TEAM ALSTARE SUZUKI LEAVE QATAR HAPPY. The final day of the Qatar tests ended with Team Alstare Suzuki happy with the progress made during the three days by their riders Fonsi Nieto and Yukio Kagayama. Neither rider chased a fast lap time, preferring instead to concentrate on working with the GSX-R1000 Suzukis and getting them ready for the season ahead. Whilst Fonsi continued to work on understanding and getting comfortable with the bike, Yukio once again shouldered the burden of testing new parts and electronics. The team now returns to the workshops and will analyse all the information before preparing the bikes for the next tests in Australia. Fonsi 1:59.0 I am very happy what we’ve done during these three days. I’ve put in over 1000 kms here and every time I went out on the bike, I was able to improve and that makes me happy. I wasn’t trying for any fast lap times because I wanted to work on understanding the bike and getting completely comfortable with it first. We’ve tried many things these days, including lots of work with the electronics and I’m very happy how the whole team has worked – they’re a great bunch! Today I didn’t change much on the bike, I just kept working trying to improve it, bit by bit and that’s what we did. At the moment, I’m 75% comfortable with the bike, but I know that we can improve every time out, so I am feeling very positive. Yukio – 2: 00.9 For me, today was another day of testing, testing and then more testing. But this is my job and I think we have done a lot of good work here. I know that I have given a lot of information to my team and now they will have to go back and understand it and then work out what we should do next time. My lap times are not so good, but that does not bother me at the moment because it is more important to get as much of this kind of work done during tests, instead of during a race weekend. The more we do now and learn about means that we don’t have to do this kind of work at a race. That is our plan anyway! I am adapting my riding style in some places on the track because of the nature of this bike and for me that’s not easy, but it is not so hard. Overall, I am very happy with the tests, but not so happy about the two crashes. Yes, I had a crash today, when I highsided, but it was no problem for my body. Friday 1 Bayliss 1:58.1, 2 Haga 1:58.4, 3 Corser 1:58.5, 4 Checa 1:59.0, 5 Fonsi Nieto (E-Alstare Suzuki) 1:59.0, Fabrizio 1:59.1, 7 Yukio Kagayama (J-Alstare Suzuki) 2:00.9, 8 Kiyonari 2:01.8, More, from a press release issued by Pirelli: PIRELLI DEVELOPMENT WINTER TEST DOHA, QATAR 28/30 NOVEMBER 2007 30th November 2007, Doha (Qatar) The first Pirelli development winter test has just ended on the Losail racetrack for the World Superbike and World Supersport riders. Today Kyionari made his first laps with the new opponents and most of all on the new bike and the Pirelli 2008 tyres. Fastest rider has been Troy Bayliss with the new Ducati 1098 F08 and the 2008 tyres. Troy used race tyres (instead of qualifiers) to set his fastest lap: 1’58.1 which is 3 tents faster than 2007 Superpole. Same situation for the Supersport class, where Parkes and his Yamaha with the 2008 Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa tyres set the time of 2’01.9 Next appointment for the Pirelli winter development tests will be on the Phillip Island racetrack in Australia on January 8-10 2008. Here following the laptimes scored in the three days: DAY 1 Superbike Rider Bike Team Best lap 1 Corser Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 1’59.6 2 Haga Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 2’00.1 3 Bayliss Ducati 1098 F08 Ducati Xerox 2’00.6 4 Nieto Suzuki GSXR1000K7 Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 2’01.0 5 Fabrizio Ducati 1098 F08 Ducati Xerox 2’01.6 6 Kagayama Suzuki GSXR1000K7 Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 2’01.9 7 Sofuoglu Honda CBR1000RR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 2’02.2 Supersport Rider Bike Team Best lap 1 Parkes Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 2’03.5 2 Pitt Honda CBR600RR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 2’03.9 3 Foret Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 2’04.2 4 Mc Coy Triumph 675 Triumph – SC 2’07.2 5 Paul Young Triumph 675 Triumph – SC 2’12.0 DAY 2 Superbike Rider Bike Team Best lap 1 Corser Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 1’58.6 2 Haga Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 1’59.2 3 Bayliss Ducati 1098 F08 Ducati Xerox 1’59.5 3 Checa Honda CBR1000RR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’59.5 5 Nieto Suzuki GSXR1000K7 Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 1’59.6 6 Fabrizio Ducati 1098 F08 Ducati Xerox 2’00.1 7 Sofuoglu Honda CBR1000RR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 2’00.3 8 Kagayama Suzuki GSXR1000K7 Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 2’00.9 Supersport Rider Bike Team Best lap 1 Parkes-Foret Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor WSS 2’03.0 3 Pitt Honda CBR600RR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 2’03.3 4 Mc Coy Triumph 675 Triumph – SC 2’05.0 5 Paul Young Triumph 675 Triumph – SC 2’07.0 DAY 3 Superbike Rider Bike Team Best lap 1 Bayliss Ducati 1098 F08 Ducati Xerox 1’58.1 2 Haga Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 1’58.4 3 Corser Yamaha YZF R1 Yamaha Motor Italia WSB 1’58.6 4 Checa Honda CBR1000RR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 1’59.0 5 Nieto Suzuki GSXR1000K7 Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 1’59.1 6 Fabrizio Ducati 1098 F08 Ducati Xerox 1’59.1 7 Kagayama Suzuki GSXR1000K7 Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra 2’00.9 8 Kyionari Honda CBR1000RR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 2’01.8 Supersport Rider Bike Team Best lap 1 Parkes-Foret Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor WSS 2’01.9 2 Foret Yamaha YZF R6 Yamaha Motor WSS 2’02.5 3 Pitt Honda CBR600RR Hannspree Ten Kate Honda 2’03.0 5 Mc Coy Triumph 675 Triumph – SC 2’03.5 6 Paul Young Triumph 675 Triumph – SC 2’06.5 More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX) POWERS THE NEW DUCATI 1098 F08 TO QUICKEST TIME IN QATAR TESTING SESSION Losail (Qatar), Friday 30 November: Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) made all the difference as he powered the new Ducati 1098 F08 to the fastest time on the final day of the Qatar winter test session. The Australian, lying third behind the two Yamahas on Wednesday and Thursday, upped the pace on the final day and slipped in one quick lap of 1m58.1s on race tyres to end the test in fine style. New team-mate Michel Fabrizio was exactly a second behind in an encouraging fifth place on his first outing with the factory team. Troy Bayliss, 1m58.1s (66 laps) “We’re making good progress, the last couple of days we’ve been trying so many different things and seeing where we can go with this bike. Sometimes it’s frustrating because I want to go fast, like everyone else, but when the other guys were going fast we were still on old tyres and working on the settings. After lunch today we found a bit of a way and were happy, so we decided to throw a few tyres at it and the times were coming good. That’s the fastest I’ve ever been round here by about half-a-tenth and I did that time on a 999 with a qualifying tyre. I did about ten laps on the same tyre, mostly in the mid-58s, but I had to ride really hard to get those lap times and I’m still not so confident with the back of the bike. But now I can relax knowing we’re going in the right direction and enjoy my Christmas until our next test at Phillip Island at the start of January.” Michel Fabrizio, 1m59.1s (53 laps) “This test was my first time with the factory team and I have to say I’m really happy with the guys and the way they work. As for the test, I would say it went well. Today I did a 59.1s lap and I was looking to go better with the best development tyre left for the end, but we had a small problem and I was disappointed I couldn’t improve my time. I’ll leave it to the others to judge my performance but I personally wanted to do more! The 1098 is a fantastic bike, but we’ve got a long way to go and I still have to get to know it better”. Davide Tardozzi, Ducati Corse Superbike Project Leader “Over the past three days the new 1098 has had its first real outing on the track against the others and we’re still trying to familiarize with it. The bike is competitive, but it’s not as if we went that much quicker than the others. We’re still in the early stages and I think that today it was Troy who made all the difference, as so often happens”. TIMES (provided by Pirelli): 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m58.1s; 2. Haga (Yamaha) 1m58.4s; 3. Corser (Yamaha) 1m58.6s; 4. Checa (Honda) 1m59.0s; 5. Nieto (Suzuki) & Fabrizio (Ducati Xerox) 1m59.1s; 7. Sofuoglu (Honda) 2m00.3s; 8. Kagayama (Suzuki) 2m00.9s; 9. Kiyonari (Honda) 2m01.8s. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Corser and Haga on Competitive Testing Package Noriyuki Haga and Troy Corser have secured encouraging lap and race simulation times during a three day test at the 5.380km Losail circuit in the deserts of Qatar by finishing second and third quickest, respectively. Haga finally edged out his team-mate Corser although the Australian had been the fastest man on the opening two days, only deprived of a final chance to be fastest again after crashing shortly before the end of the morning session today. He had fitted a hard compound front tyre and his front washed out, and for the second time in two days he took a battering on the unforgiving Losail gravel traps. Each rider had a full schedule of work to get through at these first official tyre tests of the new season, and found improvements in machine set-up and race pace. The team also made advances in terms of tyre performance on the abrasive Qatar circuit. Corser’s fall over-extended his left thumb socket, but despite this he attempted to complete the afternoon session. As he could not grip the handlebar properly under braking, or operate his handlebar-mounted rear brake lever, he opted not to go for even one more fast lap to reassert his name at the top of the rankings. Noriyuki Haga (2nd – 1:58.40 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “Most of the bike is not that much changed compared to 2007 but the biggest improvement for me was the new design of rear swingarm. We had more traction but we still have a small question over tyre life. We tried some wider tyres, but they did not have as much grip on the way out of corners, and they seem to move around more. It seems that the 190 tyre is still better for us. I think all the things we improved here we can make even better at the next test in Phillip Island.” Troy Corser (3rd – 1:58.50 – Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “I made a faster time this morning than yesterday and it was all going well until I put on a new front I just lost some grip on the first left corner. The gravel here is so hard that it really gives your body a pounding. I added to my bruising, and then bent back my left thumb. We did about 85% of the testing we hoped to do, but pretty much everything on the bike was already done; it was just trying out the last few new tyres we hadn’t used yet. We have been fast from the start so I have to say we are happy with this test. The bike is definitely working better for me now.” Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team) “We brought some new stuff and most of the components are working well. Swingarm, front fork and new discs, we had good response from all of them. Also, we moved some weight around on the bike for balance and really I think we had a good test. We are satisfied and now we can go home to get everything ready for the next test in Australia with confidence.” Circuit Length: 5.380km Temp: high 20°C range Weather: Dry, sunny Best Times: 1. Bayliss (Ducati) – 1’58.1 2. Haga (Yamaha) – 1’58.4 3. Corser (Yamaha) – 1’58.5 4. Checa (Honda) – 1’59.0 5. Nieto (Suzuki) – 1’59.1 More, from another press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Parkes and Foret Fly on the New YZF-R6 Broc Parkes and Fabien Foret started the racetrack development work on the new YZF-R6 in good form, posting 1-2 on the timesheets and making significant gains in terms of the machine’s overall performance. Parkes set the fastest lap of the three days with a 2:01.9, a time faster than the best lap from qualifying at this race in 2007, while Foret’s 2:02.5 was hardly less impressive for a rider in his first ride on a new machine, and in a new team set-up. Each rider completed highly successful full race simulations on the final day of testing, a particular satisfaction on a bike that has an entirely new chassis for 2008, and Yamaha’s YCC-I variable intake system proved itself at the very first time of asking, improving throttle response and engine punch. Broc Parkes (1st – 2:01.9 – Yamaha World Supersport Team) “The new bike has been good right out of the box and we spent most of our time on that, rather than the older one. We did a lot of work on the new suspension and played with the mapping for the new variable throttle bodies and it was all moving in the right direction. We made a lot of little changes, not major ones and we had none of the niggling problems you would expect from a first test of any new bike. The main improvement has come from the performance of the bike when you have already made quite a few laps; it is more consistent in lap times over a full race simulation.” Fabien Foret (2nd – 2:02.5 – Yamaha World Supersport Team) “I am honestly pretty happy because we made good lap times and the bike was very consistent. I am not 100% with the front set-up yet but I did a race distance and the bike was already better than last year’s time, so it all feels good. I only need to make the front end feel and the braking performance better as I can’t do exactly what I want right now. It’s only our first test, I didn’t crash, so it was all OK.” Wilco Zeelenberg (Team Coordinator, Yamaha World Supersport Team) “The long runs the guys did were very good and with the new bike that was the main thing we were hoping to take from these tests. It’s not just the lap time, it’s the race time that matters most. The circumstances were a lot better than last year. We don’t want to cheer too loud because it is very early and all the teams found that their tyres are lasting longer than before. But for a first test of a new bike, so many new parts to try, things have worked out very well. We have had time to do our homework with this bike but so far so good. Fabien had a good feeling and only needs to improve the front end, but he was only half a second from Broc, who knows the previous R6 very well.” Circuit Length: 5.380km Temp: high 20°C range Weather: Dry, sunny Best Times: 1. Parkes (Yamaha) – 2’01.9 2. Foret (Yamaha) – 2’02.5 3. Pitt (Honda) – 2’03.0 4. McCoy (Triumph) – 2’03.5 5. Young (Triumph) – 2’06.5 More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY HAPPY, DESPITE ANOTHER CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH THE GRAVEL! Troy’s dreams of posting a 1:57 lap on the final day at Qatar vanished when he crashed in the morning session. He had posted a 1:58.5 without any difficulty, but then tested a new front tyre – the hardest Pirelli available – and that was the cause of his downfall. On the first left-hander of the lap, Troy lost the front and crashed, sliding into the gravel trap in the process. If the gravel had been like other racetracks, Troy would’ve probably got away unscathed, but the Losail gravel traps are filled with stones and when Troy hit these, he was given a severe battering. Fortunately no bones were broken, but he suffered massive bruising to his backside, lower back and also the same hand he hurt yesterday. Troy wanted to go out in the final session this afternoon but was unable to get his gloves on, so he and the team decided to call it a day. Troy That was a shame, because I really felt a 1:57 was possible. Things were going well this morning until I went out to test the hardest tyre Pirelli brought here. I guess I got got out, but you have to push in order to find out the limits. I lost the front at the first left-hander and once you do that here there is no grip off-line and you crash. Normally, I’d be able to pick it up on my knee, but because of the lack of grip I couldn’t do that. I thought I’d finish on the tarmac, but my corner speed was enough to carry me into the gravel and that’s what caused the battering. I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck – twice! I would’ve got away with that kind of crash at any other track, but here it’s not so much gravel as rocks! I’ve got a nice pair of bruises on my backside, not that anybody but the doctor was interested! I was sore this morning after yesterday’s crash, but now I’m more sore! But the good news is that I’m content with what we’ve done and achieved during this test. I reckon we’ve pretty much gone through everything we had to. I would’ve liked to have done some more work on the same things in some areas, but we’ve covered all the basics. I now feel that the bike is working better with me now and I’m looking forward to the next test and the season ahead – after I’ve sorted out my bruises of course!