MINOR CRASH DOES NOT PREVENT DANI PEDROSA FROM DOMINATING
BOTH FREE SESSIONS
Nicky Hayden was ninth this afternoon. Esteve Rabat suffered
a hard fall during the 125cc timed session
The first day of training at the Catalunya Grand Prix was
not free of incidents. The numerous falls, among them Repsol
riders Esteve Rabat in the 125cc category and Dani Pedrosa
in MotoGP, and the parity of the times registered –
14 riders separated by less than a second this afternoon in
MotoGP-, were some of the highlights of this first day, as
was Pedrosa'a performance, the fastest during both MotoGP
free training sessions.
After his third position in the Italian race last weekend,
Pedrosa started the first day of his Grand Prix, to be held
just a few kilometres away from his home next weekend, by
dominating both free training sessions, though in both cases
with a slight margin over his rivals. Only a minor crash on
the slowest bend of the circuit -the SEAT curve, a downhill
left-hander-, slightly spoiled the Spanish rider's performance,
though fortunately he was able to return quickly to the paddock
and get back to the track on his spare bike. His teammate,
American Nicky Hayden, was fourteenth this morning and ninth
in the afternoon, after changing a few aspects of his bike's
setup, improving its performance.
In the quarter-litre category, Julián Simón
was not satisfied at the end of the day, as while this morning
he tried out a new chassis that was performing better, he
also tried out an injection system which did not deliver the
expected performance. The Repsol rider continued to experience
poor performance from the engine of his KTM 250 FRR, finally
running a fastest lap of 1’47.631secs, which places
him in a provisional thirteenth position. Hiroshi Aoyama and
Mika Kallio, riders who receive technical support from Repsol,
finished in fifth and seventh position, respectively.
A worse day for the Repsol riders in the smallest category,
where Esteve Rabat fell hard at the end of the timed session,
receiving a hard hit to the head. His front wheel lost adherence
at right-hander bend number 20, suffering with the impact
a serious cervical contusion, as indicated by the Circuit
de Catalunya medical services after an initial exploration.
Rabat was conscious when taken by an ambulance to the Catalunya
General Hospital, where a number of tests are being carried
out. Teammate Marc Màrquez had some problems with the
setup this first day, and was unable to ride comfortably.
At the start of the free session, the track was still wet
due to last night's rain, and the riders had to use a setup
for wet conditions. In the end the riders mounted slick tyres,
but without the ideal setup for the bikes. In the timed session
Márquez improved his time, with a lap time of 1’53.777
secs, the 25th best time.
Quotes
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa >> 1’43.017 secs, 49 laps, 232 Km.
“We started practice this morning using the set-up from
Mugello. We tried various different chassis settings and we
also tried a few different tyres for the race. This morning
the asphalt was quite dirty, and although the track conditions
improved a bit this afternoon the surface was still dirty
off-line.
Also, this track is quite bumpy, from the F1 cars. Late this
afternoon I crashed at turn five. There’s a joint in
the asphalt there, I hit the bump and lost the front. Fortunately
I wasn’t hurt and I was able to continue riding. We
had two dry sessions today which was good. Tomorrow we will
continue tuning the set-up and testing tyres for the race.”
Nicky Hayden >> 1’43.614 secs, 49 laps,
232 Km.
“Today hasn’t been the smoothest. There’s
a lot of long corners here, so we’ve been trying to
get a bit of rear traction, that’s what we’re
working on. We’ve tried a few things and we had something
we were going to try on the second bike this afternoon but
we lost a bit of time with that bike.
There’s been a lot of rain here the last couple of
days, this morning the track was a bit damp off line, with
a little bit of water sitting in the kerbs, which made them
pretty slippery. This afternoon the weather was perfect but
the track was still a little slippery off-line.”
250cc
Julián Simón >> 1’47.631 secs, 40
laps, 189 Km.
“It was a complicated day. We tried out a new chassis
and a few new parts for the engine which went OK. But as for
tomorrow we'll probably leave them aside to try them out with
more calm, because they haven't really been a big step forward
regarding the engine. In fact, we've focused more on the chassis,
which has great potential; I like it more than the old one.
As for tomorrow our idea is to keep on working on the setup
and try to get the bike to pick up more speed, because up
until now this weekend we've been finding it a bit hard. I'm
motivated and the team is going to work really hard, as well
as myself. I have to improve on certains areas of the track
which I find hard, though it's normal, as it's the first time
I'm riding here on this bike. There are certain bends I'm
finding more difficult than last year, but we'll keep on working
to try and run some good times tomorrow and get up in the
lead.”
125cc
Esteve Rabat >> 1’52.752 secs, 33 laps, 156 Km.
“I fell during my last lap, I was riding fast trying
to improve my time when the front wheel skidded.
I couldn't avoid it, and when I fell I hit my head badly.
I can't say much more.”
Marc Márquez >> 1’53.777 secs,
33 laps, 156 Km.
“It was a complicated day. When we started this morning
the track was wet, though as time passed it gradually dried
out. A good few of us didn't have time to change the setup
of the bike for dry conditions, so we had to be careful not
to fall, because it was very easy to do so.
This afternoon, when I started to ride faster, the bike wasn't
working too well and I did a pitstop. We tried to change a
few things, but didn't come up with the solution for the suspension
to ride more comfortably. Let's see if we can improve tomorrow
and ride faster.”
Official Results
MotoGP
1. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) a 1:43.017
2. Loris CAPIROSSI (SUZUKI) at 0.006
3. Valentino ROSSI (YAMAHA) at 0.073
4. Casey STONER (DUCATI) at 0.082
5. Alex DE ANGELIS (HONDA) at 0.216
9. Nicky HAYDEN (REPSOL HONDA) at 0.597
250cc
1. Álvaro BAUTISTA (APRILIA) 1:46.547
2. Marco SIMONCELLI (GILERA) at 0.208
3. Héctor BARBERÁ (APRILIA) at 0.217
4. Mattia PASINI (APRILIA) at 0.237
5. Hiroshi AOYAMA (KTM) at 0.309
13. Julián SIMÓN (REPSOL KTM) at 1.084
125cc
1. Pol ESPARGARÓ (DERBI) 1:51.103
2. Mike DI MEGLIO (DERBI) at 0.208
3. Gabor TALMACSI (APRILIA) at 0.333
4. Sergio GADEA (APRILIA) at 0.339
5. Raffaele DE ROSA (KTM) at 0.618
17. Esteve RABAT (REPSOL KTM) at 1.649
25. Marc MÁRQUEZ (REPSOL KTM) at 2.674
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