Rossi, Hayden strong in the wet
“Our bike works very well in the wet, so this morning I was able to push and to stay up there near the front" - Valentino Rossi
Wet conditions on the opening day of the Valencia season finale played into the hands of the Ducati riders, with factory duo and finishing third and fourth on the combined times.
The best lap times were set during the morning session, with the rain intensifying in the afternoon.
“Our bike works very well in the wet, so this morning I was able to push and to stay up there near the front," said third fastest Rossi. "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.”
While Rossi dropped to seventh in the afternoon, Hayden rose to second place behind Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista.
“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," said the American. "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'. We'll see what the weather does tomorrow, but regardless, we got some good information.”
Rossi will debut a special helmet in memory of Marco Simoncelli on Saturday.
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.
Wet conditions on the opening day of the Valencia season finale played into the hands of the Ducati riders, with factory duo and finishing third and fourth on the combined times.
The best lap times were set during the morning session, with the rain intensifying in the afternoon.
“Our bike works very well in the wet, so this morning I was able to push and to stay up there near the front," said third fastest Rossi. "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.”
While Rossi dropped to seventh in the afternoon, Hayden rose to second place behind Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista.
“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," said the American. "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'. We'll see what the weather does tomorrow, but regardless, we got some good information.”
Rossi will debut a special helmet in memory of Marco Simoncelli on Saturday.
Stoner: We'll wait and see
"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" – Casey Stoner
MotoGP world champion was credited with the fastest lap time during Friday practice for the Valencia finale, but changeable wet conditions meant Stoner felt little had been accomplished.
The Australian was fastest thanks to his pace-setting morning time, before dropping back to eighth in the wetter afternoon session.
"It hasn't been a great day to be honest, we've never had a great feeling here in the wet," said Stoner. "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," said Stoner.
"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."
Second fastest was team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who was also one place behind Stoner in the afternoon.
"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," he explained. "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".
Fourth in the championship Pedrosa starts the final round four points behind team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who is taking part in his last event for Honda before joining Tech 3. Dovizioso was ninth quickest.
"Today the conditions of the track were really demanding as there was no grip," said Dovi. "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".
MotoGP world champion was credited with the fastest lap time during Friday practice for the Valencia finale, but changeable wet conditions meant Stoner felt little had been accomplished.
The Australian was fastest thanks to his pace-setting morning time, before dropping back to eighth in the wetter afternoon session.
"It hasn't been a great day to be honest, we've never had a great feeling here in the wet," said Stoner. "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," said Stoner.
"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."
Second fastest was team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who was also one place behind Stoner in the afternoon.
"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," he explained. "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".
Fourth in the championship Pedrosa starts the final round four points behind team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, who is taking part in his last event for Honda before joining Tech 3. Dovizioso was ninth quickest.
"Today the conditions of the track were really demanding as there was no grip," said Dovi. "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 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"
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.
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