FIM MotoGP World Championship Donington Park, England July 24, 2009 Free Practice Results: MotoGP (wet conditions, all on Bridgestone tires): 1. Dani PEDROSA (Honda), 1:38.627 2. Casey STONER (Ducati), 1:38.872 3. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha), 1:38.917 4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda), 1:39.069 5. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha), 1:39.105 6. Marco MELANDRI (Kawasaki), 1:39.130 7. Mika KALLIO (Ducati), 1:39.209 8. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha), 1:39.379 9. Toni ELIAS (Honda), 1:39.755 10. Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati), 1:40.116 11. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki), 1:40.419 12. James TOSELAND (Yamaha), 1:40.522 13. Gabor TALMACSI (Honda), 1:40.850 14. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki), 1:41.467 15. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda), 1:41.861 16. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda), 1:42.210 17. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati), 1:42.696 250cc (dry conditions): 1. Alex DEBON (Aprilia), 1:33.432 2. Hiroshi AOYAMA (Honda), 1:33.473 3. Alvaro BAUTISTA (Aprilia), 1:33.577 4. Marco SIMONCELLI (Gilera), 1:33.630 5. Lukas PESEK (Aprilia), 1:33.750 6. Mike DI MEGLIO (Aprilia), 1:33.768 7. Thomas LUTHI (Aprilia), 1:33.791 8. Hector BARBERA (Aprilia), 1:33.824 9. Karel ABRAHAM (Aprilia), 1:33.919 10. Mattia PASINI (Aprilia), 1:33.978 11. Ratthapark WILAIROT (Honda), 1:34.590 12. Hector FAUBEL (Honda), 1:34.628 13. Roberto LOCATELLI (Gilera), 1:34.931 14. Alex BALDOLINI (Aprilia), 1:34.998 15. Jules CLUZEL (Aprilia), 1:35.493 125cc (wet conditions): 1. Esteve RABAT (Aprilia), 1:45.105 2. Jonas FOLGER (Aprilia), 1:45.153 3. Andrea IANNONE (Aprilia), 1:45.803 4. Marc MARQUEZ (KTM), 1:46.441 5. Nicolas TEROL (Aprilia), 1:46.940 6. Lorenzo ZANETTI (Aprilia), 1:47.295 7. Sergio GADEA (Aprilia), 1:47.321 8. Joan OLIVE (Derbi), 1:48.194 9. Bradley SMITH (Aprilia), 1:48.670 10. Luis SALOM (Aprilia), 1:48.675 11. Sandro CORTESE (Derbi), 1:48.890 12. Dominique AEGERTER (Derbi), 1:48.907 13. Cameron BEAUBIER (KTM), 1:48.985 14. Michael RANSEDER (Aprilia), 1:49.082 15. Danny WEBB (Aprilia), 1:49.125 More, from a press release issued by Bridgestone: Pedrosa fastest on Bridgestone’s soft compound wet tyres Round 10: Great Britain GP Free Practice Donington Park, Friday 24 July 2009 Bridgestone compounds available: Front: Wets Soft Slicks Soft, Medium Rear: Wets Soft Slicks Soft, Medium For the second weekend in a row Bridgestone’s wet tyres were put to the test by changeable weather conditions at Donington Park. The hour-long first free practice session started with heavy rain and a very wet track following a midday downpour, but by the end a dry line had emerged around most of the lap. Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa finished at the top of the timesheets, recording his fastest lap on his last of the session. Second was Ducati Team’s Casey Stoner, who also set his fastest time on his last fast lap. As the track became continually drier, every rider recorded their best effort right at the end of the session. All riders used the soft Bridgestone wet tyre for the duration of the session. The only rider to run on slick tyres was Hayate Racing’s Marco Melandri, who did so in the closing moments. The Italian opted for the soft compound slicks right at the end of the session, but he did not have sufficient time to record a fast lap before being shown the chequered flag. All riders completed the session using just one set of tyres, and Briton James Toseland demonstrated the durability of the Bridgestone wets by completing a 30-lap stint on a single set, equalling Sunday’s race distance. Tohru Ubukata Bridgestone Motorsport Manager Motorcycle Race Tyre Development “In just one session we saw all conditions from heavy rain and standing water to a dry line round almost all the circuit and I am very pleased that our wet tyre was able to perform well throughout. In such varied conditions, our wet tyres were really able to demonstrate their wide operating range, working well in all conditions as the track’s grip characteristics continually changed. Our focus has been to make our tyres this year work over as wide a range of conditions as possible, and I am satisfied this afternoon that we have achieved this. “The warm up performance our wet tyres showed in the very wet conditions was good, and they also proved their durability in almost dry conditions so I am very happy. By the end of the session just the two hairpins in sector four were still wet and this is why our wet tyre was favoured by all riders.” Top ten from free practice (Friday 13:55 14:55 GMT+1) Pos Rider Team Practice Time Gap Tyres 1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1m38.627s Bridgestone wet 2 Casey Stoner Ducati Team 1m38.872s +0.245s Bridgestone wet 3 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1m38.917s +0.290s Bridgestone wet 4 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1m39.069s +0.442s Bridgestone wet 5 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1m39.105s +0.478s Bridgestone wet 6 Marco Melandri Hayate Racing Team 1m39.130s +0.503s Bridgestone wet 7 Mika Kallio Pramac Racing 1m39.209s +0.582s Bridgestone wet 8 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech3 1m39.379s +0.752s Bridgestone wet 9 Toni Elias San Carlo Honda Gresini 1m39.755s +1.128s Bridgestone wet 10 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 1m40.116s +1.489s Bridgestone wet Weather: Wet, drying. Ambient 15-18°C; Track 21-27°C (Bridgestone measurement) More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3: Edwards and Toseland begin preparations for Donington farewell Mixed conditions dominated the start of the final British MotoGP race at Donington Park today with Colin Edwards and James Toseland making an encouraging start for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team. The session started in soaking wet conditions after an earlier deluge, but typically unpredictable Donington conditions saw it end on a virtually dry track after sun and strong winds took over for the second half of the session. Edwards, twice a Donington Park podium finisher, finished in eighth position with a best time of 1.39.379 that left him just 0.752s off Dani Pedrosa’s leading pace. Experimenting with different weight distribution settings to improve front-end feel on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1 machine, Edwards was satisfied with his performance in both wet and dry conditions. Toseland made an assured start to his crucial home race, the British rider slowly building up his speed in full wet conditions before he started a brilliant surge up the timesheets as the track dried rapidly. Just 25 minutes remained when Toseland found himself in third place and faster than reigning world champion and Donington Park specialist Valentino Rossi. Cheered on by a large home crowd, Toseland looked certain to claim a morale-boosting top six until he slipped down the rankings in the closing stages when track conditions better than at any other stage in the session. He ended 12th quickest with a best time of 1.40.522, but is confident of moving much higher up the leaderboard tomorrow. Colin Edwards 9th 1.39.379 25 laps “It was mixed conditions and that made it tough but it was probably the best conditions because we got some wet set-up time and at the end it was drying out really fast. And even though I was still on the wet tyres when it was dry, we gained a lot of information. I’m pretty happy because in the wet I was sitting in the top five comfortably and as it dried out I was looking good in the first three sections. But in the last section I was losing half-a-second. That was still the wettest section but I could have pushed harder. I felt like I was pushing but when you think you’re on the edge you still might have another 15 per cent to go. But it’s hard to gauge in those conditions until you’re either on top of the charts or in the gravel trap. I think we learned a lot and we made some big progress with the front-end problems I’ve been having. We’ve been experimenting with body position to try and help improve the front and it seems to have worked. We’re going more in (Jorge) Lorenzo’s direction to get a bit more weight on the rear and not overloading the front. So I’m happy and looking for another good result at Donington.” James Toseland 12th 1.40.522 32 laps “I didn’t have much feeling with the bike when it was full wet but it just kept drying out and I knew the bike set-up would suit the conditions better when it was drying up. So I didn’t think there was any point in coming if the track conditions were going to get better and I decided to stay out. I did a lot of laps in the mixed conditions in Germany last weekend and that really helped me out a lot today. I just kept improving and improving but unfortunately because I stayed out for the session I ran out of fuel right at the time when the track conditions were the best they had been for the whole hour. I wasn’t sure how much time was left but having done 28 laps I knew it was going to be close on the fuel. It’s a shame because I slipped down the order a little bit but I’m happy because most of that session I was right in the mix in the top six and it was pretty encouraging. This weekend is very important for me and as always I put my maximum effort into that session to start the weekend off on a positive note and I think I’ve done that. I’ve got unbelievable support here already and that makes me determined to get a good result on Sunday.” More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: GOOD START FOR DUCATI MARLBORO TEAM IN MIXED CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND The MotoGP World Championship arrived at Donington Park for the final time today as the first practice session for the British Grand Prix took place in conditions that have been synonymous with the Leicestershire circuit since it first hosted the event back in 1987. A mixture of sunshine and rain made it difficult for the riders on track and whilst the lap times were a long way off record pace in a session that started wet and ended virtually dry, the Ducati Marlboro Team riders were both competitive and satisfied with their performance. CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) (2nd; 1’38.872) “It was good to be able to test the wet setting today because we’ve struggled with it a little this year and we need time to work out the best solution. We’re still far from it at the moment but it felt quite good and we have a good base to work from now. Once we got some laps under our belt in the wet I decided to sit the rest of the session out because even though the track was drying it was very slippery and it would be foolish for us to risk an unnecessary crash on the first day of an important weekend. Hopefully we’ll get a couple of sessions in the dry tomorrow and ideally, from our point of view, we’d like it to be cool.” NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) (10th; 1’40.116) “Typical British weather! It’s been like this since I got here at the start of the week. We started out in the wet and I didn’t have much feel to begin with but we made a couple of changes and got better and better as the session went on. On the last lap I went straight in the last corner and ran wide so I made a little error there. Basically the bike didn’t feel too good in the heavy rain but much better in the damp. The weather looks better for tomorrow so we hope that’s the case because it was difficult to draw any conclusions today.” More, from a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI AND LORENZO THIRD AND FIFTH IN WET-DRY PRACTICE AT DONINGTON PARK The final MotoGP at Donington Park before next year’s move to Silverstone got underway in heavy rain today, which eventually gave way to blue skies and sunshine at the Leicestershire circuit. Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo both spent time at the top of the standings in the wet before eventually finishing third and fifth in a last minute scurry for lap times as the track dried out. A torrential downpour before the session turned to lighter rain as the practice began, but the track was still soaking and with temperatures fairly low it looked unlikely to dry fully during the hour. As at Sachsenring last week, both riders felt comfortable and confident from the off in the wet conditions and Lorenzo was on top for most of the early stages. Rossi tipped him off the number one spot with about 20 minutes to go but the sun then made a surprise appearance and a dry line gradually began to appear, meaning lap times quickly began to tumble. With some wet patches remaining until the end the riders stayed on their wet Bridgestone tyres and lap times remained some ten seconds off the current lap record. Both the Italian and the Spaniard set some fast times at the end, Rossi’s final lap putting him 0.290 seconds off leader Dani Pedrosa with Lorenzo just a couple of tenths slower. Valentino Rossi Position: 3rd Time: 1’38.917 Laps: 26 “These strange conditions are always hard to ride in but it was important that we had some time in the wet today because we were able to understand our level. We’re quite happy because I felt confident and I was able to be fast today. The conditions changed a lot during the hour and by the end it was mostly dry, which meant it was quite hard to ride with the wet tyres but we were still quite fast and in the end we’re third, which is a good start. We’ve got a few modifications to make as usual after a Friday but we have a good base. Tomorrow it seems it will be completely dry so hopefully by the end of the day we will be ready for Sunday, whatever the weather.” Jorge Lorenzo Position: 5th Time: 1’39.105 Laps: 31 “I’m really happy about this practice today because I felt comfortable on the bike and was able to brake quite late in the wet. I was pleased that we had a chance in the drier conditions later, because it showed what we need to work on for tomorrow. I had made a lot of laps in the rain so my tyre was quite worn by that time, when it was more dry, but anyway the times weren’t important for me today and I’m just happy about my performance in the wet. We learnt a lot and now we will use this to improve tomorrow.” Davide Brivio Team Manager “To take the positives from the bad weather conditions, today gave us another good chance to test our wet setting, which could come in useful on Sunday when there’s a chance of rain. It was a positive session, with the conditions changing constantly until it was almost dry at the end. It looks like tomorrow will be properly dry so we will hopefully have a chance to complete all the set-up work we need to do in order to be ready for whatever Sunday brings.” Daniele Romganoli Team Manager “We made a good start today and we were able to be very fast on the wet in the first half. At the end, with the track changing rapidly to dry, we encountered a few problems on acceleration, due to too much wear on the tyres after so many laps early on. It’s important that we work on this as on Sunday there’s a chance that the conditions could be similar today. Hopefully tomorrow we can concentrate on our dry setting. “ More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda: REPSOL HONDAS FIRST AND FOURTH IN DONINGTON OPENER Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa fired the opening shot for this weekend’s British Grand Prix, finishing on top of the timesheets at Donington Park in a session that started very wet and ended almost dry. His factory Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso was also on the pace, recording the fourth fastest time with a lap just 0.442s behind Pedrosa. Rain fell for the first half of the practice this afternoon before sunshine allowed a dry line to slowly develop around the 4.023km (2.500-mile) circuit. Pedrosa used the initial part of the session to work on the wet settings on his RC212V and then began to up the pace, extracting the absolute maximum from Bridgestone’s treaded wet tyres on his final flying lap. The surface never fully dried however, and Pedrosa’s fastest lap was 10s off his own lap record at Donington – a time of 1m 28.714s set in 2006. Dovizioso also took advantage of the ever-changing conditions to analyse the performance of the Honda RC212V in a wide range of grip levels. Once again displaying his prowess in tricky marginal conditions by picking his was around the damp patches that remained on the circuit, Dovizioso climbed steadily to fourth place by the chequered flag and felt he could have gone quicker still at the close of the session. Like Pedrosa, he is confident of a strong showing tomorrow. Both Repsol Honda riders have previously won two Grands Prix apiece at Donington Park and will be gunning for the hat-trick of wins on Sunday. Qualifying for the 30-lap race takes place tomorrow at 13.55, local time. DANI PEDROSA 1st 1m 38.627s “It feels great to be on top today and I’m pleased with how we handled a tricky practice session. The conditions were continually changing and so we needed to make the best use of the track time to learn as much as we can. There are a few areas we can improve upon – such as the feeling from the bike when it’s really wet – and we’ll look at working on the settings for those conditions because the weather doesn’t look so stable for the weekend and we could see more rain on Sunday. It nearly dried out fully towards the end of the session but we stayed on wet tyres for the whole time and I think this was useful because you can have this sort of situation in the race. We’re in reasonable shape for the rest of the weekend and I hope I can be in this position at the end of Sunday afternoon.” ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 4th 1m 39.069s “I’m satisfied with the job we did today. Of course we need to tune the set-up and improve the traction in wet conditions, but this was a good way to begin the last British Grand Prix at Donington. The practice started in very wet conditions and I had a good feeling on the bike from the beginning of the session so I’m pleased about that. The track had quite a reasonable level of grip and the pace I could set was good straight away. Conditions were changing all the time and in the last part of the session when the track was 90 per cent dry, I couldn’t set the fastest lap that I was capable of because I waited for a couple of laps and didn’t use the wet tyres to the maximum when they were new. So I’m confident for tomorrow and I think we have a decent chance of getting a good grid position here.” KAZUHIKO YAMANO – REPSOL HONDA TEAM MANAGER “Well, I have to say that the session reflected the weather we’ve been experiencing since we arrived in Britain – wet and then dry. Dani and Andrea made a positive start to the weekend and this is important for the Team. We can build on this strong start and prepare for a good race on Sunday. It was important to make the most of this session because, although the conditions were never stable, it’s quite possible that we could see this kind of weather on Sunday so we need to learn all we can.” More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Weather spoils first session at Donington Rizla Suzuki’s first day race preparations were forced to take a back seat this afternoon as the British summertime weather intervened at Donington Park. Loris Capirossi (P11, 1’40.419, 25 laps) was left frustrated at the lack of dry track time today, something that he knows is vital in getting the GSV-R ready for Sunday’s race. He is still confident though that if tomorrow stays fine he will be able to get the bike prepared and competitive for Sunday’s 30-lap race. A huge rain storm shortly before the start of the hour-long session left the 4,023m circuit very wet with many areas of standing water, but as the wind dried the track out it made using the correct tyre and making any in-roads into getting good data very difficult. Chris Vermeulen (P14, 1’41.467, 22 laps) was able to use the very wettest part of the session to the full and was pleased with the progress he made in finding a good set-up for his Suzuki GSV-R if the conditions are similar on race-day. Rizla Suzuki has already had a successful time at the British GP due to a team representing the squad taking first place in the ‘Question of Bikes’ competition that was part of the ‘Riders for Health Day of Champions’ yesterday. Three members of the Rizla Suzuki team competed against other teams in the quiz held on the main stage, before returning triumphant for the second year in succession. Rizla Suzuki also presented a cheque to ‘Riders for Health’ for €7500, donated by Suzuki Germany from the sale of a replica Rizla Suzuki GSX-R1000. The team also contributed to the money raised by offering a VIP experience for this weekend’s British MotoGP during the auction at Donington last night. This was sold for €8,800 to Graham Rees and helped boost the overall figures for the charity that stood at €205,135 at the end of the event. Rizla Suzuki MotoGP will be back in action on-track tomorrow morning for the final free practice session, followed by qualifying in the afternoon. The race will start at the later time this Sunday, as the Rizla Suzuki riders and the whole field will wait for the lights to change to signal the off at 15.30 local time (14.30 GMT). Loris Capirossi: “As I have said before, we need to have time on the bike to get it set-up the best for us. It seems that we keep getting really difficult weather that isn’t helping us at all. Today we used a wet tyre for the whole session and at the end 85% of the track was dry and the rest was wet so it was difficult to be able to get anything done. We can hope that the weather is better tomorrow so we can work on the bike and if we can I am sure we will be in a good position for Sunday.” Chris Vermeulen: “It was really strange conditions out there today, but I guess you could say that is just normal British weather! We had a huge downpour at the start of the session and the track was very wet and quite slippery. We worked hard – and quickly – on getting a good wet setting while the track was still wet and the bike worked well in those conditions. At the end the track dried a lot so we just tested some small things that didn’t really rely on fast lap-times, which was useful because with how the track was there wasn’t a lot else to be learnt out there. At the end I came in a bit early because the track had dried out in most places, but there was still a couple of wet patches and it seemed a bit too dangerous for slicks.” Paul Denning – Team Manager: “I don’t think that there will be much that any rider or team will have learned from that session with the weather changing so much over the hour For most of the session neither the wet nor the slick tyre was the appropriate choice. Having said that, when the track was at its wettest Chris was able to take a big step with the bike setting and Loris also managed to get a feel and some essential data from his machine.” More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: dry line and a determined effort from Dani Pedrosa at the Donington Park circuit on Friday gave the Repsol Honda rider the fastest time of Friday afternoon, in practice for the British Grand Prix. Pedrosa clocked a 1’38.627 time on his final lap of the day to continue his strong run of form from recent weeks, and take the early advantage ahead of this Sunday’s race. Second quickest in the session, Casey Stoner recorded the fewest laps of any rider with 16 turns of the British track some eleven fewer than Pedrosa. He was examining his Ducati Desmosedici GP9 in the garage whilst his rival was reducing his time by 0.245. World Championship leader Valentino Rossi was third, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and title challenger Jorge Lorenzo in a top five separated by half a second. There were difficulties in the session for home rider James Toseland, who had a run off track during the session and was also unable to bring his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike back to the pits after an incident at the end of the session. 250cc Spaniard Alex Debón was the quickest rider in the opening practice session for the 250cc class, a run-out that took place on a dry track following mixed conditions for the 125cc and MotoGP classes. The Aeropuerto Castello Blusens rider put down a 1’33.432 lap to continue his fine form from one week ago, when he took second place at the German round of the World Championship at Sachsenring. He was just 0.041 ahead of the second quickest man in the session, series leader Hiroshi Aoyama. Álvaro Bautista placed third on Friday afternoon using his second Mapfre Aspar Aprilia bike, following a fall under braking at the midway point. He landed on his right elbow in the crash, but was otherwise okay to continue with fine-tuning. Sachsenring racewinner Marco Simoncelli was the final rider within two-tenths of a second of Debón’s marker, ahead of Lukas Pesek and Mike di Meglio. The session marked the return to action of Viessmann Kiefer’s Ralf Waldmann at the age of 43. The German substitute was 18th in his first day of World Championship riding since 2002. 125cc Last weekend at Sachsenring the 125cc riders had an abundance of rain with which to contend, and the opening day of practice in England was no different for the lower cylinder category. Once again the times were largely inconsequential, as it took just five minutes for a trademark Donington downpour to dampen the mood. Speediest was Spaniard Esteve Rabat, with a 1’45.105 lap on his Blusens Aprilia before the track got soaked. Despite the conditions, there were relatively few falls on the slippery asphalt. Lukas Sembera came off his bike after wobbling the back tyre in the only notable incident of the hour. Regular British riders Bradley Smith, Scott Redding and Danny Webb barely had a chance to test their home form in the afternoon run, and will have to wait in hope for consistent or sunny conditions to get into the groove on Saturday morning. More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing Team: GOOD START FOR MIKA KALLIO IN THE FIRST SESSION AT DONINGTON. CANEPA SEVENTEENTH The typical English weather has characterized the first free practice session of the British GP. Heavy rain has in fact fallen on the Donington circuit during the first minutes of the free session. After about half session the sun came back helping the track to dry out. Mika Kallio has encountered some difficulties at the beginning but with time he found the right confidence to push more ending the session in seventh position with only half of a second gap from today’s leader Dani Pedrosa. His teammate, Niccolò Canepa, has started better the session but couldn’t manage to maintain the same rhythm finishing in seventeenth position. The Italian rider will have the opportunity to do better tomorrow in the two hours available and improve the position for Sunday’s starting grid. Fabiano Sterlacchini – Pramac Racing Technical Director “We didn’t start too well: we have prepared two different set up on the bikes and in the second exit with bike number two things went much better. We have studied a specific balance of the bike and this gave us a good result. In his best lap time Mika has obtain three red helmets but lost almost half of a second in the last sector. If tomorrow we will make it to improve the set up of the bike for this last part of the circuit we will surely have a lot of fun. Niccolò, from the other side of the garage, didn’t have the time to get used to the dry circuit but with the wet surface he was doing quite well.” Mika Kallio – Pramac Racing rider – 7th lap time in 1’39.209 “To start with the seventh position is not bad at all for us here. It’s the first time that I ride my Ducati here and we are trustful that we can improve tomorrow. We still lose too much time in the last sector of the circuit and tomorrow we will have to study a different set up to gain some more time in that area. Anyway this has been for us a positive day.” Niccolò Canepa – Pramac Racing rider – 17th lap time in 1’42.696 “Today’s situation was really particular and we didn’t have enough time to make big modification on the bike for the last part of the session when the track was basically dry. Anyway with wet surface of the track we were really constant and for tomorrow we are sure that we can also improve on the dry.” More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: MIXED CONDITIONS AT DONIGNTON GP OPENING DAY Donington, 24 July: LCR Honda MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet clocked the15th fastest lap time (1’41.861) at today’s opening free practice session at Donington Park which host the tenth round of the calendar. The Frenchman aboard the Honda RC212V nr. 14 went about his business in mixed conditions (fully wet in the beginning and dry in the last part) with ambience temperature of 16°C and made a total of 24 laps in the 60-minute session at the 4.013 British track. Randy de Puniet won the 2005 British 250 GP at Donington but the Frenchman isn’t a fan of the circuit. However, after the disappointment of last race in Germany, the 28-year-old is determined to qualify in the front and he can rely on his machine set up. Randy set consistent lap times in the wet but could not improve his pace in the dry in the last part of the session when the surface started to dry up. The quickest lap time of the day was set by the Spaniard Pedrosa (1’38.627). De Puniet 15th 1’41.861 De Puniet 15th: “It has been a strange first session: fully wet in the beginning but, in the last 14 minutes, the surface started to dry up and the grip was very bad. However I had a positive first run out and was fifth in the wet before coming into the garage. After that we came out with the same bike on same tyres but I could not really improve my pace. Our bike was not properly set up for these conditions and the suspension setting was too soft. It’s not a big drama: we will fix the suspension set up and the engine management for tomorrow’s sessions”.