Bautista takes Suzuki to the top
"Álvaro looked very assured and smooth
in the full wet conditions this afternoon –
it was nice to see his name at the top of
the sheets"
With the future of the Suzuki team still hanging in the balance, Alvaro Bautista provided a deserved morale boast by leading Friday afternoon's wet practice session for the Valencia season finale.
Bautista, whose 2012 plans are also undecided, improved from eleventh in the damp morning session to lead the fully wet afternoon outing by 0.314sec over Ducati's Nicky Hayden.
"In this morning's session I had a good feeling at the start, but as the track became drier it wasn't as good and I couldn't ride at the limit," Bautista explained. "The bike moved a lot and was spinning-up all over the track, so it was very difficult.
"In the second session, after the heavy rain, the track was much wetter and the conditions were a lot worse than this morning for all the riders, so it was essential that you rode smoothly and carefully. We changed some settings in the bike to help me get a confident feeling in the GSV-R and at the end of the session I was able to find a good rhythm.
"We finished first today and although it's only the second free practice, you cannot improve as much in the wet as you can in the dry, so this is very good for us.
"I hope that tomorrow we can make some improvements in drying conditions like we had earlier today, but if it is totally dry we still have plenty of work to do to get ready," concluded the home Spanish star.
Team manager Paul Denning gave credit to both rider and bike.
“Winter feels like it has arrived in Valencia and it didn't look like the most pleasant day to be on a Grand Prix bike out there. That said, cold and low grip conditions were always the situation that caused us the most problems and as we saw at Phillip Island a few weeks back - and again today - the steps that Suzuki has taken with the GSV-R have again proven to be very effective," he said.
"However, improvements to the motorcycle aren't enough because you also need a confident and capable rider and Álvaro looked very assured and smooth in the full wet conditions this afternoon – it was nice to see his name at the top of the sheets. I think Álvaro – and everyone else – would prefer some dry, sunny running over the next couple of days, but whatever the weather brings our intention is to push to the maximum and achieve the best result we can.”
World champion (Honda) led on the drier morning track, when he recorded the fastest time of the day.
Bautista, whose 2012 plans are also undecided, improved from eleventh in the damp morning session to lead the fully wet afternoon outing by 0.314sec over Ducati's Nicky Hayden.
"In this morning's session I had a good feeling at the start, but as the track became drier it wasn't as good and I couldn't ride at the limit," Bautista explained. "The bike moved a lot and was spinning-up all over the track, so it was very difficult.
"In the second session, after the heavy rain, the track was much wetter and the conditions were a lot worse than this morning for all the riders, so it was essential that you rode smoothly and carefully. We changed some settings in the bike to help me get a confident feeling in the GSV-R and at the end of the session I was able to find a good rhythm.
"We finished first today and although it's only the second free practice, you cannot improve as much in the wet as you can in the dry, so this is very good for us.
"I hope that tomorrow we can make some improvements in drying conditions like we had earlier today, but if it is totally dry we still have plenty of work to do to get ready," concluded the home Spanish star.
Team manager Paul Denning gave credit to both rider and bike.
“Winter feels like it has arrived in Valencia and it didn't look like the most pleasant day to be on a Grand Prix bike out there. That said, cold and low grip conditions were always the situation that caused us the most problems and as we saw at Phillip Island a few weeks back - and again today - the steps that Suzuki has taken with the GSV-R have again proven to be very effective," he said.
"However, improvements to the motorcycle aren't enough because you also need a confident and capable rider and Álvaro looked very assured and smooth in the full wet conditions this afternoon – it was nice to see his name at the top of the sheets. I think Álvaro – and everyone else – would prefer some dry, sunny running over the next couple of days, but whatever the weather brings our intention is to push to the maximum and achieve the best result we can.”
World champion (Honda) led on the drier morning track, when he recorded the fastest time of the day.
Crutchlow happy in the wet, 'sketchy' in
the damp
"The bike definitely felt better in the full wet rather than when it was a bit sketchy this morning" - Cal Crutchlow.
The reigning double American Superbike champion has been called up by the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team to replace an injured Colin Edwards.
Despite no prior experience of the bike, tyres or track, Hayes was 15th and then 10th in the two practice sessions, the first of which was held on a damp track and the second in fully wet conditions.
With the best times set this morning, Hayes finished his first day as a rider 2.5sec from world champion and ahead of Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga, riding the factory M1 in place of Colin Edwards.
“My first day in has been very difficult and quite scary at times to be honest. Before I went out this morning I don't think I have ever been so nervous in my life," revealed 36-year-old Hayes. "I was happy with my lap times this morning in tricky conditions but then in the full wet this afternoon it meant it was quite a scary introduction to MotoGP.
"Although I've not experienced the full potential of a bike because of the wet conditions, it is obvious that the Tech 3 Yamaha is a very good motorcycle and the team has done an excellent job to try and make me comfortable. All I had to do was ride the machine and try to improve.
"Right now it is not so much about the set-up of the bike, it is just me learning the bike and I will continue that process tomorrow. I just hope that at some point I will get to have a dry practice so I can get to grips with the carbon brakes.
"I don't want to be going into the race on Sunday having to learn to ride in the dry and also adjust to the carbon brakes after two wet days. That would be the worse scenario for me but I enjoyed today a lot. It was a great experience and once again I want to thank everybody at Yamaha, Tech 3 and Monster that made this possible.”
Regular Tech 3 rider Cal Crutchlow was tenth fastest, 1.5sec ahead of Hayes.
Cal Crutchlow, who starts the final round of the season with a one-point advantage over fellow rookie Karel Abraham, began a wet Valencia event with tenth overall in Friday practice.
The best times were set in the damp morning session, when the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider was three places higher than Abraham. But Crutchlow was happiest in the fully wet conditions of the afternoon, when he was fifth fastest – just behind Abraham, who fell.
“Today was a positive start to the weekend and I think I could have gone a fair bit quicker at the end of this afternoon's session and been challenging for the top three but I made a couple of small mistakes on my last lap," said Crutchlow, who led the session at one stage.
"But I was still fifth fastest though and I felt pretty comfortable in the full wet conditions. I am happy enough even though the track hasn't got much grip at all. It was very slippery and you've got to be careful because it is easy to make a mistake. But the bike definitely felt better in the full wet rather than when it was a bit sketchy this morning.
"I just hope we get a dry session tomorrow to get some time on the bike in the dry. Nobody wants to be starting the race with no dry track time, so we'll have to see what happens with the weather. If it is wet tomorrow I'm sure we can make some improvements and go a bit faster.”
The best times were set in the damp morning session, when the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider was three places higher than Abraham. But Crutchlow was happiest in the fully wet conditions of the afternoon, when he was fifth fastest – just behind Abraham, who fell.
“Today was a positive start to the weekend and I think I could have gone a fair bit quicker at the end of this afternoon's session and been challenging for the top three but I made a couple of small mistakes on my last lap," said Crutchlow, who led the session at one stage.
"But I was still fifth fastest though and I felt pretty comfortable in the full wet conditions. I am happy enough even though the track hasn't got much grip at all. It was very slippery and you've got to be careful because it is easy to make a mistake. But the bike definitely felt better in the full wet rather than when it was a bit sketchy this morning.
"I just hope we get a dry session tomorrow to get some time on the bike in the dry. Nobody wants to be starting the race with no dry track time, so we'll have to see what happens with the weather. If it is wet tomorrow I'm sure we can make some improvements and go a bit faster.”
Hayes: Difficult and scary MotoGP debut
“My first day in MotoGP has been very difficult and quite scary at times to be honest. Before I went out this morning I don't think I have ever been so nervous in my life" - Josh Hayes.
Josh Hayes performed admirably on his debut in tricky weather conditions at Valencia on Friday.The reigning double American Superbike champion has been called up by the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team to replace an injured Colin Edwards.
Despite no prior experience of the bike, tyres or track, Hayes was 15th and then 10th in the two practice sessions, the first of which was held on a damp track and the second in fully wet conditions.
With the best times set this morning, Hayes finished his first day as a rider 2.5sec from world champion and ahead of Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga, riding the factory M1 in place of Colin Edwards.
“My first day in has been very difficult and quite scary at times to be honest. Before I went out this morning I don't think I have ever been so nervous in my life," revealed 36-year-old Hayes. "I was happy with my lap times this morning in tricky conditions but then in the full wet this afternoon it meant it was quite a scary introduction to MotoGP.
"Although I've not experienced the full potential of a bike because of the wet conditions, it is obvious that the Tech 3 Yamaha is a very good motorcycle and the team has done an excellent job to try and make me comfortable. All I had to do was ride the machine and try to improve.
"Right now it is not so much about the set-up of the bike, it is just me learning the bike and I will continue that process tomorrow. I just hope that at some point I will get to have a dry practice so I can get to grips with the carbon brakes.
"I don't want to be going into the race on Sunday having to learn to ride in the dry and also adjust to the carbon brakes after two wet days. That would be the worse scenario for me but I enjoyed today a lot. It was a great experience and once again I want to thank everybody at Yamaha, Tech 3 and Monster that made this possible.”
Regular Tech 3 rider Cal Crutchlow was tenth fastest, 1.5sec ahead of Hayes.
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