Winter Testing Session - Losail, Qatar - Day 2
DESERT RAIN AND SLIPPERY TRACK HAMPER SECOND DAY
OF TESTING IN QATAR
Overnight rain at the desert circuit of Losail in Qatar hampered
today's second day of testing for the MotoGP teams. Track
conditions changed drastically and despite it being dry, the
surface was totally without grip and this conditioned the
work of the Ducati Marlboro Team for most of the day.
Both riders concentrated on obtaining the best front-end
set-up, and it was only towards the end of the day that they
managed to find the right direction, as a result approaching
the good pace set yesterday. Today it was the turn of Casey
Stoner, again in amongst the top 5, to crash, but without
consequences for himself or the bike. Both Stoner and Loris
Capirossi hope for better weather tomorrow to continue testing
and to put together a long-run.
Casey Stoner (45 laps, best time 1m57.040s)
"We had a hard time today. Last night's rain changed
the track conditions and in the morning there was no grip.
Then the wind made things a bit more complicated. Late in
the afternoon the track had some rubber on it, the wind had
dropped and we managed to do some good laps again. Everyone
says I crash too much so... just to make them happy I had
my first crash on a Ducati a few minutes from the end! It
was just a small one however, I lost the rear under acceleration
and ended up on the grass on the inside of the corner! I wasn't
hurt and didn't damage the bike so I suppose it was OK!"
Loris Capirossi (52 laps, best time 1m57.698s)
"Today was really tough because the track conditions
after yesterday's rain were a big problem. We didn't have
any feeling with the front and did everything possible to
try and improve the situation but we lost our way a bit. In
the end we managed to improve without even getting the right
feeling with the bike. I hope it won't rain tonight because
tomorrow we want to carry on from where we left off today
and do a long-run ".
Losail lap record : Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 1m57.305s
Losail pole record: Casey Stoner (Honda) 2006, 1m55.683s
Temperature: air 22° / track 25° - 40°C
Unofficial times, Wednesday 14 February:
Colin Edwards (Yamaha), 1m56.296s
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha), 1m56.537s
Dani Pedrosa (Honda), 1m56.712s
Carlos Checa (Honda), 1m56.874s
Casey Stoner (Ducati), 1m57.040s
John Hopkins (Suzuki), 1m57.065s
Shinya Nakano (Honda), 1m57.274s
Randy De Puniet (Kawasaki), 1m57.288s
Kenny Roberts jr. (KR-Honda), 1m57.504s
Marco Melandri (Honda), 1m57.591s
Nicky Hayden (Hondal), 1m57.629s
Loris Capirossi (Ducati), 1m57.698s
Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki), 1m57.770s
Alex Hofmann (Ducati), 1m57.999s
Alex Barros (Ducati), 1m58.513s
Makoto Tamada (Yamaha), 1m58.610s
Toni Elias (Honda), 1m58.990s
Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha), 1m59.617s
Shinichi Ito (Ducati), 1m59.617s
Andrew Pitt (Ilmor), 2m02.453s
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