SBK test Valencia Spain: 14th, 15th November 2006 Day2 The second day has just finished, and Pirelli technicians are already talking about next moves. “This is only the first of a series of three appointments, so we did just part of the job” explains Giorgio Barbier, Pirelli racing manager “The important thing is that we had some answers today, and now we will have the chance to test on two very different racetracks, in Qatar and Australia, that will help us both to test different conditions and different solutions.” The target is to be ready with new solutions at the beginning of the 2007 season that will be immediately perceived as a big step of development compared to the last spec of 2006. After the first two races the Championship we will come back in Europe, and for those races the time available for the shipment of the tyres is in our favour and it will be possible for Pirelli to provide the brand new tyres we have developed during the tests, in a bigger quantity. Here in Valencia the WSBK riders proved to like most of all 2 of the 10 new fronts and 3 of the 9 rear tyres, and also the new sizes. Pirelli has developed a new rear and a new front tyres, the sizes of which are designed to exploit the racing rim dimensions to the maximum and offer the widest contact patch, yet maintaining the same characteristics of the standard dimension tyres, and thus the capabilities of the road going fitments. The development remains focused on the race tyres, the performance of which are getting closer and closer to the qualifiers, whose turn for development will soon follow. Pirelli brought for this test: SBK 10 New Front tyres 9 New Rear tyres SSP: 8 New Front tyres 6 New Rear tyres Adding the solutions already tested or used for racing during last season the total amount is 2.200 tyres Riders testing at Valencia: WSupersport (Pirelli DIABLO SUPERCORSA) Charpentier Honda Ten Kate 1’36.4 Sofuoglu Honda Ten Kate 1’36.8 Nannelli Ducati SC Caracchi 1’36.9 Parkes Yamaha Motor Germany 1’37.0 Foret Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 1’37.7 Veneman Suzuki Hoegee 1’38.6 Riba Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 1’39.3 Race ’06: Best lap 1’38.66 Pole ’06: 1’36.91 WSBK (Pirelli DIABLO SUPERBIKE) (Race tyres – Qualifiers) Biaggi Suzuki Alstare 1’33.9 nn Lanzi Ducati Xerox 1’34.1 1’33.9 Kagayama Suzuki Alstare 1’34.2 1’34.7 Bayliss Ducati Xerox 1’34.2 nn Toseland Honda Ten Kate 1’34.6 1’34.2 Nieto Kawasaki PSG-1 1’34.8 1’35.1 Corser Yamaha Motor Italia 1’34.9 nn Laconi Kawasaki PSG-1 1’35.1 1’34.8 Haga Yamaha Motor Italia 1’35.3 1’35.1 Rolfo Honda Ten Kate 1’36.7 nn Race ’06: best lap 1’35.37 Superpole: 1’34.9 At this first appointment Pirelli is also testing some new materials with some teams racing in National Championships. SBK Borciani (ITA) Team Ducati Sterilgarda 1’35.5 Daemen (DE) Honda Alpha Tecnik 1’38.4 Hafenegger (DE) Honda Alpha Tecnik 1’39.0 Waldmann Honda Alpha Tecnik 1’39.7 SS Vizziello (ITA) Yamaha Team RG 1’38.5 Velini (ITA) Yamaha Team RG 1’39.2 Giugovaz (ITA) Yamaha Bike Service 1’39.3 Roccoli (ITA) Yamaha Lorenzini 1’39.4 Laverty (UK) Suzuki TAS 1’40.1 Pellino (ITA) Yamaha Bike Service 1’40.1 Harding (DK) Suzuki 1’40.4 STK Badovini(ITA) Team MV Unionbike 1’38.6 Corti (ITA) Yamaha Lorenzini 1’39.0 Tode (DE) Honda Alpha Tecnik 1’40.1 Cermak (CZ) Team MBB Racing 1’41.0 Weather conditions: dry Track Temperature from 16 to 27° C More, from a press release issued by FGSport: 2006 SBK CORONA EXTRA SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP® PIRELLI TEST VALENCIA 14 and 15 NOVEMBER SECOND DAY Valencia, Wednesday 15th November 2006 BIAGGI FASTEST AT VALENCIA TESTS – MAX MAKES AN EARLY IMPRESSION Max Biaggi (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) made an impressive first impact on his SBK peers, after setting the fastest time during the first off season Pirelli Development tests. His best of 1’33.9 was a clear indication of his intent in his first SBK season, and his fast time came thanks in part to the good track and weather conditions at Valencia, with temperatures of over 20 degrees centigrade evident on both days. LANZI SECOND AND BACK TO FINE FORM Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) was a force to be reckoned with on both days, finishing the test with an equal time to Biaggi, albeit using qualifying tyres, while Biaggi only used race versions. A good last day of testing, on a hybrid 2006/2007 machine, was also experienced by Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra), who got to know his new team-mate Biaggi at Valencia, Kagayama rode right to the very end of the test, evaluating new parts for the 2007 machine, and finishing third fastest. BAYLISS FOURTH ON THE TIME SHEETS Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox), running the same spec of machine he used to score the world championship itself, and on a circuit he recently won a MotoGP race on, was fourth fastest, his 1’34.2 being set on race tyres. Fastest man on day one, James Toseland (Ten Kate Honda) was using a new style of rear swingarm, updated software for his machine’s PI traction control system, new front fork internals and wheel rims compared to his 2006 machine. He was marginally faster on day two than day one, and fifth quickest overall. NIETO FASTEST OF THE KAWASAKIS ON HIS HOME TRACK Fonsi Nieto (PSG-1 Kawasaki) was sixth fastest after trying out new front suspension on his ZX-10R, setting a 1’34.8 on race tyres, even faster than he could do on a qualifier. His team-mate Regis Laconi (PSG-1 Kawasaki Corse) went eighth fastest. IMPRESSIVE START FOR CORSER AND THE NEW R1 Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia) had his first taste of the 2007 R1 Yamaha on day two at Valencia, and was happy with its performance, running to seventh quickest at the first attempt. His team Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) was running the 2007 version of the R1 for long periods at Valencia and was marginally slower than Corser, as he made the transition from his well-known 2006 version. Roberto Rolfo (Ten Kate Honda) had a steady two days of testing on the machine he hopes he will be riding in 2007, finishing with a time of 1’36.7. SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Sebastien Charpentier (Ten Kate Honda) scorched to a new best at Valencia, with a 1’36.4, bouncing back from an early morning crash on his 2006-spec CBR600RR. Second fastest was his team-mate Kenan Sofuoglu (Ten Kate Honda) on 1’36.8, with the amazing combination of Gianluca Nannelli and the SC Caracchi Ducati ending up third, only a tenth behind. Running on his own in the Yamaha Motor Germany team, Broc Parkes was fourth fastest, concentrating on machine improvements and a new quickshifter system. Fabien Foret (Gil Motorsport Kawasaki), running standard front forks on his brand new ZX-6RR, was immediately impressive, rating his machine as a great base to build on. His team-mate Pere Riba (Gil Motorsport Kawasaki) was not quite as fast, as he took some time to get used to the roadbike spec forks. He thus finished a little behind Barry Veneman (Hoegee Suzuki) who was sixth fastest. SBK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Biaggi Suzuki Alstare 1’33.9 nn Lanzi Ducati Xerox 1’34.1 1’33.9 Kagayama Suzuki Alstare 1’34.2 1’34.7 Bayliss Ducati Xerox 1’34.2 nn Toseland Honda Ten Kate 1’34.6 1’34.2 Nieto Kawasaki PSG-1 1’34.8 1’35.1 Corser Yamaha Motor Italia 1’34.9 nn Laconi Kawasaki PSG-1 1’35.1 1’34.8 Haga Yamaha Motor Italia 1’35.3 1’35.1 Rolfo Honda Ten Kate 1’36.7 nn Race ’06: best lap 1’35.37 Superpole: 1’34.9 SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Charpentier Honda Ten Kate 1’36.4 Sofuoglu Honda Ten Kate 1’36.8 Nannelli Ducati SC Caracchi 1’36.9 Parkes Yamaha Motor Germany 1’37.0 Foret Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 1’37.7 Veneman Suzuki Hoegee 1’38.6 Riba Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 1’39.3 Race ’06: Best lap 1’38.66 Pole ’06: 1’36.91 More, from a press release issued by Alstare Suzuki: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra News Valencia tests – November 14th and 15th Conditions: Dry, sunny MAX IN CHARGE!. New Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi and team mate were in good form at Valencia, with Max officially setting the quickest time of the two days, with a lap of 1:33.9. Yukio ended with the third fastest lap and this was a very big achievement as both Max and Yukio were using the new GSX-R1000 Suzukis for the first time in earnest. Despite having brand new bikes to work with, Max and Yukio knuckled down to the business of starting to learn about the new bike and its characteristics. There was masses to do, but Max and Yukio were ably assisted by the whole Alstare crew and the work progressed at a good rate. Conditions throughout the two days were just about perfect for Max and Yukio, plus the other WSBK top runners Troy Bayliss, Lorenzo Lanzi, James Toseland, Robbie Rolfo, Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga etc. MAX – 157 laps, best lap 1:33.9, 1st Valencia is a very twisty track and there is not much opportunity to catch your breath because you are always working hard. The chicanes seem to just come one after another and although it is not my favourite track, I enjoyed trying to make the bike work with me round it. This championship is full of specialist riders and I am new to it, so I know I have to adapt to the way of riding a Superbike. Today we had many things to test and I concentrated on two areas – the first was to get the bike to steer into the turns the way I wanted and be smooth and the second was to see how the tyres behave after quite a few laps. Today I wanted to push the bike to the maximum so that I could give lots of information to the Japanese technicians so they they can work well and improve the bike. I think I did that. YUKIO -141 laps, best lap 1:34.2, 3rd I had a small crash today when I lost the front on the brakes, but I didn’t hurt myself, so that was OK for me! But, there was a lot of work for my mechanics to do, and that lost quite a bit of time. So, sorry to my mechanics for giving them extra work. Today, I worked with the new bike and there were many settings to try and many adjustments to make during the day. Later in the day, I tried a qualifying tyre but I didn’t go any quicker then when I was on race rubber! I am pretty satisfied with these tests and we did a lot of good work on the new bike and gave a lot of information to the team so that we can improve next time out. Best lap times (over two days) on race rubber 1 MAX BIAGGI (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:33.9, 2 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1:34.1, 3 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1:34.2, 4 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1:34.2, 5 Toseland (GB-Honda) 1:34.6, 6 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 1:34.8, 7 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1:34.9, 8 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1:35.1, 9 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1:35.3, 10 Rolfo (I-Honda) 1:36.7, More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Positive day for Yamaha at Pirelli test News Valencia, Spain 15/11/2006 Positive day for Yamaha at Pirelli test Pirelli Test Session: Spain Circuit: Valencia Date: 14-15 November 2006 Temp: 23ºC Weather: Sunny Positive first outing for Haga and Corser on the All-New R1 After working hard to make the first race version of the 2007 YZF-R1 ready for a two day Pirelli Development Teams’ test at Valencia, the Yamaha Motor Italia team enjoyed two positive days of work under clear Spanish skies. Troy Corser set a best of 1:34.9 with a race set-up, with Noriyuki Haga on a 1:35.1, on qualifying tyres. Both existing team rider Haga and new signing Corser made back-to-back evaluations of the 2006 and 2007 models, and despite the ’07 model being in its very first stage of development and testing, each rider found real improvements in the performance of the new machine. Haga spent his time on the new machine, while Corser moved on to the ’07 machine after riding most of day one on the previous model. The fastest rider in the test was Max Biaggi (Suzuki) who set a fastest lap of 1:33.9 on race tyres. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia): “We started yesterday just making a shakedown test on the new ’07 bike. Compared to the ’06 bike it was a good start. It’s already quite a good bike and of course we are only at the first step. We have understood what we need from this test and I am sure it will be even better in Qatar. The feeling from the bike is different, front and rear, and it turns a little bit better than the ’06 bike. The ’07 engine is easier to control because the feeling from the engine is good, although right now we only have one specification of race engine. We need to make some adjustments to the mapping and the take it from there”. Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia): “We tried some new swingarms and experimented with the length of the bike, but even considering that, out lap times weren’t so bad. This was our first day with the new bike because on day one I hardly touched the new bike. For a first full day on the new bike I think we have got some good info to take away and prepare for the Qatar test. I think the new bike overall is maybe already a little bit better than the fully developed ’06 bike. And we have only just started. The ’06 bike feels a bit more nervous, and the new one feels easier to ride overall. It feels more stable under braking, even thought he ’06 bike was good in that respect too. The ’07 just feels even more stable again. We are still working on the throttle but already the ’07 engine pulls right through the midrange to the higher revs. It just feels more linear. We tried some new versions of the development tyres and found an improvement with both front and rear. I’m pretty happy.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator – Yamaha Motor Italia) “We can only think of this test as a positive one. To do so many laps and have so few problems was great. In the end we used the new bike all day on the second day and Troy was faster on the new bike when compared to the old one. We are quite optimistic because we didn’t expect this. Because the bike is new we can expect to experience a few problems. The bike was finished only on Saturday night and after we had run in the engines and checked that everything was working we put them in the trailer and drove straight to Valencia. So we were expecting a few small problems, as usual when all is new. When we go home will have a lot of data to check and we go to the next test with good experience from this first one ” OFFICIAL SBK TESTS Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4005km Lap Record: 1:35.007 (Neil Hodgson, 2003) Fastest Lap Ever: 1:33.758 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Temp: 23ºC WSB – fastest time over two days Biaggi, Suzuki 1:33.9 Lanzi, Ducati 1:33.9 Kagayama, Suzuki 1:34.2 Bayliss, Ducati 1:34.2 Toseland, Honda 1:34.2 Nieto, Kawasaki 1:34.8 Corser, Yamaha 1:34.9 Laconi, Kawasaki 1:34.8 Haga, Yamaha 1:35.1 Rolfo, Honda 1:36.7 Pirelli Test Session: Spain Circuit: Valencia Date: 14-15 November 2006 Temp: 23ºC Weather: Sunny Parkes flies solo at Valencia Yamaha Motor Germany rider Broc Parkes was on form once more in testing, posting competitive times despite having a heavy workload of machine and tyre evaluation duties to perform, in the absence of his team-mate Kevin Curtain. His absolute best lap on day two was a 1:37.0, putting him fourth fastest overall. Parkes rode most of the test alone, aided at some points by Yamaha Motor Europe test rider, Jeffry de Vries. Sebastien Charpentier (Honda) was the fastest rider on display, setting a 1:36.4. Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) “It would have been good to have another day and I had a lot of work to do as it was. We wanted to get through a lot of new things on the bike and we had to get those worked out properly, so we didn’t devote so much time to testing tyres to start with. We went through a lot of stuff anyway and the bike is working well. I think I did a 1:37 flat, and that was only half a second off the fastest guy, so that was pretty good. We have new quick shifters now and the bike is lighter, so we can move the weight around the bike if we want.” Pirelli Valencia Test WSS Circuit: Valencia Circuit Length: 4.005km Lap Record: 1:38.664 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 1:36.4 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006 – this test) Temp: 20ºC WSS – fastest time over two days S. Charpentier, Honda 1:36.4 K. Sofuoglu, Honda 1:36.8 G. Nannelli, Ducati 1:36.9 B. Parkes, Yamaha 1:37.0 F. Foret, Kawasaki 1:37.7 B. Veneman, Suzuki 1:38.6 P. Riba, Kawasaki 1:39.3 More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY POSITIVELY HAPPY After just over a day on his new R1 Yamaha, Troy left Valencia circuit in a happy mood and is already looking forward to the next test in December. Despite spending really only one full day on the bike, Troy didn’t take long to begin to get comfortable and understand its characteristics. Although the 2007 R7 Yamaha looks virtually identical to the old bike, the new bike is almost 80% different. TROY – best lap 1:34.9 Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time on the 2006 bike and only did a few shakedown laps on the new bike, whereas today I got down to the business of working with the new bike. I think that to finish the day and be so close to the fastest guys with a new bike is very good and I’m pretty happy about that. We didn’t have any real problems and I just tried out some different settings and adjustments to get the feel of the bike. But already, I can tell you that I feel more comfortable on this bike then the old one. It feels a bit more stable on the brakes, the engine feels as if it has a bit more power – and that power is linear, not peaky. I really hadn’t expected to be as close at the end as I was especially as I think lots of the guys in front did their times on qualifying tyres. We didn’t do much work on the suspension today because it felt pretty good from the start, so we didn’t change it while we were trying other stuff. Overall, I’m pretty happy and I feel very positive about being competitive by the time the season starts. See ya. Troy