COLD, HARD NIGHT IN THE DESERT FOR MOTOGP
The last, pre-season test before the start of the 2008 MotoGP
World Championship took place tonight at Qatar's Losail circuit.
After yesterday's stunning, and bewildering, introduction
to riding their 800cc premier class machines at night, the
riders took to the track to continue working on set ups and
tyre choices ahead of next week's 22 lap race.
Kawasaki's John Hopkins, claiming 80 per cent fitness after
his crash last month at Phillip Island, bravely remounted
his Ninja ZX-RR to complete 55 laps over the seven hour, nocturnal
testing session. Having yesterday evaluated Bridgestone tyres
in readiness for the first round, the Anglo-American today
focused on his bike set up.
He made considerable progress, taking a second off his best
time on a race tyre and continuing to refine the set up of
the bike, ready for the race. Happy with the session's results,
and before tackling the circuit again next week, he will now
rest, hoping to overcome the lingering pain in his upper thigh
which prevented him from doing as many laps tonight as he
would have liked.
Team mate, Anthony West, ended the test disappointed at his
lap times but was not alone in feeling frustrated. Conditions
at the track were dry but cold; comparable to the lowest European
temperatures the teams are used to dealing with during a season.
This made a significant difference to tyre performance and
none of the Bridgestone-shod racers saw significant improvements
on qualifiers.
However, he continued to test the new chassis he first tried
last night and remains very happy with the improvements he
felt on the bike as a result. Therefore, the 27-year-old remained
optimistic for his upcoming first MotoGP race at Losail.
The team will be back at Qatar next Friday for the first
free practice session of the race weekend. The inaugural round
of the 2008 championship will take place, historically, on
the night of Sunday 9th March, starting at 23:00 hours, local
time.
John Hopkins
12th - 55 Laps - 1'56.612
"We mainly worked on the overall bike set-up today, and
we had some chassis settings to run through, as well as finalising
which chassis we are going to use for the race. The results
have been positive as we slashed a second off yesterday's
lap time on a race tyre. We also reduced the allocation of
tyres we had available to us at the beginning of the test
and we know which selection we're going to use for the race.
I'm feeling confident and competitive on race tyres, although
we didn't try any qualifiers today. The conditions are very
cold out on track but it's the same for everybody, I think
this may be the biggest factor during the race. The injury
I have is a bit sore from doing a lot of laps yesterday but
I'm now going to Dubai with Ashleigh for a three-day mini
vacation to rest before starting my race preparation."
Anthony West
18th - 67 Laps - 1'57.459
"Today we have been working mainly on improving the set-up
of the chassis we tried yesterday and, although I'm disappointed
with our lap times, we have definitely made some improvements.
The conditions out on track are cold and there is very little
grip, which has been the main difficulty for us. We did a
race simulation, trying a selection of tyres with an aim of
finding something suitable for next weekend and, in the final
hour of testing, found one I'm much happier with. We have
some work to do before the first practice next week but I'm
confident that, with the data we have from the last two days,
we can improve our lap times and be much more competitive."
Michael Bartholemy
Kawasaki Competition Manager
“It's not been easy for us as with John's injury we
still can't progress as quickly as we'd like. I was expecting
a better overall performance during this test, but I know
we can improve before next Friday when we start practicing
again for the first race of the championship. The track temperature
was not helpful, as this has caused us some trouble with the
tyres, but we have worked with Bridgestone for many years
and I am confident we will come up with a solution for next
week. Quite a few riders crashed today, and the conditions
are not ideal for MotoGP, however it's the same for all the
teams and I'm sure we can make some improvements before the
first race."
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