Laguna Seca is a tight and twisty track and finding the proper set-up is essential to avoid excessive tire wear.
The softer tire that Bridgestone brought in works well in the morning, but the MotoGP riders have already decided that the harder option is the one that they’ll use for the race when afternoon temperatures are much higher.
As usual all eyes were on the struggling Ducati factory team, especially on Nicky Hayden, who got his first chance to ride the GP11.
1 and the American seemed pretty positive about the gearbox, and even had the luxury of finishing ahead of his team mate Valentino Rossi on the same bike, but still has to decide on which GP11 he’ll use come Sunday.
Rossi is continuing his downward spiral and declared that the Ducati has some problems that his team can’t fix, because they are inherent to the character of the bike.
Jorge Lorenzo – 1st“I am very happy to be back riding here at Laguna, a track I love.
Today went pretty well, the bike felt ok.
P1 I’m happy with but we need to try to improve corner entry for the bike because there are some tenths in that and it will give me more confidence turning in.
It’s not so bad to begin and we will try to go faster tomorrow!” Dani Pedrosa – 2nd“The second session in the afternoon was pretty interesting, we made some changes on the bike and tried the race tyre, looking to set up the bike to absorb the bumps of which there are many in this track and they especially affect the front.
The grip was a little poor today and it was also very windy out there, so we haven’t yet found the perfect ride.
In the morning we tried the softer compound and it had a little more grip, and in the afternoon, with the race tyre, it was more difficult to find grip, but perhaps the track conditions were not perfect, so we are hoping to keep improving tomorrow”.
Casey Stoner – 3rd“We’ve been trying all day to get a slightly different balance with the bike to get the tyres working differently but we’re struggling to get the feeling that we want and that we’ve had in the past.
We’ve changed the set up quite substantially, with pivot positions and trying to get the rear to work with a little less temperature in the tyre, which we’ve accomplished but still haven’t got the grip that we want and we’re creating too much wheel spin.
Also, we’re struggling to find a good feeling in the front and just not totally comfortable with the bike in general so we have a some work to do tonight and will continue in the morning to get prepared for qualifying”.
Andrea Dovizioso – 4th“This afternoon we did a comparison between two different set ups and the feeling improved.
We still have a gap of four tenths from the first rider, but we lapped more consistently.
We need to keep on working to improve the pace and the feeling with the front but in general I’m confident that tomorrow we will be able to make another step forward.
Compared to the first free practice, lap times came easier this afternoon and tomorrow we will continue working in this direction”.
Ben Spies – 5th“Today hasn’t been bad, we’ve worked on a lot of different set ups.
We haven’t found a perfect one, we’ve found a compromise so far but tomorrow we have a pretty good game plan on what we’re going to fine tune from the bike we ended on today to get a bit of a better set up for front feel.
I’m feeling good, I can tell the bike has it in it, you can see that from Jorge we’re just not getting the maximum from it yet.
”Marco Simoncelli – 6th“I am struggling a little here at Laguna to get on the pace like I have done at other circuits.
We are not far off but so far I haven’t established a good feeling with the bike.
I probably also need to find a faster way round the track, which is not an easy one and not one I know so well.
I am quite fast in the second and third sectors, which includes the ‘Corkscrew’, but I am losing time in the first and fourth, so we have to improve my acceleration out of the last turn and try to find more confidence in those two sectors.
”Alvaro Bautista – 7th“This morning the track was very cold so we started with the softer tyres and from the beginning it felt like we didn’t have very much grip from the rear when entering a corner.
The contact feeling wasn’t quite right so we worked on improving that and we also tried some different electronics settings for the spin control.
In the second session the track temperatures had increased so we used the harder compound tyres, but we seemed to have the same problem as this morning with corner entry grip.
This didn’t give me a good feeling and made me slower in the corner and on the exit than I wanted to be.
We worked hard to try and resolve it but we didn’t quite manage it, so it gives us something to work towards tomorrow.
My lap-times and rhythm were not too bad though and I was able to follow some fast guys quite easily, so this is a good sign.
I hope that tomorrow we can improve on the rear grip and do some work on the gearbox, because we are not at our maximum here just yet.
So we have a lot of work to do on Saturday, but at the moment I am very confident because my feeling is positive like it was last week in Germany.
”Randy De Puniet – 8th “A good first day of work.
We made it to improve by seventh tenths of a second compare to this morning and this give us good expectations for the next couple of days of work.
I really enjoyed today the track, we have tried many solutions but as we kept the same rear tyre during the session we couldn’t make it to improve more in the last few laps.
I am confident.
”Colin Edwards – 9th“Today was a decent start and I’m happy with the way things went.
In terms of the position it is not my best start to a weekend at Laguna Seca, but I’m actually happier with the feeling of the bike than I have been for a long time at this track.
The bike felt really good from the start, though we can make some improvements to the rear tomorrow just to make it feel a bit smoother and a bit less nervous.
I’m confident for the rest of the weekend because I’m pretty close to the top six and we know we can go faster.
I want to say a big thanks also to Bridgestone.
They agreed to bring some softer tyres for this weekend and it was definitely the right choice.
When it was cool this morning we really needed the softer tyres, so everybody could just get a feel for the track and get comfortable without taking too many risks.
We ran the harder tyre this afternoon and that will definitely be the race tyre, and we got some good information with that too, so I’m optimistic that I can put on a good show for the American fans, who have been amazing already this weekend.
”Nicky Hayden – 10th “It’s nice to be back at Laguna, a track I love, and things started off okay with the new bike.
It was my first time with it, but it wasn’t something I needed a lot of time to get familiar with since I’ve ridden the GP12, which is similar.
We’re just trying to evaluate it, and it definitely has some pluses.
The gearbox is really nice, so Ducati has done a great job with that.
We’re always trying different things like shock springs and new settings, but it’s not every day that you get to ride with a new gearbox that probably everybody will have in the future.
We’re just trying to decide which bike will give us the best chance for a good result on Sunday.
”Valentino Rossi – 11th “After yesterday’s technical briefing with Jerry and the team, we decided to continue with the new bike, so I only used the GP11.
1.
We started with one bike that had the Sachsenring setup, which has a significant change to the weight distribution, while the second bike had a standard setup.
I actually prefer the one from Germany.
We need to keep working to balance the bike and to improve the rear grip, and then we hope to get a little closer to the pace of the others.
We have to try to do better than we have at the last couple of races, and especially to start closer to the front.
I’m pleased that Bridgestone brought some soft tyres, which worked well in the cool temperatures this morning, although I felt better with the hard when the conditions were warmer in the afternoon.
If race conditions are like this, that’s what I’ll use.
” Hector Barbera – 12th“We have tried two different tyre compounds today and it looks like the harder of the two works the best.
I suffered for grip throughout the first half of this morning’s session but as soon as we switched to the hard my feeling improved.
I really enjoy riding at this circuit and I think that even though our position is some way down the order we have started the Grand Prix well because we have improved with every outing.
The objective for tomorrow is to cut the gap to the top and compete to be the best Ducati.
We tried a few things this afternoon that we weren’t sure about, including a different rear shock.
We weren’t too keen on it but we didn’t have time to change back.
The time flew past today but I have enjoyed myself.
It is only day one and we have lots of room to improve.
”Cal Crutchlow – 13th “It wasn’t a bad day at all although obviously I want to be much higher up than 13th.
At the moment it is quite difficult to do the lap time.
I know going fast never comes easy but it feels like I’m quite close to the limit and I’m still over 1.
6s behind.
I’m the best of the rookies and that’s a good start but it seems we’ve taken a step si deways and everybody else has taken a step forward.
The bike feels better than Germany last weekend but we can still make it better.
We’re not far away and we’ve got some ideas to work on tonight but it also a lack of track knowledge that doesn’t help.
Trying to learn the track and go fast at the same time is not easy, but I’m making progress.
The track itself is really good fun.
The Corkscrew is pretty amazing although I’ve run off there twice.
The key part is the approach and it is weird running up to it, because you can’t even see it as you climb the hill.
But it is a pretty amazing corner and it feels like you’re dropping off the end of the earth.
”Karel Abraham – 14th“It’s not easy to ride at this circuit, some of the corners are situated in such a way that you can’t see the apex until you enter them.
It’s quite a big gap.
We have to work hard to minimize the diference between us and the riders ahead of us.
Laguna Seca is a new circuit for me, we will do our best and then we will see.
“Toni Elias – 15th“This is a tricky track a bit different from the others but I really enjoy racing here.
We have been working on bike set as always but here we run only one machine and it’s hard to make big changes: if you do a mistake it’s difficult to come back with only 45-minute session.
However this first outing was quite positive and if we can fine tune the bike for tomorrow I am sure we can improve and I can have more fun”.
Hiroshi Aoyama – 16th“It has been a difficult day, especially this morning.
The afternoon was slightly better and we were able to work on tyre choice for the race.
I hope we can improve tomorrow and secure a good position on the grid.
”Loris Capirossi – 17th“In the afternoon it was probably more difficult because I only took one painkiller to try to understand which were my real physical conditions.
Sincerely I found more complications as I couldn’t make it to ride as in the first free practice session.
Tomorrow it will surely not be easy, but I am here to ride and give the maximum to climb the classification.
”Ben Bostrom – 18th“Well… it was a great experience and I enjoyed myself very much.
The adjustment we made for this afternoon session worked better and chassis set up felt better.
I feel overall that Bridgestone tyres are very good and the grip level is very high.
I am struggling with the front in braking and turning into the corners so, in the last run, I took the opportunity to watch the other riders to see how they brake and how they turn into the corners of “my” race track”.