Ducati Team starts Valencia weekend well
The first day of the GP de la Comunitat Valenciana started off well for the Ducati Team, with Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden riding comfortably in the wet conditions that marked both free-practice sessions.
The teammates posted the third and fourth best times of the day, respectively, their fastest laps coming in the morning session. Conditions were slightly worse in the afternoon, and all of the MotoGP riders lapped more slowly. Forecasts for tomorrow and for Sunday’s race are uncertain, although conditions are expected to improve slightly.
Nicky Hayden:
“This was actually the first time I’ve ever ridden the GP11.1 in the wet, and I was really happy with how it felt. The track was extremely slippery. We came from Malaysia and Australia, where the surface would dry in no time, but here, even when it would stop raining, it just wouldn’t dry. The grip was really low, especially on corner entry, but we made a few steps through the day that seemed to help. I’m not going to lie; it would’ve been nice to end up in P1, even though it’s just Friday afternoon, but we spent a lot of time at the top and put up quite a few red helmets (the monitor’s indication for a best time in a sector or lap). We’ll see what the weather does tomorrow, but regardless, we got some good information.”
Valentino Rossi:
“Our bike works very well in the wet, so this morning I was able to push and to stay up there near the front. In the afternoon we had a few more problems because we made a mistake with the rear setting. I couldn’t manage to find grip under acceleration, or to ride the bike well like in the morning. I should add that we’re a bit on the limit regarding the asphalt conditions, because it’s very worn and has terrible grip. The rain and the cold make it worse, and it’s very difficult to ride. We’ll have to see how to proceed throughout the weekend, because if it stays wet, we could do pretty well. If it improves, we’ll have to see how we are in the dry.
Positive start for the Repsol Honda Team in wet Valencia
The final round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship kicked off today under difficult conditions at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia.
The cold temperatures that reached a high of 16 degrees in the afternoon, mixed in with rain showers throughout the day, resulted in a very slick circuit making it almost impossible to take any direction in set up of the bike. Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa finished first and second respectively in the combined free practice times, with Andrea Dovizoso in ninth position.
The final classification of this first day of free practice sessions was determined in this morning's FP1 when, with the track drying up in the last minutes, new World Champion Casey Stoner set a fastest lap of 1'45.513, closely followed by Dani Pedrosa with a 1'45.736 lap and Andrea Dovizioso 0.889 off Stoner.
The weather forecast predicts good weather for tomorrow, but nobody trusts the skies. Regardless, Stoner will be looking for another great result and more points to consolidate his lead in the World Championship. Andrea Dovizioso will do his best to visit the podium again, especially here at his home race, and Dani Pedrosa, who is suffering great pain in his return to racing, will try to make one of his notorious good starts to arrive with the front group from early on.
Casey Stoner:
"It hasn't been a great day to be honest, we've never had a great feeling here in the wet. I love riding this circuit in the dry, but there seems to be some sort of oil or grease on the circuit, I'm not sure if it's due to a lot of car rubber down but it makes things hard for sure. It's been pretty useless in terms of finding a good set up, both sessions began with a little water and then drying out towards the end, when it's like this you're chasing the set up all day so we didn't do too much work on the bike. We tried a few small things to make it better in the wet, but then as it dried up we saw everything we had done was a waste of time. We'll wait and see what tomorrow brings and if it does rain again I hope it at least rains consistently so we can get a full wet session in."
Dani Pedrosa:
"This morning we had a very good run, but in the afternoon we had some issues on the bike with the rear shock and I only managed a few laps, spending a lot of time in the garage making changes. The track surface is quite old and very slippery, even when the track was drier it was still tough. The feelings are not so bad and I think we need to be ready for mixed weather conditions, improving the set up step by step. Let's wait and see if tomorrow we have some dry sessions to get out on slick tyres, this would be important to better understand the direction to take on the set up of the bike."
Andrea Dovizioso:
"Today the conditions of the track were really demanding as there was no grip. We did good work with the team and we were careful not to make mistakes as we didn't want to take additional risks with these difficult conditions. All in all, I'm quite satisfied as I was able to ride quiet fast without pushing too much but of course we need to keep on working. I hope that tomorrow the weather and the track situation will improve."
"Surreal atmosphere" in the San Carlo Gresini box
The first day of practice at the Gran Premio Generali de la Comunitat Valenciana, the first without Simoncelli, was a very sad and surreal one in the Team San Carlo Honda Gresini garage.
Marco Simoncelli has left a gaping hole behind him and the feeling of sadness was tangible today. Hiroshi Aoyama is desperate to honour his team-mate in the best way possible but he struggled for grip today on a slippery track surface and eventually crashed at the end of this afternoon's wet session.
Hiroshi Aoyama:
"The conditions made life hard today and I had a crash. The grip levels weren't the best and even though I tried to find the limit it was very hard and I am not happy with the result. I hope I can be faster tomorrow and on Sunday. This is an important Grand Prix for me because it is my last in MotoGP and I am desperate to have a good race to honour Marco, who we are all missing greatly. I will try to do my best for all these reasons.”
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