REPSOL HONDA TEAM CONTINUE TO PERFORM IN SEPANG The Repsol Honda riders enjoyed a strong return to the track today occupying the top two slots with all three riders in the top five, as testing resumed at the Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia. The main purpose of this second test will be to work on the breaking stability issue that surfaced in the first test, as well as further development of the 2011 RC212V. Casey Stoner resumed testing with the same set-up he had on the final day in the first test. He spent the day alternating between the two chassis options and making comparison work to achieve the best set-up. Dani Pedrosa also dedicated the first day back working on chassis set-up, along with various electronic mappings. Andrea Dovizioso worked on engine brake and electronics. In the afternoon, he tried a modified clutch and finished the day in fifth place after also completing a busy tyre testing schedule. CASEY STONER 1st – 2.00.987 “We had a really good day today, from the beginning I felt more comfortable with the bike again, like I understood the bike a little better. We managed to work on set-up but we are still doing a chassis comparison, finding strong points and weak points on both. It’s difficult to choose one or the other, whatever set-up we throw at them we seem to be able to run pretty similar lap times. We’re very happy with the progress we made today and everything and everybody seems to be working well”. DANI PEDROSA 2nd – 2.01.360 “We made the most of the test today which is a good job because it looks like tomorrow we will get some rain. In the morning, we focused on some different electronic mappings to improve the entering and exit of the corners and in the afternoon we did some set-up modifications on the chassis to improve the stability on braking. The track temperature was high at the middle of the day and the track was quite slippery but we did a good test and tomorrow we will work on smaller details. Also, physically my shoulder felt better on the bike than in the first test. I had two more weeks and I’ve become stronger from training, so my condition is getting better”. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO 5th – 2.01.747 “I’m really happy about how we have started this second test. Honda engineers have made a very good job on the engine brake with the electronic system to improve the feeling on the rear and these are really good because I have to say that it was our main problem last year and we couldn’t make such a big step forward as we did today. We have decreased the chattering compared to the first test and the stability on the rear, so I’m very satisfied. We were able to be fast from the beginning and, even we were not looking for a lap time today, we tried 3 different tyre compounds and we had a good pace with all of them”. Testing Results 1 Casey Stoner 2.00.987 AUS HONDA Repsol Honda Team 2 Dani Pedrosa 2.01.360 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 3 Jorge Lorenzo 2.01.468 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team 4 Colin Edwards 2.01.654 USA YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 5 Andrea Dovizioso 2.01.747 ITA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 6 Ben Spies 2.01.808 USA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing Team 7 Hiroshi Aoyama 2.01.939 JPN HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini 8 Marco Simoncelli 2.01.996 ITA HONDA San Carlo Honda Gresini 9 Valentino Rossi 2.01.999 ITA DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team 10 Alvaro Bautista 2.02.224 SPA SUZUKI Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 11 Hector Barbera 2.02.645 SPA DUCATI Paginas Amarillas Aspar 12 Nicky Hayden 2.02.680 USA DUCATI Ducati Marlboro Team 13 Toni Eias 2.02.779 SPA HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP 14 Randy De Puniet 2.02.920 FRA DUCATI Pramac Racing 15 Cal Crutchlow 2.02.936 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 16 Loris Capirossi 2.03.082 ITA DUCATI Pramac Racing 17 Karel Abraham 2.03.167 CZE DUCATI Cardion AB Motoracing More, from a press release issued by Rizla Suzuki: Rizla Suzuki has begun the second pre-season test of 2011 with an in-depth evaluation of front and rear suspension parts and settings, and electronic control strategies to further refine the Suzuki GSV-R Álvaro Bautista (P10, 2’02.224,), completed 48 laps of the 5,548m Sepang circuit today as he worked thoroughly with his crew and the Suzuki engineers to find solutions to a number of different situations and conditions that the GSV-R might face this season. Bautista was ably supported today by Team Test Rider Nobuatsu Aoki at the Malaysian track. Aoki joined the team directly from Suzuki’s private test track and completed 57 laps of the Sepang circuit in temperatures of up to 35°C. His feedback and data acquisition will be valuable for the Factory as it prepares the bike ready for the forthcoming season. Honda’s Casey Stoner recorded the fastest time of the day. Rizla Suzuki has two more days of comprehensive testing ahead of it, which Bautista, Aoki and the rest of the team will use to test a number of new and updated components and to fine tune many electronic control strategies, suspension settings and other intricate details of the 2011 Suzuki GSV-R. Álvaro Bautista: “Well, I feel much better today than the last time I did some laps here – then it wasn’t so nice with the sickness! Today I wanted to ride in a calm way and concentrate on the details that we had to work on. Also, last time here in Sepang we really struggled to use the hard rear tyre, so we did many laps on it today and made some progress. Then finally we put in some softer tyres the same as I used in the race last year and the feeling was really smooth and very easy to make a low 2.02. We didn’t make an exciting lap-time today but we improved the bike, especially on corner exit where it now feels much smoother. I’m looking forward to pushing a bit harder tomorrow.” Second MotoGP Official Test Sepang Day One Classification: 1. Casey Stoner (Honda) 2’00.987: 2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.373: 3. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +0.481: 4. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) +0.667: 5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) +0.760: 10. ÁLVARO BAUTISTA (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.237: 19. NOBUATSU AOKI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +3.652: More, from a press release issued by Dorna Communications: The second official 2011 pre-season MotoGP Test rounded off its opening day at Sepang with Casey Stoner top of the timesheet, as the Australian set the only lap under 2’01″ on Tuesday. With an effort of 2’00.987 inside the final hour, Stoner was followed by team-mate Dani Pedrosa (+0.373s) for a Repsol Honda one-two at the top. In typically sweltering conditions and with a general lack of grip being reported by the riders the duo of RC212Vs were followed on the timesheet by a brace of Yamaha M1s. First up was the factory machine of World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, who at 0.481s off Stoner had spent the day trying a modified chassis in a bid to deal with a chatter problem encountered last time out at this track. Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards was just over two-tenths further back in fourth. Third Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the day fifth fastest with a time of 2’01.747, with Yamaha Factory Racing’s Ben Spies close behind (+0.061s on the Italian) as the American concentrated on his M1 setting. Two more RC212Vs made it five inside the top eight as San Carlo Honda Gresini pair Hiroshi Aoyama and Marco Simoncelli finished within six-hundredths of one another. The Japanese rider was looking to define his suspension and rear grip and was the final rider within a second of Stoner, whilst Simoncelli worked towards better grip and braking performance having set the best time at the previous Test. The highest placing Ducati on day one was the factory GP11 of Valentino Rossi, notably without the ‘wings’ that had featured on the fairing of the Desmosedici at its official presentation in January. Appearing to enjoy an improved comfort in his shoulder in comparison to three weeks ago the Italian worked on his set-up and on fixing his anti-wheelie setting, posting a best lap of 2’01.999 which was 1.012s off Stoner. Álvaro Bautista, the Rizla Suzuki rider, completed the top ten (+1.237s on Stoner) as he set about adjusting the electronics on his GSV-R (he was accompanied on track by Suzuki Test rider Nobu Aoki). Mapfre Aspar rider Héctor Barberá and Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden both experienced crashes during the earlier half of the day and escaped uninjured, finally placing their respective Desmosedicis 11th and 12th, whilst Toni Elías enjoyed a step forward with his LCR Honda in 13th. Randy de Puniet avoided injury when he crashed, whilst British rookie Cal Crutchlow also fell at the end of the day. The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider was still suffering from the lingering effects of a bout of food poisoning he picked up en route to Malaysia. The Ducatis of Loris Capirossi (Pramac Racing) and Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Motoracing) completed the timesheet, the rookie experiencing a non-consequential fall around midday. More, from a press release issued by Marlboro Ducati: VALENTINO ROSSI AND NICKY HAYDEN START SECOND SEPANG TEST ON THE RIGHT FOOT Today marked the beginning of the second winter MotoGP test at Malaysia’s Sepang Circuit, where the work will continue until February 24. The Ducati Marlboro Team riders took full advantage of an entire day without rain, although the temperatures were higher than they had been during the three-day test at the beginning of this month. Valentino Rossi continued his important work on the GP11’s setup, completing 53 laps and choosing some base settings on which his crew plans to concentrate in the future. Nicky Hayden worked on his setup in an effort to reduce chatter, and despite a slow fall just before the lunch break, he was satisfied in the end with the progress he’d made. Valentino Rossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) 9th, 2:01.999 (53 laps) “We can be satisfied with today as a first day, because we’re a second from the top, like we were at the end of the first test but without trying a late ‘time attack’ with the soft tyre like the others did. For the most part today, I was between fifth and sixth place, which is the goal we had set. I’m still losing about three tenths due to the shoulder, because I’m still stronger in the left turns, whereas I’m normally the opposite; the rest we’ll have to find by working on the bike. I’m also happy because we spent all our time on the hard tyres, which we struggled with before today. In the end, we chose one of the two setups that we had settled upon at the last test, and that will now be our base to work from, and the one on which we’ll concentrate our efforts in the next couple of days.” Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro Team) 12th, 2:02.680 (60 laps) “It’s good to be back at Sepang, working on and developing the GP11. We spent the morning checking a few things and confirming what we had learned the last time we were here. Everything pretty much went according to schedule, except I had a little crash in Turn 1 toward the end of the morning session. It was really hot, and I lost the front and tipped over, but I was going slow and didn’t do any damage to myself or the bike. Today we experienced less chatter than we had last time, so that’s quite good. We need to keep reducing that over the next two days and also find some more traction, so we’ve got plenty to keep us busy.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: MotoGP Test Sepang, Malaysia Day one of three-day test. February 22, 2011 Weather: Hot and sunny Track temperature: 44 degrees Ambient temperature: 33 degrees HONDA MEN CONTINUE DOMINANCE OF SEPANG Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) and team-mate Dani Pedrosa picked up where they left off just a few weeks ago by sweeping the top two spots on the opening day of the second MotoGP test of the winter in Sepang, Malaysia. When the previous three-day test here ended almost three weeks ago, Stoner finished with the third overall time, just behind Pedrosa, while Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) finished best in class. But today, on another typically tropical day on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Stoner was back on top, as he’d been on the first day of the earlier test The 2007 world champion spent the opening day comparing a stiffer 2011 chassis to the 2010 version. His quickest tour of the 5548m track was 2m, 0.987s on the 48th of 53 laps, a time which was just off his best from the prior test. It was also .373s faster than Pedrosa’s best time, set on the 43rd of his 46 laps. Pedrosa, who’d finished the previous test with the second fastest time, worked on electronic mappings and improving stability under braking, one of the key improvements of the latest iteration of the RC212V. Most important to Pedrosa was his physical condition. The more than two week gap since the last test has given his surgically repaired shoulder time to continue to heal, which has allowed him to increase his strength through training. Andrea Dovizioso, the third member of the Repsol Honda team, finished the first day with the fifth fastest time of 2m, 1.747s. Dovizioso was encouraged by the improvement the electronics made in engine braking on the rear end, which was one of his areas of concern last season. The engineers not only improved stability on the rear, but also decreased the chattering. The San Carlo Gresini Honda teammates finished together, with Hiroshi Aoyama in front of Simoncelli. Aoyama was the iron man today, picking up speed as he completed 73 laps in the heat. It was his 73rd and final lap that stood out as his personal best. Simoncelli’s best of 49 laps came early, on lap 13, while he concentrated on the race set-up of his factory Honda RC212V. Aoyama was comparing a number of new components to the more established pieces and found he was more comfortable with the original parts. Now the team is focused on finding a direction for the final two days of the test as the season fast approaches. Simoncelli didn’t find track conditions optimal and chose to work on a race set-up, rather than chasing a fast lap time. With well worn tires he was able to lap nearly a second quicker than he had during last year’s race. Simoncelli will continue to work on development before fitting the softer rear rubber that many ahead of him put to such good use. Toni Elias (LCR Honda RC212V), the 2010 Moto2 World Champion, continued to adapt to the MotoGP machinery by ending the day 13th overall. The Spaniard’s confidence continued to grow as his pace increased throughout the day, with his best time coming on his 63rd and final lap. HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V): 1st, 2m, 0.987s “We had a really good day today. From the beginning I felt more comfortable with the bike again, like I understood the bike a little better. We managed to work on set-up, but we are still doing a chassis comparison, finding strong points and weak points on both. It’s difficult to choose one or the other. Whatever set-up we throw at them we seem to be able to run pretty similar lap times. We’re very happy with the progress we made today and everything and everybody seems to be working well.” Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): 2nd, 2m, 1.360s “We made the most of the test today, which is a good job, because it looks like tomorrow we will get some rain. In the morning, we focused on some different electronic mappings to improve the entering and exit of the corners and in the afternoon we did some set-up modifications on the chassis to improve the stability on braking. The track temperature was high at the middle of the day and the track was quite slippery, but we did a good test and tomorrow we will work on smaller details. Also, physically my shoulder felt better on the bike than in the first test. I had two more weeks and I’ve become stronger from training, so my condition is getting better.” Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): 5th, 2m, 1.747s “I’m really happy about how we have started this second test. Honda engineers have made a very good job on the engine brake with the electronic system to improve the feeling on the rear and these are really good because, I have to say, that it was our main problem last year and we couldn’t make such a big step forward as we did today. We have decreased the chattering compared to the first test and the stability on the rear, so I’m very satisfied. We were able to be fast from the beginning and, even though we were not looking for a lap time today, we tried three different tyre compounds and we had a good pace with all of them.” Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Gresini Honda): 7th, 2m, 1.939s “I did a lot of laps and a lot of work. I have done several comparative tests and found a different feeling, but in the end I was feeling much better with the technical parts that I already knew. Tomorrow I will continue to do the work, but it certainly is not easy to find a good condition with new solutions and, anyway, we will see. In any case, it was an interesting day to understand which direction to take to continue to work successfully for the season that is approaching.” Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Gresini Honda): 8th, 2m, 1.996s “We have resumed from the last test of twenty days ago always here at Sepang. Today the track conditions were not optimal and, in any case, I have not tried for a lap time, but we have engaged in many trials. We tested different set-ups and electronics and will continue to do so tomorrow. I’m pretty happy because the tyres had twenty laps and could make for interesting times of around 2 ’02. Honestly, we’re a little far from first because we have a gap of a second, but I am confident because I have not used the very soft rubber. I repeat, as a first step we are not far from the best and so I’m happy.” Toni Elias (LCR Honda): 13th, 2m, 2.779s “Today I am really happy because we have found some directions and I could lap with more confidence. On these conditions it is not easy as the track surface reached 61 degrees today, but I wanted to take the most of the bike despite the heat. Basically, we have worked to develop the machine base set-up using the data we gathered before and my pace is getting better lap by lap. We didn’t make an exciting lap-time today, but we aimed to improve the bike working on chassis geometry and suspension regulations. Of course there is still work to do, but I am more confident now because we took a first step forward.” More, from a press release issued by Yamaha: Promising Start for Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies at Sepang Second Test The second official MotoGP winter test of the off-season saw a promising start for the Yamaha Factory Racing riders Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo today. As with the first test just under three weeks ago, the riders enjoyed blazing sunshine on track, with track temperatures going from 39 up to 46 degrees. World Champion Lorenzo made some set up changes over the lunch period, finding a highly effective setting that enabled him to deliver consistently fast laps through the afternoon, closing in to end the day in third just 0.48 seconds from the top of the timesheets. Team mate Spies spent his morning getting used to his bike after the break then worked on some different suspension settings. The Texan finished the session in sixth just 0.82 seconds from the front having used just two sets of tyres over the day. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing “Today was a good day for me, we worked on the traction to improve it from the previous test which helped us a lot in the set up, I’m now very satisfied with it. We have our chassis for 2011 now and we are working on it as well as our engine spec. With the improvements we’ve made we can now brake a little later and enter the corners a little more quickly as well so I was able to do some good fast consistent lap times this afternoon when it was still very hot on the track.” Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing “Today we came to this test with the engine configurations we’re going to race with so both bikes have that. We just warmed up in the morning and spent the afternoon on one set of tyres. We set our fastest lap of the day when it was very hot and mid race distance on a hard tyre. We’re saving some tyres for the end of the test when the track’s good. We worked on some race set up an d I also worked on some different riding styles. We’ll start again tomorrow with plenty more to do. We tried a couple of shocks and found a few tenths and were still consistently fast on used tyres which was promising. It’s definitely a good day and I’m happy with it.” Wilco Zeelenberg – Team Manager “We had a very hot day today in Sepang with sky high temperatures. As a result there was quite a struggle to find grip. In the afternoon it was getting better and we found some really positive things which helped us find some good traction which is important here at Sepang. Finally we are quite satisfied with today’s results.” Massimo Meregalli – Team Director “It was a very productive day for Ben. We worked on the set up of the bike and made a lot of laps. He was still able to put in a very good lap at the end when the tyre was used which gives us a lot of confidence. Tomorrow we will push on to look for a fast lap time. Jorge was also consistently delivering a good pace, the crew found a good set up and it was clear this afternoon that it was working well for him. Both riders are very positive about their crew performance so we are very satisfied with the team.”