At the end of the first day of Moto 1 testing at Valencia saw Dani Pedrosa top the timesheets and take over from his team mate Casey Stoner who lead for most of the testing session on the Honda RC213V.
Pedrosa’s best lap time was 1.
32.
816 which was a little more than a tenth of second faster than the reigning World Champion.
Ben Spies was third on the 2012 Yamaha M1, while Yamaha Tech3 rider Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso who switched from Honda to Yamaha, also tried out the new machine.
Dovizioso also tried out the 800cc M1 before hitting the track with 1000cc.
Crutchlow was 5th while Dovizioso ended up 7th.
Valentino Rossi debuted the GP0 Ducati laboratory bike with the perimetral aluminium chassis as did Hector Barbera who is now riding for Pramac Ducati and Karel Abraham, while Nicky Hayden had to bow out after finding out that he has a fractured scaphoid and radius, that may require surgery.
The 800s were also on track.
Suzuki , according to MCN has a Friday deadline to decide if they are staying in MotoGP in 2012, tried out Randy de Puniet and he immediately was fast on the GSV-R 800 infact he posted a best time of 1.
33.
544 meaning he was almost as fast as Alvaro Bautista was during FP3 Saturday morning.
Rumors have it that Bautista who didn’t test any machine today will going to Gresini Honda, despite having been courted by Lucio Cecchinello over these last few months.
Bradl went out on the LCR Honda 800 and it wasn’t just a gift for winning the Moto2 title, he put in a massive 62 laps which means he was testing for a real ride and tomorrow will continue his test with Cecchinello’s team.
The CRT’s which Carmelo Ezpeleta hopes will fill up the grid had three prospective teams on track; Iván Silva with Inmotec, Carmelo Morales on the Laglisse Suter/BMW, Gianluca Nannelli and Federico Sandi tested Grillini’s Gapam’s machine and Bikesportnews is reporting that Paul Bird will be also joining Moto1 in 2012 using an Aprilia RSV4 powerplant and James Ellison will be their rider.
Rider quotes:Dani Pedrosa“It’s been a good day for testing after so much rain!The track conditions were good which allowed us to work well on the bike and get the first feeling with the new RCV.
We made a step forward from August, when I first tried the bike in Brno which is a good thing: we modified the front end a little and I felt the corner entry is better, also under braking.
I’m quite satisfied, not because of the lap times but more for the feeling I had.
It was a bike test but also a rider test, I feel it’s like a schooling for me also and I enjoyed it.
Not only the bike is new, also the tyres are different for these bikes, the engine is new, you have more power and more torque.
We’ve been riding 800cc quite a long time and I feel that I need to adapt my riding style a little and it’s interesting.
It’s more fun, in general.
” Casey Stoner Everything has gone pretty well for us we’re struggling a little bit with the new tyres, we’re finding they are giving us a little bit of chatter on the bike.
We compared the bike that we tested in Jerez and Brno to the newer version we have here and we found quite a lot of improvements in some small ways with chattering but we still need to work on this some more.
In general it was good to be out there on the 1000 and feel the horsepower, it’s a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to feeling it on a lot of different tracks!” Ben Spies “We weren’t too worried about lap times today, we made a lot of small changes to the bike including geometry changes, electronics etc to make the bike as comfortable as possible.
Tomorrow we’ll try a different chassis spec so we can choose which one to go forward in.
We confirmed which direction to go with in power delivery today which is good.
This is testing so we never got close to the limit with the bike; it’s about riding at 90% consistently to test the motorcycle.
When we get the full package next year in Sepang we’ll go closer to the limit.
I can’t complain about the engine power though, we don’t need any more.
It’s a shame my team mate Jorge is not here today, I know that whatever you give him he can go fast on it! I’m looking forward to getting his feedback as well when we test together in Sepang.
”Randy de Puniet:“I am very happy with the job I have done today and would like to thank Rizla Suzuki for giving me this opportunity.
One hour before I rode the bike I didn’t know I was going to be on it, so I had to modify old leathers to remove the wrong brands! I had a good day and am very happy with the lap-time and position.
The staff are very professional and it has been nice to have this day and to work with them.
I was very impressed with the bike and I felt comfortable immediately and enjoyed it a lot.
I would like to ride it next year, I’m not the boss, but I hope I did a good job for everybody! I think the bike has good potential and also the feeling with everybody in the team was good and this is the most important thing for me – to feel at home.
I would like to say thank-you to my manager for pushing so hard to get me this opportunity, to Pramac for allowing me to take it and to Sahara san, Paul, Tom and the GSV-R for such a good day!”Valentino Rossi “This bike is nicer to ride than the 800, even if we’re only just starting our work.
You can say that it’s improved in some respects, while in others, it’s very similar to the other bike, but that’s exactly what we expected.
We know we’re doing preparatory work for the bike that we’ll use in the 2012 winter tests, which are very important.
The engine seems to be pretty good already.
It’s fast, although I never really found myself with the others to do a direct comparison.
On the other hand, I’m a little slower in mid-corner, and we also have to try to improve rear grip because for now, we’re not able to get the power to the ground and take full advantage of it.
But it’s not bad for a first taste, and the really important thing is that we can work more freely, changing the bike’s balance, the weight distribution, the measurements, and whatever we need as we prepare for the important next three months of work.
”Nicky Hayden: “This morning I put my leathers on to go out, but I was still pretty uncomfortable.
I went to the mobile clinic for a painkiller, and when I got there, the doctor said it would be better to get a proper scan.
They set me up for an MRI at a local clinic, and the fractures were pretty clear.
After talking to the doctor and my physiotherapist, we decided not to ride, even though we do have some stuff we’d like to test for Ducati.
The scaphoid is a unique bone, and if you mess with it, it can take a long time to heal because it gets limited blood supply.
I just have to be smart and watch the test.
We’ll get some more opinions and decide whether to get surgery.
”Hector Barbera:“I am very happy with this new adventure with the Pramac Racing and the Ducati 1000cc.
The bike, compared to last year’s one that we used on last Sunday’s race has changed a lot.
We can feel a lot that the engine is more powerful, and from my point of view is much more fun to ride on track.
The new chassis improves the handling of the bike.
The bike reacts much better while entering and going through the corners and this helps me a lot.
The first impression is good and the bike gives me more confidence.
Tomorrow we are back on track!MotoGP Valencia Day 1 test times:1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1:32.
186 – – (40)2 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 1:32.
322 +0.
136 +0.
136 (42)3 Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 1:33.
226 +0.
904 +1.
040 (73)4 Randy De Puniet Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1:33.
544 +0.
318 +1.
358 (55)5 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech3 1:33.
652 +0.
108 +1.
466 (75)6 Valentino Rossi Ducati Team 1:33.
857 +0.
205 +1.
671 (71)7 Andrea Dovizioso Monster Yamaha Tech3 1:33.
859 +0.
002 +1.
673 (49)8 Hector Barbera Pramac Racing Team 1:34.
174 +0.
315 +1.
988 (57)9 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda MotoGP 1:34.
330 +0.
156 +2.
144 (62)10 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 1:34.
393 +0.
063 +2.
207 (61)11 Franco Battaini Ducati Team 1:35.
371 +0.
978 +3.
185 (29)12 Kousuke Akiyoshi Repsol Honda Team 1:35.
728 +0.
357 +3.
542 (34)13 Ivan Silva BQR Inmotec 1:37.
159 +1.
431 +4.
973 (44)14 Carmelo Morales TeamLaglisse 1:38.
989 +1.
830 +6.
803 ( 33)15 Gianluca Nannelli Grillini Team 1:39.
173 +0.
184 +6.
987 (24)16 Federico Sandi Grillini Team 1:39.
827 +0.
654 +7.
641