KONICA MINOLTA Honda enjoys productive wet Jerez test day
The KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team and rider Shinya Nakano enjoyed
a very productive wet test session at the Jerez circuit today.
With the majority of teams present from yesterday’s
Spanish Grand Prix, the rainy conditions allowed Shinya to
try Michelin’s wet-weather tyres for the first time.
Coming back to use the French tires in 2007, Team and rider
were glad to adjust the test schedule with the different weather
conditions. Nakano – who led the wet Australian Grand
Prix for a number of laps last year – was sitting near
the top of the standings during most of the day when the track
was completely flooded. The former 250cc championship runner
up completed a total of 54 laps setting a best time of 1’2.212”.
Nakano qualified seventh for the weekend’s Spanish GP
and eventually came home in 10th place. The next round of
the 2007 MotoGP World Championship takes place in Istanbul,
Turkey in just over three weeks time on April 22nd.
Shinya Nakano – Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda
(Total laps 54 – 1’ 52.212”)
“It has been a very interesting and positive test in
these wet conditions. Rain tyres of different brands can have
a completely different character and feel, so after many seasons
on Bridgestones, it was good to try the Michelins. Although
I prefer to ride and race in the dry, I enjoyed riding today
in the wet very much and could feel the grip from both the
front and rear. As a result, I could get some really good
lap times in, which has been very good for my confidence.
The feeling I had from the bike and the tyres in the wet was
very good and that’s the sort of feeling we’re
after from the bike in dry conditions, too. Once I have found
a setting to give me the same feeling then I know we will
go much faster. Today we compared both the 2006 and 2007 Michelin
wet tyres so that was a very useful exercise in itself. Obviously
for the conditions our settings at both the front and rear
are much softer for the wet, but we did try many different
settings and combinations to analyse and give us some ideas
of what we could try for the dry. We still have a small chattering
problem from the front-end, but I’m more confident thanks
to being near the top of the timing sheets for most of the
day.”
Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, KONICA
MINOLTA Honda
“This was a good first test in full wet conditions and
the result was very good. We tested for around four hours
in total, running continuously from 12.30pm. It was good that
all the major teams were here, which gave us a good yardstick
to measure ourselves against. We tried some 2006 specification
Michelin wet tyres first and also made some setting adjustments
for Shinya. This was the first time for Shinya on the new
Honda RC212V in wet conditions. We also tested some settings,
in particular, for gearbox and suspensions. It was a normal
job but it allowed us to define a good base set up to be used
when we will find these conditions during the season. We were
pleased as Shinya had a particularly good feeling from the
tyres, even with the front. So much so, that the problem we’ve
had in the dry in the first part of the corner seems not to
be present in the wet with wet settings. This meant that Shinya
was at one point the quickest Michelin rider for a while.
As the track began to dry at the end of the day we decided
to stop while our rider was in 6th position overall.”
|
