MotoGP World Championship. Czech GP. First practice session
COMPLICATED FIRST DAY FOR DANI PEDROSA IN THE CZECH
REPUBLIC
A lack of competitiveness in his tyres and some discomfort
in his left hand and wrist affects his performance in Brno
A bad start for the Czech Republic GP for the Repsol Honda
Team rider Dani Pedrosa on the first day of practice. Pedrosa,
the only team rider in Brno, (the American Nicky Hayden injured
one of his heels in the summer break riding a supermotard
and was ruled out of this race) returned to racing today after
a bad fall in the German GP when he was leading the race in
heavy rain.
Problems with the tyre performance on this track – a
lack of front tyre adherence – and discomfort in his
left hand and wrist were the main causes of his lowly positions
in the two MotoGP practice sessions. During his first few
laps on the Czech track Pedrosa got faster as time went by
but he finished well down the leaderboard, in 17th and final
position 3 seconds and 4 tenths behind Rossi, the fastest
rider in the morning. In the afternoon the Repsol rider improved
a little, over half a second faster than the times he set
in the morning, but he was well down the list again, 3 seconds
and 3 tenths behind Stoner, who was the fastest in the second
free MotoGP session.
In the 250cc category, Julián Simón finished
in an encouraging 8th position in the rain, and a little peeved
at not being able to take complete advantage of the new chassis
that should have made its debut today. This is an evolution
of the one he tried in Barcelona, although with some modifications.
After a free sesion conditioned by the dirty track, he had
to ride his second motorbike in the classification round as
it began to rain on the first lap and he had his KTM 250 FRR
set up for a dry track.
The Repsol rider fell just before the end of the free practice,
when he reached the end of the straight he went off line and
when he braked in the dirty zone he lost adherence on the
front wheel of his KTM 250 FRR, a little before taking corner
number one. Tomorrow he will get a chance to continue adjusting
his bike and to get among the leaders just like he did in
the recent German GP. Two riders with technical support from
Repsol, Mika Kallio and Hiroshi Aoyama, finished in second
and fifth position respectively.
In 125cc, today was a positive first contact for the two
Repsol KTM Team 125cc riders, Marc Márquez finished
12th, 1.4 seconds from the provisional pole set by Gabor Talmacsi,
and Esteve Rabat was 15th, 1.8 seconds behind. In the free
session held in the morning the dirt on the track did not
let the riders go very fast, that together with the new surface
on the circuit, meant that the bikes slid around a lot. Márquez
had a small fall, without sustaining any ínjury, on
corner nine - a long right-hander – as he tried to avoid
another rider that had fallen just in front of him. The Repsol
rider had to go off the track and then when he was in the
sand he fell, but with no physical damage to him or the bike.
In the classification round rain threatened the session,
when just a few laps had been done a few raindrops fell and
this made all the riders stop in the pits. After ten minutes
and with just ten left the riders went out to try and lower
their times. Seeng how changeable the weather was the objective
was to rapidly set a good time so that if it rains tomorrow
it will not condition the practice session.
Quotes
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa >> 2’00.540 secs, 44 laps, 238 Km.
“Both of today’s sessions were quite difficult
for us. My left wrist and index finger are still hurting when
I ride the bike, and the tyres are not helping the situation.
The asphalt is new, but it’s the same situation for
everyone. We have tried several different solutions today
and so far we still haven’t found the right tyres for
the race. We will keep working tomorrow, looking for the best
tyres and working on the machine. We hope we can get some
more dry track time and then we will see for Sunday.”
250cc
Julián Simón >> 2’19.988 secs, 37
laps, 200 Km.
“Things got slightly better as the morning went along,
although the times were slow due to the track being dirty
and not in the right conditions. Moreover, I fell at the end
of the straight on the final lap, fortunately without any
damage. In the afternoon it began to rain on the first lap
of practice and we had to go to the pits to put wet tyres
on.
In these circumstances I normally do well but today we had
some problems. And I was not able to use the motorbike prepared
with the new chassis, because as it was raining we used the
second bike which had a wet set up prepared. Among other things
I was not able to get a better pace, although I am more or
less pleased with the way we worked. I hope that I can work
on the new bike tomorrow without any problems and find the
best set up.”
125cc
Esteve Rabat >> 2’11.676 secs, 26 laps, 140 Km.
“This morning the track was very dirty and I had not
ridden for some time so I felt a bit strange but I tried to
find a good pace again, I wanted to see how things were and
run the bike in. In the afternoon I upped the pace, because
it may rain tomorrow, but things did not work out and in the
end I was 15th.
I knew that this circuit would be difficult, but now we are
concentrating on improving the set up for tomorrow. I hope
it goes better because I trained well this summer and I want
give it my best shot. I hope it does not rain and we can practice
in the dry. I have to improve my entrance into the corners
as I have problems with the bike and I start to take them
too early, because I cannot take them any later. The bike
is not going badly, perhaps it lacks a little top speed, but
that is not the main problem.”
Marc Márquez >> 2’11.353 secs,
29 laps, 157 Km.
“I already knew this circuit because we came here to
train a little over a month ago and when I first went out
the set up was more or less the correct one. The truth is
that I felt quite comfortable in the two practice sessions
and I think that in the race I can put in a good performance,
as I am very motivated.
For the time being everything is coming good. In the second
ptactice I was comfortable too, although halfway through the
session we had to stop as it began to rain a little and it
was not very safe out there. Afterwards we went out on the
track again and as I was trying to improve my time on the
last lap I made a mistake and so I couldn`t. If we are lucky
tomorrow and it does not rain I think we can get a good classification.”
Official Results
MotoGP
1. Casey STONER (DUCATI) 1:57.231
2. Valentino ROSSI (YAMAHA) at 0.179
3. Loris CAPIROSSI (SUZUKI) at 0.769
4. Shinya NAKANO (HONDA) at 0.997
5. Alex DE ANGELIS (HONDA) at 1.033
16. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) at 3.309
250cc
1. Héctor BARBERÁ (APRILIA) 2:16.210
2. Mika KALLIO (KTM) at 0.686
3. Marco SIMONCELLI (GILERA) at 1.096
4. Alex DEBÓN (APRILIA) at 1.549
5. Hiroshi AOYAMA (KTM) at 2.738
8. Julián SIMÓN (REPSOL KTM) at 3.778
125cc
1. Gabor TALMACSI (APRILIA) 2:09.870
2. Nicolás TEROL (APRILIA) at 0.718
3. Andrea IANNONE (APRILIA) at 0.719
4. Bradley SMITH (APRILIA) at 0.782
5. Mike DI MEGLIO (DERBI) at 0.921
12. Marc MÁRQUEZ (REPSOL KTM) at 1.483
15. Esteve RABAT (REPSOL KTM) at 1.806
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