FORTUNA HONDA RIDERS CONCLUDE POSITIVE FIRST DAY
Today the first day of official MotoGP tests took place at
Circuit de Catalunya, the first time this season that all
of the 2006 World Championship contenders have come face to
face as they prepare to do battle for the consecrated premier-class
crown. In good weather conditions the majority of MotoGP riders
began to lap at around 11am, when the cold morning temperatures
began to subside. FORTUNA HONDA riders Marco Melandri and
Toni Elias, who both spent the whole day working on the set-up
of their Honda RC211V machines, ended the session with the
eighth and ninth fastest times respectively. Marco worked
towards improving his overall setting by focusing on Michelin
tyre tests while his team-mate Toni Elias worked on different
aspects of the RC211V as he aimed to improve his feeling with
the bike.
MARCO MELANDRI (76 laps, 1’44.672) 8th fastest:
“We’ve returned to Europe after preseason tests
in Australia and Malaysia. We’re still not at the level
where I would like to be. We have a lot more work to do to
find the consistent kind of pace we want but anyway I feel
very confident.”
TONI ELIAS (71 laps, 1’44.702 ) 9th fastest
“I’m satisfied. I felt more comfortable on the
bike today and, more importantly, we have improved with respect
to our general pace. Today we were able to continue with the
work programme we set ourselves at Sepang, when we were unable
to complete a Michelin tyre test because of the bad weather.
We still have a lot of room for improvement but if we continue
like this we can meet our objectives. The most important thing
today was the good feeling I had with the bike and I think
a lot of that is owed to the good job being done by the team
and Michelin.”
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