despite the oppressive humidity at Sepang, which yielded only a brief and localised rain shower at turn ten during the morning’s Moto2 free practice, all today’s MotoGP running was dry. As the track temperature reached a high of 53 degrees Celsius, tyre temperature and wear were of utmost importance so from the perspective of durability the harder compound options were preferred, although the softer rear worked well over shorter ‘qualifying’ runs. Pedrosa’s laptime of 2m 01.250 is 0.9seconds under the existing lap record which proves that conditions and tyre performance today were good, and that he and his Repsol Honda machine have found a good balance already here. As always here in Malaysia, the weather can and often does play a deciding role in proceedings and the rains have been a daily occurrence for the past week, at right around the time the race is due to start on Sunday, 1600hrs local time. MotoGP running continues tomorrow with the final free practice session getting underway at 1010hrs. Hirohide Hamashima Assistant to Director, Motorsport Tyre Development Division “Sepang is always a tough circuit for both riders and tyres because of the ambient and track temperature, both of which were characteristically high today. The two long and fast straights where speeds exceed 300km/h and the long and fast corners such as the 150+km/h turns three and five also demand a lot of centre and edge durability. In the morning there was a good mix of riders using both the softer and the harder tyre options so I believe our compound balance is correct here, and I am pleased with the speed at the front. It bodes well for our seventh new lap record this year to be set on Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha MotoGP Team: The Grand Prix of Malaysia began today at the Sepang circuit with the first free practice sessions of the weekend. Yamaha Factory Racing rider Ben Spies struggled to make improvements over the day, as injuries sustained from his crash in Australia last weekend continued to hamper his ability to push his YZR-M1. He completed the sessions in ninth place, just over two seconds from provisional pole. Jorge Lorenzo’s replacement rider, Katsuyuki Nakasuga experienced the first Grand Prix sessions of his career, acquainting himself with Lorenzo’s bike and crew. A small crash in the morning warm up on the slippery Sepang circuit resulted in no injuries. An unfortunate second crash followed in the afternoon session, Nakasuga-san dropping to 18th place as he worked on understanding Lorenzo’s YZR-M1. Ben Spies Position : 9th Time: 2’03.312 Laps: 23 “It’s been a really rough day, coming back after the crash in Australia I’m pretty beat up and not able to ride the bike like I want to which is really showing. We’re doing the best we can but I feel like I’m struggling. We’ll try to get as many points as we can this weekend and keep a reign on fifth place in the Championship.” Katsuyuki Nakasuga Position : 18th Time: 2’05.390 Laps: 17 “Today was my first day riding in the MotoGP Championship; I wanted to learn as much as I could during the sessions. Unfortunately I crashed this morning but thought that afterwards I would be able to relax a little once it was out of the way. Unfortunately again I crashed this afternoon and I’m not sure why. I’m feeling disappointed about it but will come back tomorrow and try to make sure we improve and have a day without crashing!” Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager “A very difficult first day. It wasn’t the plan to crash in both practices but you can imagine how difficult it is to take on this challenge. Nakasuga-san put a lot of pressure on himself and maybe tried a little too hard too early. We need to help him find a rhythm and of course he is lacking a bit of speed compared to his competitors. We need to step up a bit tomorrow, not an easy task with the high level of competition on the track.” Massimo Meregalli Team Director “Ben is really suffering with his rib injury so it’s difficult to expect more from him, he is trying as hard as he can. I think that tomorrow he can maybe deliver some better laps. During qualifying you are more focused and can fight the pain for a couple of hot laps. The bike set up is not so bad, at this moment he can’t push hard enough to find any issues or use the full performance of the bike. Nakasuga-san had a difficult start; maybe he felt too much pressure for his first day in MotoGP. At the beginning of the season in testing he put together some great laps so I think he can improve tomorrow.” More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Super start for Edwards in sweltering Sepang Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Colin Edwards enjoyed a positive start to his preparations for this weekend’s Malaysian MotoGP race at a sweltering hot Sepang circuit today. The extensive work on the set-up of his YZR-M1 machine during two winter test sessions at the Sepang circuit in February paid instant dividends for Edwards today, the experienced American immediately able to find a fast and consistent rhythm. He lapped in fourth place for the majority of this afternoon’s second practice session, which took place in typically hot and humid conditions at the 5.548km track. Air temperatures soared to well over 30 degrees and a best lap of 2.02.991s even tually secured the 37-year-old sixth position on the combined timesheets. Working on improving rear grip in the 32-laps he completed in physically demanding conditions, Edwards was almost 0.8s faster this afternoon. And he is confident with minor modifications to the set-up of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine ahead of tomorrow’s final practice and qualifying session that he will be challenging for a place on the second row of the grid. Cal Crutchlow’s third visit of the year to the fast and technical Sepang circuit didn’t run as smoothly as he had hoped. He worked closely with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew to gain more rear side grip and better turning on corner entry, but he was unable to find a set-up that gave him the confidence to lap in the high 2.02 bracket like Edwards. The 25-year-old was 0.7s faster in the second session but a best lap of 2.03.901 left him down in 15th on the timesheets. That was just over a second away from fourth and Crutchlow is determined to improve his pace tomorrow to fight a top 10 result in qualifying ahead of Sunday’s 20-lap race. Colin Edwards 6th 2.02.991 – 32 laps: “Today was a really good day and I was fast straight out of the crate. I was fourth for almost the whole of the second session and I’m happy to end up sixth. We pretty much ran the bike with the same set-up that we left the second test with in February and it felt great. That proves that testing twice here and riding lots of laps in punishing heat does work because we tried a couple of small changes on the bike but pretty much came back to the test setting. The first thing you need here is front-end confidence and the front was awesome right from the start. That gave us an opportunity to focus on improving rear grip and that’s critical here. If you can get a set-up where the rear tyre is driving and not spinning, you can have a good race. The track is lacking a bit of rubber on it compared to the test but apart from that it feels pretty good. The conditions are typically hot here in Sepang but maybe it doesn’t bother me as much as some of the others. I’m from Texas so I live in this type of heat and humidity and I’m pretty much used to it. Even though I’ve done millions of laps around this track I’ve never finished higher than eighth, but after a start like today I’m confident that I can do much better than that.” Cal Crutchlow 15th 2.03.901 33 laps: “Today was pretty tough to be honest and not just because of the extreme heat and humidity. We’re searching for front and rear grip and when the conditions are as hot as here, that’s not an easy task. I’m missing side grip on the rear and li ke a few other tracks we’ve been to recently, I’m having problems getting the bike turned. The track is obviously in a lot different condition to when we tested here because the times are about two seconds slower, but I’d hoped to be a bit higher up the rankings. I knew it was going to be a tough day because I found this place hard during the two tests at the start of the year. It is such a long lap that it is difficult to get a lap nailed perfectly, but looking at the timesheets I am a second off fourth place and I’m not happy with the bike, so that gives me some encouragement. We’ll continue working hard as always tomorrow and I’m sure we can find a few tenths to move up the order.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: ELIAS ENDS SEPANG GP FIRST OUTING IN 16th PLACE Sepang, 21st October: last over sea round for the 2011 MotoGP “circus” which hit Sepang circuit in Malaysia this weekend only one week after the Australian GP where Stoner clinched the premier class world title. After the cold and the rain of the Island round, the 800cc riders have enjoyed hot and humid weather of Malaysian track with Pedrosa on the top of the time sheet in today’s free day of practices (2’01.250). The Sepang Circuit was where LCR racer Toni Elias was crowned the inaugural Moto2 champion in 2010. Having finished eighth at Phillip Island, tying a season best, Elias is hopeful of carrying that form to Sepang but today’s lower grip conditions did not help the Spaniard who qualified only 16th (2’04.071). Elias 16th: “We came here in February for the winter test and, at that time, we had some issues in the braking and the bike was unstable and all the weight was going into the front and also in the mid-corner I did not have enough weight transfer to load the rear tyres. Few months later we are back here and the bike set up is totally different but we are still struggling even for the grip level which is lower compared to the winter test. In today’s afternoon session we have compared different tyres and I prefer the softer option both rear and front. We still have a lot of things to adjust to improve the bike stability especially in the fast corners”. More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: Repsol Honda Team dominates first day in Sepang The Repsol Honda Team clearly dominated the first day of free practice in the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Dani Pedrosa leading the way. Recently crowned World Champion, Casey Stoner ended the day in second place with Andrea Dovizioso, third. Honda bikes occupied the top five places with Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama, in fourth and fifth positions in the combined free practice times. This morning Dani set a very high pace with soft tyres then confirmed his speed in the afternoon by improving his lap time with hard rear tyre. At the end of the afternoon session, with a new soft rear he recorded an impressive lap of 2’01.250, almost one second faster than the circuit record (Stoner, 2’02.108, 2007). Casey, managed to improved his times in the afternoon also with the hard compound after doing 21 laps with the softer one and Andrea was also consistently in the top three throughout the whole day, but was more comfortable in the morning with less temperature on track. DANI PEDROSA 1st 2’01.250 “Today we went pretty fast and consistent even though the track wasn’t very clean. We did a good job in both practice sessions, but I would like to improve a little more on the chassis side to feel more comfortable with the front and choose the right tyre for the race distance. At the moment we are doing good steps but we need to keep on working with the same style and try to preform well tomorrow in qualifying. We had a bad qualifying in Australia and we want to be stronger here and do it better”. CASEY STONER 2nd 2’02.070 “Everything went pretty well today, we’re not too far off the pace with race tyres, we did over race distance and were pretty happy with the lap times we were doing on the soft tyre. We then went to the hard tyre and found it a little better and more consistent, we’ll have to see what the conditions are like tomorrow but so far we’re pretty pleased and the bike feels ok. We have some areas to improve on, we need to get the bike turning a little better into the corners, better braking stability and a little more rear grip in the traction area, if we can improve these then we’ll move a step closer”. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 3rd 2’02.590 “This morning we started with a good base and we worked on the set up to improve the feeling with the front. The small changes we made worked well, but I’m struggling quite a lot in the middle of the corner with the bike leaning at the maximum angle, because on this track there is not so much grip, we need to continue working on the set up of the engine brake. Today we tested the rear hard tyre in both session, but it seems possible to race also with the soft so tomorrow we will test also the soft rear to understand how it works and to decide the tyre for the race. Today it was very hot, on Sunday the race will be at 4pm so it could be cooler, this is another element to consider. All in all, I’m positive, I really like this track and this is only the first day”. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing: DE PUNIET EIGHTH IN FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE AT SEPANG. TWELFTH CAPIROSSI First day of work for the duo of white and green Pramac Ducati at Sepang, Malaysia. Randy De Puniet started working with the utmost concentration and this led him to end the day today, after two practice sessions, in eighth place. His team-mate Loris Capirossi was able to lower his personal best time recorded in the morning of a second and this places him in twelfth place. Tomorrow two more hours of work for the MotoGP riders, including the qualifying session that will define the starting grid for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Marco Rigamonti Randy De Puniet track engineer “It was quite a positive day, although this is not the favorite track of Randy and during winter tests we didn’t have great lap times recorded. The bike is much improved from earlier this year and this is the most positive day. We have worked with Sunday’s race in our head: we tried various solutions of tires and we already have some solution that will be probably the ones we will use in the race.” Randy De Puniet Pramac Racing Team 8th in 2’03.159 “I am satisfied with this first day of work. Honestly I am a little surprised with the result because I did not feel too well riding my bike, but to finish the first working day in eighth place is not so bad. We used soft tires with many laps throughout the course of the afternoon session and for a couple of laps we tried new tyres with harder compound and things went well. We are in good shape for the weekend and hopefully I can get another good result like in Australia.” Loris Capirossi Pramac Racing Team”- 12th in 2’03.595 “It is not so bad today. The twelfth position is not great, this is for sure, but as the first day I can be satisfied. I tried the hard rubber in the front tyre and I really like, however, tomorrow we will study other ways to figure out how to increase the top speed at the moment because we are too slow. We will give it all to make a good weekend.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Encouraging first day for Rizla Suzuki duo Alvaro Bautista and John Hopkins began their preparations for Sundays Malaysian Grand Prix with a positive performance from both at Sepang today. Bautista (P7, 203.123, 33 laps) was never outside the top-10 in either session today as he carried on with the impressive form that he showed last week at Australia. He tested the two tyre compounds available to him for this weekend, as he worked with his crew to find the best configuration for his Suzuki GSV-R around the 5,543m Sepang circuit. Hopkins used both of todays sessions to re-acquaint himself with a MotoGP machine as he joins Rizla Suzuki for a wild-card ride in Malaysia. His best time of 203.885 from his 28 laps today was good enough to give him a respectable 14th in the classification. Hopkins is sure he can make improvements tomorrow and convinced he can progress further up the standings. Todays sessions were held in the hot and humid conditions that are so commonplace in Malaysia. The fastest time was set by Dani Pedrosa on a Honda. Rizla Suzuki has one more free practice session tomorrow morning followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon when Bautista and Hopkins will be going all out to get the best grid positions for Sundays 20-lap race. Alvaro Bautista: Today has been quite a good day for us and I am in seventh position, which is not too bad for a Friday. This morning we tried a different setting on the bike, similar to the one we used in Australia, and we preferred that one so we carried on with that this afternoon. We continued with the soft tyres we had been using this morning during this afternoons session and I did more than race distance with them, and the rhythm felt good. In the middle of the second practice I tried a harder rear tyre, but I didnt feel too much initial grip and it didnt give me as much feedback as the softer one. We have got some good information on the tyres now and I think we will use the softer one for the race, if the conditions are similar to today. I will try to improve tomorrow in FP3 and then get a good lap in qualifying, so I am in the best possible position for the race. John Hopkins: Today has just been about getting comfortable on the bike and building my confidence back up to be able to ride a MotoGP machine. My main thing was getting the confidence in the tyres, because unlike at Jerez and Brno, where the tyres gave me a good feedback and I was able to get used to them straight off the bat, here with the temperatures and humidity I am spinning up a bit and struggling a bit with rear grip. Its probably not so much struggling as getting used to how its working and getting the bike picked up at the right time out of the corners. I feel quite strong in some of the parts of the track, but coming out of some of the corners Im not quite where I want to be, which is mostly due to my rider technique and getting back on terms with the bike. The day wasnt too bad for us, but I think we can improve a lot tomorrow. I will think about the track tonight and Im looking forward to the rest of the weekend. Paul Denning Team Manager: The first day at Sepang and it has been great to see two Rizla Suzuki out on the track! Johns been through a lot physically in the last couple of months, and that combined with the shock of the way the MotoGP bike works compared to the Superbike, held him back a little bit today. I am sure that with a good nights sleep he will be quite a bit closer to his best tomorrow. Alvaros pace is better than his position, he equalled his best lap with race distance on the tyres and I think he can go a lot quicker tomorrow. The GSV-R is working well and if everything goes in the right direction I think lvaro has a chance to fight for the podium on Sunday. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: DUCATI TEAM TAKES TO THE SLIPPERY SEPANG ASPHALT The Ducati Team started its work today preparing the Desmosedici’s setup for the Sepang circuit which, due in part to recent heavy rains, was in far from optimal condition in terms of grip. Both Nicky Hayden and Valentino Rossi struggled, finishing the first day of practice in eleventh and twelfth positions, respectively. Both riders will work tomorrow to improve the bike’s behavior in the fast corners, where today they weren’t able to be as competitive as they would like. Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 11th (2:03.445) “Conditions are very different from what we just had at Phillip Island. It’s pretty warm and sticky, though it can definitely be even hotter here. This is a completely different bike than we had here at the test, so it takes a little extra time to get a rhythm, and we only used two different sets of tyres the whole day. We’ve fixed some of the steering issues, which is good, but at the same time we’ve lost rear grip, which we really miss here on both corner entry and corner exits. We’ll try to sort that out tomorrow. We made a pretty good step from this morning, but we definitely need to try to do another step about like that tomorrow morning and go from there.” Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 13th (2:03.677) “The track conditions are very different, worse actually, than when we tested here during the winter, because the asphalt was very slippery today. It was really bad this morning, just a bit better in the afternoon. That makes it difficult to make a comparison between then and today, but we certainly weren’t as fast as we’d like to be. We changed something with the rear suspension at the end of the session that helped to improve the feeling with the bike, but we haven’t made enough progress in terms of lap times. Tomorrow we’ll see if we’re able to do better with a bit more grip. It wasn’t bad under braking today, but I’m not able to be fast in the corners, especially the fast ones. I really hope to be able to use the hard tyres because that would be the right choice for the race.”