SPLIT SECOND SEPARATES LEADERS AT ESTORIL
The 14th round of the MotoGP World Championship got underway
today as the first practice sessions of the Portuguese Grand
Prix took place at Estoril.
Dry and sunny weather welcomed the bikes on track and Kawasaki
riders, Randy de Puniet and Anthony West, climbed aboard their
800cc Ninja ZX-RRs with the aim of conquering the 4.182km
circuit. Both were using the new specification engine they've
been testing recently and, judging by their performances today,
it's offering them no shortage of accessible power.
After both sessions, de Puniet claimed fifth place on the
leader board with a fastest lap of 1'38.287 and a top speed
of 313.9kmh. The 26-year-old Frenchman and his crew succeeded
in finding a good set up almost immediately and, with promising
results from the start, he came home just 0.337 seconds off
the day's fastest man, Casey Stoner.
He was also fortunate with his early tyre choice as the Bridgestones
he used in the morning performed admirably, despite Estoril's
punishing series of corners, including the famously fast and
long Parabolica. The day's progress was hugely encouraging
for de Puniet and, despite riding with a broken rib sustained
at the last round at Misano, he's upbeat about his chances
in tomorrow's crucial qualifying session.
His team mate, West, was also fabulously fast on his Ninja
today. His final placement on combined times was 14th but
that figure disguises the fact he was well under a second
behind Stoner: just 0.773 seconds, in fact. He has still struggled
somewhat with set up, generally getting used to the bike and
varying his riding style to suit its numerous demands but,
with a top speed of 313.2kmh, fifth on the time sheets, he
wasn't hanging about. Furthermore, he found the new spec engine
really came in to its own on the long Estoril start/finish
straight: the first time either rider has really seen what
it can do at full chat.
The Australian completed 56 laps in total today with his
fastest time being recorded just before the end of the final
session: an indication his progression to confident and capable
MotoGP rider is unwavering as he rides through a steep learning
curve and, generally, comes up trumps. Certainly, with times
so close to riders far more experienced on this machinery,
West's advancement shows no sign of letting up.
Randy De Puniet
#14 - 5th - Best Lap 1'38.287
"I've been happy with the bike since this morning, when
we immediately found a good setting. In the first session,
I did 24 laps with the same rear tyre and my times were very
good. I tried a harder compound but was sliding a bit so I
went back to the first one. I didn't realise my rib was broken
until I got it checked out last week and, this morning, it
was a bit painful to move on the bike; I was much more confident
this afternoon after it had subsided a bit. We'll try to improve
the ZX-RR a little for Saturday but it's already very good
for the race. We just need to perfect some little bits."
Anthony West
#13 - 14th - Best Lap 1'38.723
"I'm still struggling a bit with chatter and rear grip
but I'm sure we can improve things tomorrow. And I've been
trying to change the position of the bike in corners and shifting
my weight around to make it feel more stable. It feels like
it's moving around a lot in the Parabolica, so I don't feel
too confident through there, but I'm not losing much time
through the rest of the track, just little parts here and
there. Once we can fix that I can move up and be more consistent.
The top speed down the straight's pretty good and, overall,
the new engine felt great: really strong."
Naoya Kaneko
Kawasaki Technical Manager
"The times today have been very tight, with most riders
within a second of each other, so there's actually very little
gap between Randy and Anthony. Randy has a found good package
and the machine set up seems to be okay; we just need to polish
it a bit with some small adjustments. West has a few problems
we can improve upon, but he's working hard adapting to our
bike and developing the skills needed to set it up and he's
really making progress. Our Bridgestone tyres are working
well: Estoril is a tough track for rubber, but that's the
same for everyone, so we're happy with the performance overall."
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'38.105; 2. Makoto
Tamada (JPN) Tech 3 Yamaha +0.039; 3. Valentino Rossi (ITA)
Yamaha Factory Racing +0.170; 4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol
Honda Team +0.251; 5. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing
Team +0.337; 6. John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +0.521;
7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.531; 8. Nicky
Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.568; 9. Alex Barros (BRA)
Pramac d'Antin Ducati +0.663; 10. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Tech
3 Yamaha +0.680; 14. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team
+0.773
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