Hayes Comments On ‘Scary’ First Day
Josh Hayes made an impressive MotoGP debut but admitted it wasn't as easy as it may have looked
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Cal Crutchlow and Josh Hayes quickly got to grips with challenging conditions at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia today to finish a rain-hit opening of practice displaying impressive speed and consistency.
British rider Crutchlow was 10th quickest in this morning's opening practice session on a damp track after heavy early morning rain had soaked the 2.489 miles circuit. He posted a best time of 1.46.581 to finish just over a second away from the fastest pace.
The second session took place on a full wet track after torrential rain battered the Valencia circuit in the build-up to the start of the 45-minute practice. Crutchlow once again adapted himself superbly to the tricky conditions and he briefly topped the timesheets as he worked on improving the wet setting of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team machine to find better traction.
With the track surface much wetter than in the morning session, lap times were slower as a result but Crutchlow's best time of 1.49.350 secured the 26-year-old fifth place.
Today's performance from double American Superbike Champion Hayes, who is replacing injured compatriot Colin Edwards, was truly outstanding. Hayes has no knowledge of the tight and twisty Valencia track and he had never ridden Yamaha's prototype YZR-M1 machine before today.
The wet conditions didn't make his task any less complicated but Hayes acquitted himself magnificently and this morning he was only 1.5s away from the top 10.
Quickly adapting himself to the Bridgestone rain tires and the sophisticated electronics on the YZR-M1 machine, Hayes opted to gain as much experience as possible this afternoon by staying on track throughout the session. He completed 24 successive laps and managed to clock a best time of 1.50.509 to finish in 10th position. His time was good enough to comfortably outpace regulars Loris Capirossi, Hector Barbera. Hiroshi Aoyama and Toni Elias.
Crutchlow and Hayes rode with Sic58 stickers on the front of their Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bikes today in honor of Italian Marco Simoncelli, who lost his life in a tragic accident during the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang on October 23.
Cal Crutchlow 10th 1.46.581 – 34 laps:
“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. 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.”
Josh Hayes 15th 1.48.037 – 44 laps:
“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. 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 MotoGP 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.”
Banged Up Spies Suffers Another Crash
It wasn't the Friday Ben Spies was looking for as he crashed in the wet, doing no favors to his already sore body
The Grand Prix of Valencia got underway today in difficult track conditions. The morning practice was run on a partly damp but drying circuit and the afternoon session was fully wet. Yamaha Factory rider Ben Spies took his first ride this morning since withdrawing from the Malaysian Grand Prix, gradually building up speed to finish in sixth, 0.7 seconds from first in the difficult conditions. The afternoon session saw the Texan crash out after a small mistake braking into turn one, crossing the white paint and losing grip on the slippery surface. Spies escape relatively unscathed but sore and unable to complete the session, wrapping up in 14th place. Jorge Lorenzo’s replacement rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga was fully committed to the challenge of learning the Valencia circuit in today’s treacherous weather conditions. Nakasuga-san gradually built up confidence over the day as his circuit knowledge increased, moving from last place in the morning practice to 11th in the second session.
Ben Spies 6th
“I’m a little beat up but that’s normal after a crash. I got a little wide over the white line and hit a puddle and hydroplaned the front, lost it and went down. The bike was starting to feel pretty good and we were getting up to speed. It’s not the best way to come back, I’m not really happy about it but we’ll look forward to tomorrow and make it better. We made a change at the beginning of the second session which was bad, then went back to the settings from the morning and were making progress so we’ll continue with that set up in final practice.”
Katsuyuki Nakasuga 16th
“This is my first time at this track and it was pretty difficult at the beginning to learn the way. I’m more comfortable now as I can remember the layout. I would prefer a dry track as I think it’s very easy to crash here in the wet. On Sunday I believe I can challenge for a good position, this is my target.”
Wilco Zeelenberg
“A rainy first day in Valencia. We were afraid because it can be very slippery and Nakasuga-san has never ridden here before. He did quite well in the end, step by step he improved and quickly understood the track conditions. The weather actually gave him a little extra time to slowly learn the track and build up pace. We are quite satisfied with the set up so far and also his performance. We’re not sure what the conditions will be like tomorrow but we believe he still has room to improve. A tough day for Ben, hitting the white line is bad under these conditions but thankfully the crash was not so serious and he is ok for tomorrow.”
Massimo Meregalli
“Unfortunately Ben crashed today and hit his shoulder on the ground. For sure this isn’t going to help his physical condition over the weekend as he’s pretty sore. Hopefully he can manage the pain and keep pushing to deliver as strong results as possible. Nakasuga-san did a good job today for his first time here in wet conditions. By Sunday he should be used to the track so we’ll see what he can do.”
Stoner Fastest, Not Satisfied
Despite clocking the fastest time on the day, new World Champ Casey Stoner was not overly pleased with his Friday at 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.
CASEY STONER – 1st 1'45.513
"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 – 2nd 1'45.736
"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 – 9th 1'46.402
"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."
Bautista Takes Full Advantage Of Tricky Conditions
Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista led the way during this afternoon's second free practice session at Valencia as he took first place on the timesheets at the wet Spanish circuit
Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista led the way during this afternoon's second free practice session at Valencia as he took first place on the timesheets at the wet Spanish circuit.
Heavy rain started to fall over the 4,005m Valencian circuit at mid-day and by the time Bautista and the rest of the MotoGP riders took to the track it was fully wet. Suzuki's Spanish star acclimatized to the conditions well and produced consistent quick laps that consolidated his position at the top of the standings. His time of 1'47.975 was over 0.3 seconds quicker than his nearest rival and he looks to have a good set-up and a confident riding style for Sunday - if this afternoon's weather replicates itself for the race.
This morning's practice session started in damp conditions, with Bautista again looking impressive, but as the track started to dry out he found grip difficult to find and finished in 11th place. World Champion Casey Stoner took the honors on the drier track by recoding the fastest time of the day.
Bautista has one more free session tomorrow morning followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday's 30-lap race is the final event of the season and with inclement weather forecast it looks like being a very interesting and entertaining race.
Alvaro Bautista:
"Today has been a good day for us because we have had a full wet session to get some practice in those conditions. 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. 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. I am happy with the first day and looking forward to the rest of the weekend."
Paul Denning - Team Manager:
"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. However, improvements to the motorcycle aren't enough because you also need a confident and capable rider and Alvaro 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 Alvaro - 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."
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