BAYLISS UPS THE PACE ONCE MORE Times tumbled again at the latest Pirelli test in Losail, with a drop on the winds which had hampered the first two days being matched by an increase in ambient temperature. The 5.380km Losail circuit still proved to be a tough challenge even on day three but nonetheless the times came down as the riders improved set-up and worked through more tyre options. Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) was once more on peerless form, setting a best of 1’58.1, the best ever Superbike lap at the Losail circuit. He also did a long run of 16 laps at a high pace, only cut short when he ran out of petrol. TIE FOR SECOND PLACE TIME AFTER LATE CHARGE FROM BIAGGI The last lap of the day put in by Max Biaggi (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki) proved to be on a par with the impressive 1’58.9 set by Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia). Biaggi had to work hard on his machine set-up to get the most out of the 2007 Suzuki, and his team-mate, Yukio Kagayama (Alstare Corona Extra Suzuki) also toiled to get his times down, finally setting a best of 2.00.1, ninth fastest in the test. TOSELAND FOURTH QUICKEST James Toseland (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) relied on his second day best of 1’59.1 to set the overall fourth best time, but a big jump from Regis Laconi (PSP-1 Kawasaki Corse) scored him a 1’59.2, putting both rider and Kawasaki as a manufacturer into the top five, making it five different manufacturers in the top five places. LANZI IMPROVES TO BEAT NIETO ON THE TIMESHEETS Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) set his best of test time of 1’59.3 seconds today, keeping the margins close in the top few positions, and in the process outpacing PSG-1 Kawasaki rider Fonsi Nieto’s Wednesday best time of 1’59.5, to go sixth fastest. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) did not enjoy the early part of the test but finally found a set-up and tyre combination to record a best 1’59.7, going eighth overall. Robby Rolfo (Hannspree Ten Kate Honda) rounded out the ten Superbike entries with a time of 2’01.7. YAMAHA RIDERS DOMINATE SUPERSPORT TESTS Both Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) and Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) used all the testing time available to them to score impressive lap times of 2’02.5 and 2’02.6 respectively. Despite crashing out early from the final day of testing, Gianluca Nannelli (SC Caracchi Ducati) posted the third best time, a 2’03.3. Fabien Foret (GIL Motorsports Kawasaki) was the fastest of the two Kawasaki riders on display, with a 2’04.5. On the final day Pere Riba (Gil Motorsports Kawasaki) found pace compared to his previous laps and secured a 2’05.2 on his development machine. AUSTRALIA BECKONS FOR ALL The final pre-season Pirelli Development Test, in readiness for the 2007 season, takes place at Phillip Island, in Australia, between 13 and 15 January. SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: 1. Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1’58″1; 2. Biaggi (Ita-Suzuki) 1’58″9; 3. Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1’58″9; 4. Laconi (Fra-Kawasaki) 1’59″2; 5. Lanzi (Ita-Ducati) 1’59″3; 6. Toseland (GB-Honda) 1’59″4; 7. Haga (Gia-Yamaha) 1’59″7; 8. Kagayama (id-Suzuki) 2’00″1; 9. Nieto (Spa-Kawasaki) 2’00″5; 10. Rolfo (Ita-Honda) 2’01″7. SUPERSPORT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: 1.Curtain (Aus-Yamaha) 2’02″5; 2. Parkes (id) 2’02″6; 3. Nannelli (Ita-Ducati) 2’03″3; 4. Foret (Fra-Kawasaki) 2’04″5; 5. Riba (Spa-id) 2’05″2. More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse: Thursday Dec 21 2006 Winter Test BAYLISS (DUCATI XEROX TEAM) BRINGS SUCCESSFUL YEAR TO A CLOSE WITH RECORD PACE IN QATAR TESTING Bologna (Italy), Thursday 21st December 2006: Troy Bayliss brought the Ducati Xerox Team’s successful year to a close with a record pace on the final day of Pirelli tyre testing at the Losail circuit in Qatar. In much improved conditions the 2006 champion set a time of 1m58.1s, the fastest ever recorded by a Superbike around the desert track and 1.5 quicker than his own pole position time from earlier this year. “I’m very happy to have come away from the test in this sort of form and it’s great to be able to go home for Christmas knowing that you’ve done a good job” declared Troy. “That time was set on a softer tyre which it’s not possible to do a race distance on but my long run was good as well. We did almost race distance and I was a lot quicker than in last February’s race. It’s been a long hard year but it’s been great and certainly worth all the effort. I’ve had a great time being back in Superbike and couldn’t have asked for more. Now everyone can go home for Christmas with the knowledge that they’ve done a great job. Next year is going to be a hard one and we’re under no illusions but the bike is great, the team also and we’re ready for it”. Lorenzo Lanzi also made a good improvement on the final day of the test, knocking a full second off his time to end up sixth quickest. “I am quite pleased with my performance” commented Lorenzo. “Unfortunately when I had a good tyre to improve late in the afternoon I felt a bit of tiredness set in because I had done a lot of laps. I wanted to do a high ’58’ but it’s OK because I did some good times on race tyres. The only problem I found was with the duration of the tyre, which is critical around here. In the last two tests in Valencia and Losail I am pleased that I have been able to finish the year on the up, I’m always up front with the top guys and that gives me a lot of confidence for next year”. The Ducati Xerox Team will next be seen out on the track in a month’s time with a further three days of testing at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia from January 13th to 15th. OVERALL BEST TIMES (provided by Pirelli): 1. Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) 1m58.1s; 2. Corser (Yamaha) & Biaggi (Suzuki) 1m58.9s; 4. Toseland (Honda) 1m59.1s; 5. Laconi (Kawasaki) 1m59.2s; 6. Lanzi (Ducati Xerox) 1m59.3s; 7. Nieto (Kawasaki) 1m59.5s; 8. Haga (Yamaha) 1m59.7s; 9. Kagayama (Suzuki) 2m00.1s; 10. Rolfo (Honda) 2m01.7s. More, from a press release issued by Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra: Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra news Winter tests: Doha, Qatar, 19 -21 December 2006 Circuit: 5.380 kms Conditions: Dry. Cool on first day, with wind blowing sand on to the track, but improving on days two and three. SECOND QUICKEST FOR MAX. The Pirelli 3-day tests at Qatar finished with Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi posting the second fastest overall time, behind 2006 Superbike World Champion Troy Bayliss. Bayliss finished with a lap of 1:58.1, almost two seconds inside the lap record set by Noriyuki Haga earlier this year. The 2007 K7 GSX-R1000 Suzuki that Max and Yukio used in Qatar is very different in feel to the 2006 bike and both riders worked hard at understanding and developing the bike instead of chasing lap times. Max left it until his last lap of the 3-day tests before posting his best time, but team mate Yukio could only end with the eighth quickest time due to a mistake in tyre choice. Both riders gave valuable feedback to the team about engine characteristics and chassis set-up and these areas will be the main focus of attention and hard work before the next tests in January next year. MAX (best lap: 1:58.9) I think that this track is really difficult for us and the conditions on day one didn’t help us much. The track felt a bit slippery – probably because of the sand – and I didn’t want to push too hard, too soon and crash. When the conditions improved I was able to start to understand the feeling of the bike. It definitely didn’t feel as good initially as it did during our last tests in Valencia and we soon realised that we had a lot of work to do – probably more then the others here. For all of us, the bike is still new and we have to work on the stability of it as well as the characteristics of the engine. At the moment the engine doesn’t feel so smooth and that makes it difficult entering and exiting the corners. That, together with the behaviour of the chassis, means that I cannot get the bike to drive as smoothly as I would like. Like everybody else, I set my best lap time on a soft tyre- one that would not be able to last a complete race – but it was good to finish with the second best lap here. I am happy with how the team is working and am confident that they will be working just as hard on the build-up to the next tests. Suddenly the first race seems not so far away so I hope our next tests will solve some of our current problems. YUKIO (best lap: 2:00.1) I would’ve liked to have ended these tests with a faster lap time, but I am not too disappointed because we managed to do a lot of good work on the new K7 bike. Also, I think maybe our tyre choice was not so good when I was trying to do my best lap and I ended lower then I had wanted. We were a little held up by the conditions at the start of the test, but once they began to improve we were able to push a lot harder. We worked a lot on the chassis during these tests and at the end I felt that the bike was more comfortable and enjoyable to ride. We also worked on the behaviour of the engine and how to make the feeling more smooth and I think that there are improvements still to come in both these areas. The bike feels quite different to the 2006 model and Max, I and the whole team have to understand what is going on before we can make the changes required. We have only two tests before the first race and I hope by then the bike will be ready. A lot will depend on what we find in the next tests, but my feeling is quite positive. Winter tests: 19-21 December – Best laps 1 Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1’58″1; 2 MAX BIAGGI (I-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 1’58″9; 3 Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1’58″9; 4 Laconi (F-Kawasaki) 1’59″2; 5 Lanzi (I-Ducati) 1’59″3; 6 Toseland (GB-Honda) 1’59″4; 7 Haga (J-Yamaha) 1’59″7; 8 YUKIO KAGAYAMA (J-Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra) 2’00″1; 9 Nieto (E-Kawasaki) 2’00″5; 10 Rolfo (I-Honda) 2’01″7. More, from a press release issued by Yamaha Racing: Pirelli Test Session: Qatar Circuit: Losail, Doha Date: 19 – 21 December 2006 Temp: 21ºC Weather: Sunny, windy on first two days Corser and Haga prove new R1’s abilities at Losail test The second significant test session in the run-up to the 2007 season proved to be another giant step for the all-new YZF-R1 and despite poor track conditions in the early sessions and having a mountain of development parts to work through, both Yamaha Motor Italia riders, Troy Corser and Noriyuki Haga, were able to set fast times. Corser, highly impressive on the new machine at such an early stage in its development, proved to be second quickest rider overall, with a 1’58.9 best lap, while Haga had to wait until he got close to an optimum set-up to record a 1’59.7, less than a second from Corser. Fastest rider on show was 2006 champion, Troy Bayliss, with a 1’58.1. The Yamaha Motor Italia team had three different chassis specs in Losail, increasing in stiffness from standard to increasingly heavily braced, and the same number of rear swingarms, one near standard and two full race versions. The riders had to work their way through various combinations to choose the best one as a base, as well as try out the new generation of Pirelli tyres. Corser also tried out the full 2007 spec rear suspension unit. Troy Corser – Yamaha Motor Italia “Even given the conditions in the first couple of days this test has been good for us. We tried out three different rear swingarms, and three chassis, and worked our way through the various combinations of each. Trying out various new tyres at the same time makes it a bit harder but we are pretty happy overall. The longest run I did was about ten laps on the final afternoon and I think Troy Bayliss and I were about the only ones who could get the tyres to do a longish run. I only stopped my long run because the tyre had spun on the rim. We still have some things to work though, because we lost time by having to go in and out of the pits so much to change tyres. We still have a few things to go over again at Phillip Island but the main thing is that I feel comfortable on the bike after only a short time riding it. We were not that worried about lap times this test, as it was more about getting a feeling with the bike – but the lap times were coming in any case.” Noriyuki Haga – Yamaha Motor Italia “We have new swingarms and chassis to test but it is very hard to evaluate them when the track is the way it was in the first couple of days. But in the end we found a good combination of chassis and swingarm, but we did not get such a good feeling from the tyres as we hoped. We still need to work on the set-up of the back end of the bike because with so little grip from the track it is difficult to know the exact direction to take. On fresh tyres we can do the times. We did a long run but we could have made a longer one if we had more duration from the tyre life.” Massimo Meregalli – Team Coordinator – Yamaha Motor Italia “We are really happy about the test and the riders have delivered us a good reward for all the hard work we have put in during the last three months on the new R1. We worked really hard and the bike is already good. We go home to do some more work before we got to Australia, where we can make our final preparations for the start of the season.” Laurens Klein Koerkamp – Yamaha Racing Manager “The riders had a lot of material to work though, various chassis specs and swing arms to test, and there were a lot of options. Noriyuki found this difficult at first, but near the end he did a large quantity of laps and found a way. He set a constant range of fast laps in his longest run. Troy was fast from the beginning so you can easily see his experience of testing and in set-up. That is what we expected when we signed him, and it is clearly coming out now. His feedback is concise, clear, accurate and easy to understand for the engineers. And he is fast! Now, we need to go to Phillip Island to reconfirm what we found here. The biggest positives are how well the new bike is going, even at this stage, and how well Troy has worked with the team.” Unofficial times 1. Bayliss Ducati Xerox 1’58.1 2. Corser Yamaha Motor Italia 1’58.9 3. Biaggi Suzuki Alstare 1’58.9 4. Toseland Honda Ten Kate 1’59.1 5. Laconi Kawasaki PSG-1 1’59.2 6. Lanzi Ducati Xerox 1’59.3 7. Nieto Kawasaki PSG-1 1’59.5 8. Haga Yamaha Motor Italia 1’59.7 9. Kagayama Suzuki Alstare 2’00.1 10. Rolfo Honda Ten Kate 2’01.7 Pirelli Test Session: Qatar Circuit: Losail, Doha Date: 19 – 21 December 2006 Temp: 21ºC Weather: Sunny, windy on first two days Curtain and Parkes go 1-2 in Supersport Yamaha Motor Germany team-mates Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes had a busy three days in Qatar but found the optimum settings to handle the difficult track conditions, which were present almost throughout the test. The warmer final day provided a window of opportunity for the entire team and all the parts and machine settings scheduled to be tested were finally evaluated, resulting in impressive lap times. Curtain was fastest of all, by a single tenth of a second, setting a 2’02.5 with Parkes on 2’02.6, as they rolled out a new standard in the class at Losail. Despite the fast lap times the track conditions, even on day three, were not ideal for good rear tyre duration, although the team was particularly pleased to have found a front tyre from the new batch of choices, which withstood the demands of a gritty and relatively cold track surface. Kevin Curtain – Yamaha Motor Germany “Today was heaps better than the previous two, in terms of set-up and grip. We made big improvements to the suspension and we had lots of things to test. Unfortunately the first day was like riding around on a sandy tennis court! You couldn’t test anything and the sand chewed out the tyres in two laps. Today the wind went away as well and a bit of rubber on the track helped traction. We got a good gauge on what tyres will work or won’t work but we still have to work on the rears. Pirelli will sort that out, I’m sure.” Broc Parkes – Yamaha Motor Germany “It ended up pretty good. You could say perfect except for a crash I had in the morning of day two, but it went pretty well otherwise. We got through everything that we wanted to. The tyres worked well but the distance for the rear is the problem. It was too cold and too sandy on the surface and it needs to be warmer as well. Our times ended up really good but it would have been nice to have some even more competitive bikes around to benchmark us. I feel right on the bike, which is important.” Terrell Thien – Yamaha Motor Germany Team Manager “Not such an easy test as it was hard to find tyres, set-up and everything. But on the last day we found a good set-up, good tyres, but we still have some issues with the duration of the rears. For fronts we should be sorted, even if it is warmer or colder in the race. The times are particularly good in the early laps but the track was quite cold at this test, and it should be hotter for the race.” Pirelli Test WSS: Qatar Circuit: Doha, Losail Circuit Length: 5.380km Lap Record: 2’03.921 (Sebastien Charpentier, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever: 2’02.5 (Kevin Curtain, 2006, at this test) Temp: 21ºC Unofficial times 1. Parkes Yamaha Motor Germany 2’02.5 2. Curtain Yamaha Motor Germany 2’02.6 3. Nannelli Ducati SC Caracchi 2’03.3 4. Foret Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 2’04.5 5. Riba Kawasaki Gil Motorsport 2’05.2. More, from a press release issued by Troy Corser’s publicist: TROY HAPPY WITH SECOND IN QATAR Troy ended the 3-day Pirelli winter tests in Qatar in a happy frame of mind after finishing second quickest overall to fellow countryman Troy Bayliss (Ducati). Troy was very happy with what he and the team had achieved over the three days and also happy because his quickest lap was set easily and without even pushing hard. Bayliss put in a best lap of 1:58.1 – nearly two seconds under the lap record, set by Troy’s team mate Noriyuki Haga earlier in the race at the start of the season. Troy and the team will now take a well-deserved break before once again hitting the racetrack in January and continuing their work improving the 2007 R1. TROY – best lap 1:58.9 I am very happy how these tests in Qatar have gone and am happy with my R1 Yamaha. Generally everything went pretty well and I already have a good feeling with the bike. We didn’t quite get through everything we wanted to do, but we almost did – and that was good. We found some positive things and we will carry on working on them at the next tests. I didn’t find it at all hard to do the lap times and I wasn’t even pushing hard! When we made small changes to the chassis, I could feel it straightaway and knew what was going on. We tried some different swinging-arms, but left links to later – when we get round to the fine-tuning of the chassis. I can’t tell you how comfortable the bike feels – it feels like I’ve been riding it for a while, not just a couple of times. The riding style is very different and for me the bike feels like a real racebike – and I like that! We tried some changes to the engine – mechanical and electronic – to smooth out the power delivery and found some good solutions, so that’s another positive. In the next tests, we’ll basically try and verify our chassis settings and see how the bike works again. That will be at Phillip Island, which is a much better testing track then Qatar. I’ve always said that if you can get a bike to work well at Phillip Island, it’s going to work pretty good at almost every other track in the world. It’s also one of my favourite tracks, so I’m hoping to really enjoy myself there. See ya, Troy And of course, a Happy Christmas and New Year to you all.