HOPKINS CONFIDENT AFTER SECOND DAY AT SEPANG
Kawasaki's John Hopkins continued to improve his lap time
during the second day of testing at a blisteringly hot Sepang
circuit. The Anglo-American was just over half-a-second off
the fastest time today, but is confidently predicting that
this gap will be much reduced once he gets the chance tomorrow
to dial in further the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR.
Hopkins's Kawasaki teammate, Anthony West, will be looking
for the same level of improvement on the final day of testing,
after a successful morning that saw his lap time tumbling
with every run aboard the 2008 Ninja ZX-RR.
Both riders worked their way through an intensive tyre testing
program with Bridgestone while conditions were good this morning,
before switching back to working on the set-up and evaluation
of chassis and suspension components as track temperatures
soared and grip levels dropped during the afternoon session.
West identified a front tyre and rim combination that gave
him more confidence in the front end of the bike, as he pushed
to close the time gap on his more experienced teammate. The
Australian will continue with the same combination tomorrow
when he hopes to see another significant improvement in his
lap time, before the Kawasaki Racing Team head for his home
circuit in Australia for the next round of testing.
Hopkins focussed mainly on evaluating rear tyres that may
prove suitable for use at the first race in Qatar, which is
likely to be run under similar conditions as experienced today
in Sepang. The 24-year-old Kawasaki rider ended the test confident
that the tyre data acquired today would allow Bridgestone
to identify the best combination of construction, profile
and compound for the unique demands of the Qatar circuit.
The final day of testing tomorrow promises to be a punishing
one for both riders, with race simulation runs scheduled in
the morning and further work on machine set-up planned for
the afternoon.
John Hopkins
55 Laps - Best Time 2'01.874
"We started out this morning by running through some
tyres that Bridgestone have brought here, basically to try
and identify what will work for the first race of the season
in Qatar. It was a useful test, I felt pretty comfortable
on the bike and I think it will stand us in good stead come
Qatar. We've also continued the evaluation of the two chassis
options we have here, and at the moment we've gone with the
one closest to the 2007 spec. The other chassis option has
some positive points, but we need to do some more work on
a few areas before we go with it on the race bike. The engineers
will now take this chassis back to Japan, together with the
data on it that we've collected, and I guess we will be testing
further revisions pretty soon. Tomorrow I'll do a long distance
run, and then we'll be looking to refine the set-up of the
bike to suit my personal preferences, which I'm looking forward
to."
Anthony West
66 Laps - Best Time 2'02.579
"This morning we kept the changes to a minimum and I
just concentrated on improving my feeling with the bike, and
also my lap time. I managed to improve with each run, so I
was pretty happy about that. We also tested a new front tyre
with a slightly different profile than I've used before, and
there was some improvement in the front end feeling as a result.
This afternoon we tried to do some rear tyre testing, but
it was difficult to get a good feel for the different tyres,
because the track lost a lot of grip as the surface temperature
went up; I just ended up sliding around everywhere. Tomorrow
will be a hard day, because I'm scheduled to do a race simulation,
but it will be interesting to see how my lap time averages
out over a long run."
Naoya Kaneko
Kawasaki Technical Manager
"Both riders have mainly focussed on tyre testing with
Bridgestone today, with positive results from some of the
new front and rear options that we've tested for the first
time here in Sepang. Anthony found a front that gave him more
confidence, and John identified some improvements on turn
in with a couple of the rear tyres. We've also continued with
comparison tests of the two chassis options we have here,
and we now have a pretty clear direction for future development.
Finally, we've continued refining the engine braking system
on the bike with some success, but we know there are further
improvements to be had in this area."
1. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Honda LCR 2'01.139; 2. Colin Edwards
(USA) Yamaha Tech 3 +0.188; 3. Valentino Rossi (46) Fiat Yamaha
+0.298; 4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +0.444; 5. Casey
Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.499; 6. John Hopkins
(USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.735; 7. Loris Capirossi (ITA)
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +0.778; 8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JIR
Team Scott +0.867; 9. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda Gresini +0.956;
10. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.963; 11. James
Toseland (GBR) Yamaha Tech 3 +1.137; 12. Chris Vermeulen (AUS)
Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +1.232; 13. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki
Racing Team +1.440;
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