After yesterday’s final GP race at Valencia that concluded the 2009 season, today began the first of three days of official testing in preparation for the 2010 that saw two new teams, new rookie riders and also several Moto2 bikes on the track.
Casey Stoner was back in form after his binning his Ducati in the warm-up lap yesterday and lead the field ending the session just 0.
025 secs ahead Jorge Lorenzo.
Here’s what the riders had to say after Day 1:Casey Stoner 1st 1’32.
660 : “We tried a new engine configuration designed at improving the rideability of the bike and for the moment it is going really well.
The feedback is more smooth and we improved traction with the same set-up we used over the weekend, so that is positive.
We also tried some different forks and in general I am satisfied.
We didn’t do many laps today – just tried to make sure we were working in the right direction.
I think we are and I can’t wait to get back on track tomorrow, when hopefully it won’t be as windy.
” Jorge Lorenzo 2nd 1′32.
685: “I was really excited to try this new version of the M1 today and I had a lot of motivation to get back to work.
The feeling out of the corner is much better and we have more grip already in the rear so it’s a big improvement for me.
We still need to work on accelleration but I like what we have so far and I think we will continue to be competitive like this year.
We have to wait and see the comparison between the old and new bike at a different track next year, but I am excited.
I’m quite tired because this is already our fourth day riding here, but I am happy to have one more day of testing.
”Valentino Rossi 3rd 1′32.
826: “It was quite hard work to get back on the bike today but it’s a very important test for us.
The new prototype we have already feels better than what we tried in Brno, so this is positive.
I was faster than with the old bike straight away so we know we’re working in the right way and hopefully we can improve some more tomorrow.
Of course we still have a 2009 specification engine and we won’t have an update until the next test in February, but the bike already feels more stable and has more rear grip.
Tomorrow we have quite a lot to get through and it will be an important day before we can finally relax.
”Dani Pedrosa 4th 1′ 33.
088:“We tested with the new 2010 bike today and also used Ohlins suspension.
The key thing was to begin getting used to the new suspension because the feelings are quite different and we need some time to find the set-up for the new chassis.
We didn’t do so many laps this afternoon because, with this kind of testing, you spend quite a lot of time in the box.
The feeling from the chassis was quite similar today – it’s the suspension that really feels different, and I think this is normal when you make a change like this.
The initial feeling is positive and we’ll come back tomorrow and get back down to work.
”Nicky Hayden 5th 1’33.
358: “I was really looking forward to getting back out on track today and starting work on next season.
We have a direction to work in and loads of work to do but we made a lot of progress already today.
We don’t have a lot of tyres available and just worked with two sets – a hard one and a softer one – with very similar times on both that were not far off my qualifying time from Saturday.
We tried some engine updates on one of the bikes, some forks and a couple of different settings but this is just the start and it is early to say which is best because the lap times have been very similar.
Ben Spies 6th 1.
33.
496:“I am really happy to finally make my debut for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team.
They are a great team and it feels good to finally get to work with them.
Today I was obviously on a different bike but with the same setting that I raced on and it felt good.
I improved on my qualifying time so it was a positive and productive day.
I really just focused on doing a couple of things different with my style and in the last two sessions I tried to do some things very different and it worked.
I was slowly able to chip away at the lap times, so it is encouraging that I’m getting faster and more comfortable without even making any changes to the set-up of the bike.
We’ll make some changes to the bike tomorrow, more for me to see what I can feel, than looking for big improvements.
”rally it’s been a good first day and I’m happy.
”Andrea Dovizioso – 7th 1′ 33.
675:“Today we tried the 2010 machine with the new chassis and swing arm.
It’s very early days of course, but the first impression is positive and the feeling is that we are working in a good direction.
The weight distribution is different in order to improve the stability of the machine under braking and to better suit the Bridgestone tyres.
We have two more days of testing here, and tomorrow we have the whole day to continue evaluating the new machine.
”Mika Kallio 8th 1′33.
726:“Today we have worked hard to understand where we could improve yesterday in the race.
It was a very good day with satisfactory timing feedback.
There are no major new technical things to try at this time but it will be from the first test 2010 that we will have the new bike.
”Randy De Puniet 9th 1’33.
775:“First we have tried to understand what happened yesterday when I struggled with rear grip issues during the race but we have not found a real solution to that problem.
After that we worked on some new things like the 2010 link of Öhlins suspension, a modified traction control software and some new braking system components.
I am pretty satisfied about the performance of the bike but I would like to get more stability in the rear which is our main job for tomorrow”.
Marco Melandri 10th 1’33”839:“It was a nice day, first of all going into the garage today and then getting on the bike.
It was a nice surprise to see how much the 800cc Honda has changed since 2007 – it is a very different bike to the one I rode that year.
I like it and we quickly got to work on the geometry, finding a good base to work from.
Tomorrow we’ll turn our attention to the suspension and a couple of other little things but for now I am happy.
The engine works differently to the Kawasaki so I need to get my feeling for the throttle back but my pace was consistent today, not far behind the other Hondas, and we got an impression of how much room there is for improvement.
Not bad, not bad!”Aleix Espargarò 11th 1′33.
878:“It was a good day of work: I am trying to figure out where I can improve on the bike.
I often try to hold different positions riding the bike to understand how the bike reacts.
Indeed today’s work has paid off as we succeeded in lowering our best race lap time by more than half a second.
We must continue to be more competitive at the beginning of next year.
”Colin Edwards 12th 1′33.
929 :“First of all I want to welcome Ben to the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team, or should that be Team Texas.
He’s joined a fantastic squad and we already love him here because his brilliant Yamaha debut in the race helped me get fifth in the world championship.
Personally I’m really excited about working with him in 2010 because he’s a talented rider, and I’m sure we’ll be motivating each other a lot.
I didn’t too many laps today and all I did was work on the wheelbase and some different front-end geometry.
The bike felt good and we definitely learned a couple of things by making the bike longer.
I’ve got a couple of other things to check on the bike tomorrow and then it will off for a hard earned winter break.
”Loris Capirossi 13th 1.
35.
229: “The test this afternoon has not been too bad for us, because the weather was so similar to yesterday we were able to do back-to-back comparisons on a couple of things without having to worry about outright lap-times.
We will make some big changes tomorrow because we have a lot of time and also a lot of things to try.
We got a better feeling today than we had all weekend and the new cowling and pipes certainly made a bit of difference.
It will be really important to get a full day tomorrow and make sure we understand the direction we are going in.
I think already that the direction for 2010 is clear and that we can improve a lot.
”Marco Simoncelli 14th 1’35”229:”Gosh, what a difference! It is not uncontrollable but the engine pulls a bit! My first impression is that these bikes are not as easy as people say and like with anything new you have to work hard at it.
I have given my thoughts to the engineers and I’m sure I’ll be faster tomorrow.
We started out with a setting designed for a rider with completely different physical dimensions to me and quickly made progress with the changes we made to adapt it.
We need to keep working like this and not try to get ahead of ourselves in this test.
I just have to get an understanding of the bike and find a direction with the set-up.
”Hiroshi Aoyama 17th 1′ 37.
964s.
“Today we started a little bit later than the other riders as last night we celebrated my 250 title.
Yesterday my dream cametrue and today a new adventure starts.
Even if I knew that I was going to ride a MotoGP bike, till yesterday I was 100 per cent focused on the 250.
Today I tested a 4 stroke MotoGP bike for the first time.
We lapped without traction control and electronic system (anti wheeling) to get used To the new machine.
I was not used also to carbon brakes so today I concentrated to study the carbon brakes.
For me everything was new today: new bike, new team so the first thing was to make laps and study the bike.
Tomorrow we have the whole day to test, this would be very important as today we only completed 40 laps .
”Day 1 unofficially lap times:1.
Stoner (Ducati) 1.
32.
660 (22 of 32 laps)2.
Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1.
32.
685 (40 of 45)3.
Rossi (Yamaha) 1.
32.
826 (26 of 37)4.
Pedrosa (Honda) 1.
33.
068 (23 of 31)5.
Hayden (Ducat) i 1.
33.
358 (55 58)6.
Spies (Yamaha 1.
33.
496 (47 of 50)7.
Dovizioso (Honda) 1.
33.
675 (38 of 51)8.
Kallio (Ducati) 1.
33.
726 (41 of 52)9.
De Puniet (Honda) 1.
33.
775 (49 of 61)10.
Melandri (Honda) 1.
33.
830 (57of 59)11.
Espargaro (Ducati) 1.
33.
878 (55 of 63)12.
Edwards (Yamaha) 1.
33.
929 (28 of 35)13.
Capirossi (Suzuki) 1.
34.
144 ( 23 of 55)14.
Simoncelli (Honda 1.
35.
229 (50 of 51)15.
Bautista (Suzuki) 1.
35.
772 (51 of 52)16.
Barbera (Ducati) 1.
36.
204 (59 of 63)17.
Aoyama (Honda) 1.
37.
964 (39 of 40)