Catalunya GP - First day
EDWARDS BOUNCES BACK TO FORM ON OPENING DAY AT CATALUNYA
Gauloises Yamaha Team rider Colin Edwards returned to the
top of the time sheets with an encouraging display on the
opening day of the Catalunya Grand Prix today. Both Edwards
and his team-mate, Valentino Rossi, again took advantage of
the excellent base set-up they have found in recent tests
with the Yamaha YZR-M1 machine, setting the pace in this morning’s
opening free practice session with the first and second fastest
times respectively. As temperatures rose in the afternoon
by 10ºC, with 34ºC recorded on the recently-laid
track surface, Edwards was again on the pace and was only
denied the fastest time of the day by a late raid from Marco
Melandri and Makoto Tamada (both Honda), with Melandri clocking
the fastest lap in a time of 1’43.317. Rossi was one
of several riders unable to improve their times in the second
session as he struggled for front-end grip in the afternoon
sunshine. With several riders crashing out in some of the
fastest corners on the Montmeló track, the reigning
MotoGP World Champion and current series leader decided to
save his best efforts until tomorrow’s qualifying session,
although his morning time was enough to seal fifth place on
the combined time sheets overnight.
COLIN EDWARDS – (1’43.467, 53 laps)
“It’s almost as if Mugello never happened and
we have come straight from Le Mans to Barcelona! We know how
the bike should work for me and, even though the setting is
very different to what we had in the test here because the
bike has evolved so much, we dialled some things in that felt
right as soon as I took it onto the track this morning. In
the afternoon we made some adjustments to the suspension and
general setting. I went out and did a 15-lap endurance test
for Michelin at the start of the session on a hard compound,
which gave us a lot of information, and I put on something
a little softer at the end which was good for six or seven
tenths - so we know which way we’re going. We made a
good start at Mugello and didn’t make much progress
from there but I’m confident that won’t happen
here because the feeling with the bike is already so much
better.”
VALENTINO ROSSI (1’43.652, 45 laps)
“We made a very good start to the day this morning
but in the afternoon I had a few problems with front grip.
I didn’t have the stability I wanted in the corners
and this meant that I wasn’t able to push as hard as
I would like. The new track surface is very different and
the conditions changed a lot with the extra heat from the
morning to the afternoon. A few riders were crashing out so
I decided not to push too hard because the important day is
tomorrow and, of course, Sunday. We have some work to do on
the front end but in general the bike setting is getting better
and better so we hope to continue tomorrow.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – TEAM DIRECTOR
“This morning started off very well, with both riders
at the top, and the afternoon was not so bad, although it
took us a while to get up to speed. Valentino had some delays
today but he is making the necessary adjustments to the bike
setting. It was a very good day for Colin, who kept up a high
pace and completed a good endurance test in the afternoon.
I’m very happy for him because we had a long chat after
Mugello and decided to put it behind us and start over again
this weekend. Hopefully he can continue in the same way on
Saturday and Sunday!”
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