Le Mans Practice
KAWASAKI DUO SEE IMPROVEMENTS AT LE MANS
Kawasaki's John Hopkins and Anthony West finished today's
opening practice sessions ahead of Sunday's French Grand Prix
in ninth and 16th positions respectively, after focussing
on refining machine set-up during the two, one-hour track
sessions.
Hopkins spent most of the two practice sessions perfecting
the set-up of his Ninja ZX-RR to suit the stop-start, hard
braking nature of the 4.18km Bugatti circuit. The Anglo-American
ran through different tyre options with Bridgestone, lapping
quickly and consistently, despite some difficulties with feeling
in the front end of his machine.
Hopkins remains confident ahead of tomorrow, where he is
sure that with some further refinements in the set-up of his
Kawasaki, he can improve his lap time significantly. The 24-year-old
Kawasaki pilot ended the day with a best time of 1'35.133,
less than a second off fastest man, Dani Pedrosa.
Teammate West ended the practice sessions in more confident
mood compared to previous rounds. The Australian, who makes
his Le Mans debut on a MotoGP machine this weekend, feels
more comfortable on his Ninja ZX-RR, after Kawasaki's engineers
made minor changes to the power delivery of their 800cc, inline
four-cylinder engine.
While he was unhappy with his finishing position today, West
admitted he was able to lap more consistently and he remains
confident that, tomorrow, he can improve on his final lap
time of 1'35.877. The 26-year-old is aware of the particular
areas of the track where traction issues are slowing him down,
and the Kawasaki pilot is hoping that with the data collected
today the team can continue making improvements during tomorrow's
qualifying session.
John Hopkins
#21: 9th - 1'35.133
"Le Mans is a track I quite enjoy and although the position
isn't where we want to be, I'm feeling confident. We've used
the practice sessions today to find a tyre combination that
works well in both the front and rear. At the moment we're
struggling a little bit with feeling in the front-end, which
is costing us time. It's nothing particularly major as we
can lap quickly and consistently, but I feel that an improvement
in this will reduce our lap time considerably. We have a few
ideas on how to achieve this and tomorrow we'll be aiming
for a good qualifying position."
Anthony West
#13: 16th - 1'35.877
"I'm feeling a little bit more confident here today than
I have in previous rounds. The circuit seems to suit our bike,
as there are not so many turns here where the bike is leaned
over for long periods of time, and this is where we've experienced
problems in the past. We've made some alterations to my Ninja
ZX-RR and I feel a lot more comfortable as I can use the bike's
strength on corner entry to put together reasonable lap times.
The position isn't anywhere near where we want to be, but
I can lap consistently and this is a good sign as we were
unable to do this before. There are two longer corners in
the track where we need to improve traction, but we have some
direction now and I hope we can continue with this tomorrow."
Naoya Kaneko
Kawasaki Technical Manager
"Today we have been trying many tyre combinations that
suit different conditions, as the weather here in Le Mans
is very changeable. With John we have found a good set-up,
although this needs to be refined in order for him to achieve
the position we are looking for. Anthony is making steps forward
and his lap times are much more consistent. We have altered
the power delivery of his machine, which has made a big difference
and the aim is to build on this further during tomorrow. We
still have a lot of work to do but I am confident we can gain
a good result here."
1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'34.227; 2. Casey
Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.049; 3. Colin Edwards
(USA) Tech 3 Yamaha +0.060; 4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha
+0.260; 5. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +0.403;
6. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha +0.659; 7. Shinya Nakano
(JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini +0.820; 8. Randy De Puniet (FRA)
LCR Honda +0.846; 9. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team
+0.906; 10. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini
+1.012; 16. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.650
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