After the second day of testing in hot and humid Sepang, here’s what the riders had to say:Valentino Rossi: Position: 3rd Time: 2.
01.
626 Laps: 40“Today we tested some new electronic solutions in order to allow me to open the throttle earlier and they were not bad at all, but we still need to work to improve it even more.
This afternoon the stitches hurt me a bit, but my pace was still very good so I am happy.
At the end of the day I had some fun with Loris Capirossi; we did a couple of laps together and I think that he enjoyed it a lot, because he beat me! I had fun, a lot of fun; it was like the good old times! Today I did not do the long run; I will do it tomorrow if my physical condition allows it.
I may have to do it in two parts, so that it won’t put too much stress on my stitches.
It will be interesting to do the long run with the new tyres, but I am not expecting it to be so much slower than last year.
”Jorge Lorenzo: Position: 10th Time: 2.
03.
056 Laps: 51“Today was still quite difficult, although I am improving slowly.
On this second day we have worked on our braking, because we have seen that Valentino is braking sooner than me and so I need to adapt.
I need to use the hours we have and the available tyres in the best way possible, but that’s the same for everybody! My main problems at the moment are the braking and the corner speed.
Right now I don’t feel at one with the bike and this means I don’t have the confidence to ride fast.
I know I can be faster than this because my bike isn’t much different to Valentino’s and he is quicker than me.
Of course he was using Bridgestones last year as well and I am new to them, but Colin is also fast so this shows how competitive the bike is.
Today we didn’t find the solution, but we still have tomorrow lef t! The aim will be for me to try to adapt, and not to change too many things on the bike.
If I can improve a bit, then maybe we will try a long run.
”Niccolò Canepa: Position: 14 Time: 2.
04.
021 Laps: 45“In this second day of work things have gone a bit better for us.
We have shortened the gears and we were able to result faster in top speed in the two final straights.
We are still missing something and I hope that tomorrow we will find new solutions to be even faster.
My feeing with the bike has also improved.
Now, together with my track engineer, we are analyzing other riders’ data to understand where I still make some mistakes.
At the end of the day I also managed to stay behind Loris Capirossi for a few laps and I noticed that in a couple turns I take a different line.
Tomorrow I will try to change to see if it will help me to reduce a bit more my lap times.
”Mika Kallio: Position: 13 Time: 2.
04.
021 Laps: 55“Today we have lost some time because we have meet the same problem encountered yesterday and this has in part limited our performances.
We made it anyway to work on various technical aspects.
Sincerely I expected more from today after the good start done yesterday.
I hope the weather conditions will be the same also tomorrow so that we will be able to ride for as many laps as possible during the all day.
”Casey Stoner: Position: 1st Time: 2.
01.
483 Laps: 29 laps“The wrist is giving me a lot of problems and I can’t manage more than two or three laps at a time, so it’s difficult to work on set-up because I’m having to break off too often.
We’ve still managed to do some work on improving the feeling on the GP9, with some changes to the rear set-up that have improved the bike in the area we were suffering the most.
Now it is much easier to ride.
I still can’t ride how I want though and we really need to string a run of consistent laps together, although I know that if I can get a little closer to 100% fitness that problem will be resolved.
Hopefully the wrist will feel a bit better tomorrow so that I can try and do a longer run and confirm the positive feedback we’ve had from the bike today.
”Nicky Hayden: Position: 9th Time: 2′03.
034 Laps: 58 laps“We made a big improvement immediately this morning on used tyres and I was able knock a second off my best time from yesterday.
We struggled a bit in the afternoon, though, and didn’t manage to improve any further.
I can’t push it on the harder compound tyre because it makes the rear move around so much more and the bike becomes unstable.
At the end of the session we made a little change that improved the situation and I was able to get back onto my better lap times.
The Bridgestones are really consistent and that makes our job a lot easier.
Today I did 35 laps on the same front tyre without any problems! We know and I know that there is a lot of work to be done.
Everything is still very new to me – the engine characteristics, the chassis and the tyres, as well as the way the team works together.
Obviously it’s not easy to put all that together straight away.
We’re working hard though and the improvements will come.
”Sete Gibernau: Position: 11th Time: 2.
03.
308 Laps: 34“We’ve done a great job today.
We tried to work on both the chassis and the electronics because they are both very important areas with this bike.
The programme was pretty clear although on a couple of occasions we lost our way a little – especially with the electronics.
Now it’s a case of sitting down and working out why that happened, where we went wrong, and this is the ideal time for that kind of thing.
I feel good – it was a positive day’s work because we’ve been able to try a few things for the first time.
Like everybody we’re trying to work out how to get as much life as we can out of the tyres but like I said the most important thing today was figuring out the electronics.
”Randy DePuniet: Position: 17th Time: 2.
04.
507 Laps: 48“It’s very difficult for me to ride in these conditions.
We tried many things to adjust the setting but I still struggle on corner entries.
I cannot take on corners as I normally do.
If I push a bit more I could easily crash and this is very frustrating.
”“Meanwhile the engine performance is getting better and this makes me more confident for the future.
I know that my team is working hard to find a solution.
The season is very long and this is just the first test.
”Dani Pedrosa: Position: 4th Time: 2.
01.
860 Laps: 51“I’m satisfied of the work done today, we focused on chassis and suspension and also worked with tyres in order to find the best compromise with our machine.
Today I was much more comfortable on the bike, I could be faster from the first laps and we could work on the bike testing all the items we had to test for this test session.
In fact I know this bike, which is an evolution of last year bike, and this gives me an advantage compared to last year, when the bike was completely new for me.
We have pointed out the aspects we want to improve for Qatar.
Tomorrow a race simulation was scheduled but at the end we decided to end the test session because today I could only do 5,6 laps in a row and tomorrow I won’t be able to cover the race distance.
Last December, in fact, I underwent an intervention to the left knee for the consequences suffered when I slid off in Phillip Island during the last race in October.
I only need some rest”.
Andrea Dovizioso: Position: 8th Time: 2.
02.
434 Laps: 44 “Today we focused on bike set up and we continued evaluating the chassis.
We found some very good points and some aspects that need to be improved.
My lap times have improved today even if we haven’t found the best compromise at the moment, this is a good feeling because I could be fast today also without the best configuration.
Tomorrrow we will continue testing and I’d like to define with the team the direction to follow for next test session scheduled at the beginning of March in Qatar”.
Toni Elias: Position: 6th Time: 2.
02.
232 Laps: 51“I am satisfied with this second day.
I still have to learn the bike but in general I am happy with the package that we have at our disposal.
We have continued to work on bike set-up and on tyres in order to find the best compromise with the bike.
”Alex DeAngelis: Position: 12th Time: 2.
03.
518 Laps: 41“At the end of the day, the feelings have been decidedly positive.
After having worked with the team and having tried various solutions it seems that we have taken the right road.
Sure there is much more work to do but the my pace has improved.
“I am still finding it hard to ride as I would like and this has slowed my lap time.
On the long straights of this circuit the bike is very fast, while we miss a bit of power at low revs.
”