KONICA MINOLTA Honda continues positive progress in Portugal
Shinya Nakano and his KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team enjoyed another
positive day today at the 2.6mile Estoril circuit in Portugal.
Despite a crash on his number one bike with 47 minutes to
go in the qualifying session, the 29-year-old Japanese rider’s
improved feedback and feeling from his ‘Number 2’
800cc RC212V machine with Michelin tyres meant that he could
still shave more than a second from yesterday’s best
lap time. The former 250cc World Championship runner-up managed
to stay in the top ten for most of the hour session, despite
the second bike not being as well set-up for Estoril’s
tight twists and turns. However, the improvements found in
the overall KONICA MINOLTA Honda technical package means that
both Team and rider are confident for an improved result in
tomorrow’s 28-lap race.
Gianluca Montiron – Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA
Honda
“Shinya crashed today but we could see that when he
did he was pushing hard and well into the top five early in
the session. It was a shame that he crashed, but even with
the second bike I think we could see that Shinya was getting
into a good rhythm. We lost out a little in the last few minutes
as we were in the top 10 but Shinya found it difficult to
improve on the qualifying tyres and a few riders managed to
make the jump ahead of us and we were pushed down. Despite
this we can see that our situation on race tyres is better
than it’s been before and with a good start I think
Shinya will have the consistency to stay with the second group
of riders.
Shinya Nakano – Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda
(49 laps – 1’ 37.530”)
“I crashed at start of session and lost my ‘fast
bike’ or my Number 1 machine. Despite this I have to
say it was a good session. Even with the second machine things
were – step-by-step – feeling better and better.
I thought I could make a very special qualifying position
with the Number 1 bike, but thanks to the crash I simply had
to do what I could. Things are still positive, as although
I had a slightly different feeling with my second bike, the
Michelin tyres were a big improvement and helped me stay in
the top 10 for most of the session. Tomorrow is the important
thing – the race – but we’ve decided on
the race tyre and I’m happy with the Number 1 race bike.
The start will be important once more as it’s very difficult
to overtake in Estoril.”
Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, KONICA
MINOLTA Honda
“Despite the crash, today has been very positive for
us. Shinya crashed at the right-hander before the first hairpin.
It was a ‘normal’ crash where he lost the front-end
of the bike and he is uninjured. This meant Shinya had to
use the second machine. We were a little unlucky, as with
the Number 1 bike perhaps we could have got more time with
a qualifying tyre, as despite identical set-up, you never
get as good a feeling as with the ‘Number 1’ machine.
Overall though, for us these two days of practice have shown
we are in a better situation than so far this season and we’ve
improved a lot with race tyres. With a good start we are hoping
that Shinya can stay with the second group and get a good
result.”
Portugal GP - Qualifying practice classification
1) Nicky Hayden Honda 1’ 36.301”
2) Casey Stoner Ducati 1’ 36.341”
3) Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1’ 36.576”
4) Makoto Tamada Yamaha 1’ 36.736”
5) Dani Pedrosa Honda 1’ 36.829”
13) Shinya Nakano Honda 1’ 37.530”
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