MotoGP World Championship. Italian GP. Second practice session
FIRST AND SECOND ROW FOR THE REPSOL HONDA TEAM IN
ITALY
Dani Pedrosa ran the second fastest time and Nicky Hayden
was sixth at the definitive timed session
The last two days of rain gave way today, fortunately, to
much more peaceful weather, and though clouds were present
throughout the whole day, the sun also made an appearance.
This morning's free training sessions and the definitive timed
sessions in the afternoon were disputed on a dry track for
all three categories, which meant that yesterday's times were
soon beaten.
In the top category, the overall conclusion at the end of
the day is that there is much work to do in very little time.
There was worry within the MotoGP paddocks as to what race
tyres to use. The lack of time -due to the rain yesterday-,
in order to try out all the chosen compounds made this morning's
choice especially risky, as the chosen tyres will have hardly
been used. Tomorrow's warm-up will be particularly important
this time.
Once again the last half hour of the MotoGP timed session
was charged with excitement. Repsol Honda Team rider Dani
Pedrosa placed himself in first position just ten minutes
into the session. Until the end of the first half hour, the
Repsol rider's position was uncontestable, until the qualification
tyre dance began, with Edwards taking the initiative and claiming
the lead of the classification, only until it was the turn
of local hero Valentino Rossi to take first position. Pedrosa
used his four qualification tyres in his assault for pole
position, and came very close in his fourth attempt -just
0.167 secs behind Rossi, having to make do with a positive
second position on the first row of the starting grid. Nicky
Hayden also made use of his four qualification tyres and secured
a start from the second row on the grid after claiming the
sixth fastest time, also achieved in his fourth attempt.
In the quarter-litre category, a difficult day for Julián
Simón, who was unable to find the most appropiate adjusments
for his KTM 250 FRR. The Repsol rider did not feel comfortable
on the Italian track, where he suffered a fall during the
free training session, when in curve 11 -”Palagio”-
his front wheel lost its grip. During the timed session, the
Repsol rider continued to try out different adjustments to
both bikes, without being able to find the best compromise
for comfortable riding. In the end he ran the thirteenth fastest
time, and will start tomorrow from the fourth row.
Mika Kallio and Hiroshi Aoyama, riders who receive technical
support from Repsol, were fourth and tenth, respectively.
In the quarter-litre category, it was not a positive day
for Esteve Rabat and Marc Márquez, as while both Repsol
riders continued making progress, they are still in low positions
facing tomorrow's race. Rabat finished the timed session in
20th position, with problems when leaving the curves and unable
to find the right line that would give him more speed. Teammate
Marc Márquez will also start from the fifth row after
finishing in 23rd position. The Repsol rider has been improving
gradually, and as his pace increased, he found the adjustments
were not adecuate for this increased demand in performance.
During the free session, Márquez fell at the last chicane,
just before the last parabolic curve. It is a curve taken
in fifth gear at high speed, though he was unhurt and returned
to the paddock to continue the training session normally.
Quotes
MotoGP
Dani Pedrosa >> 1’48.297 sec, 48 laps, 252 Km.
“Conditions weren’t so good this morning, the
track was dirty after all the rain, so it wasn’t easy
to work on set-up. This afternoon the track was completely
dry and better, so we were more focused in our work.
We still need to improve, so the warm-up session will be very
important. We still haven’t decided which tyres to run,
and this choice will crucial because the race is long and
there are a lot corners that require an aggressive riding
style, so we need to look for a good compromise. Starting
from the front row is very important here, so I’m happy
to be there. Tomorrow it will be a tough race with many competitive
riders.”
Nicky Hayden >> 1’48.666 sec, 47 laps,
247 Km.
“We’ve basically only had one completely dry session
all weekend – so we’ve tried out a lot of tyres:
rains, intermediates and qualifiers and just a couple of race
tyres. So that’s certainly a big issue for tomorrow,
we don’t know a lot about what race tyres to run, so
we’ll definitely let Michelin help us a little there.
We made a bit of progress this afternoon and ended up on
the second row. I’m not going to fool myself though,
it’s certainly going to be a hard one tomorrow, some
guys going really quick. It’d be nice to improve in
warm-up, we’ve got some work to do to try and get closer
to the front. Then we’ll just try to get a start and
go for it.”
Tadayuki Okada >> 1’49.829 sec, 25 laps,
131 Km.
“This morning we had an electrical problem which was
caused by yesterday’s crash. We couldn’t fix it
quickly, so this afternoon was my only chance to ride in the
dry.
We still have to work on set-up for this track. With more
time to improve suspension set-up, traction and gearing I
think we could improve top speed by at least 5km/h. Tyre choice
is another big issue because I’ve only tested one race
tyre, so it will be difficult to choose.”
250cc
Julián Simón >> 1’54.626 secs, 39
laps, 205 Km.
“We're having a very complicated weekend, working very
hard and trying out a lot of different stuff. But we can't
manage to set up the engine so it can pick up a bit more speed,
and the chassis still doesn't give me the confidence necessary
to take the bends fast.
This afternoon we're going to work on the information we
can get from Kallio and Aoyama's KTM's, as they are running
slightly faster than us. As for tomorrow we'll try something
different during the warm-up to try and take a step forward
and try to climb to the top positions. It's going to be a
tough race for me. I had a fall this morning, but nothing
happened apart from the time we lost which we could have used
for more improvement.”
125cc
Esteve Rabat >> 2’00.540 secs, 35 laps, 184 Km.
“It was quite a difficult day, and I finished 20th.
In the morning the track was still a bit damp and we didn't
do too well, though in the afternoon, on a dry track, things
didn't improve much either. It's my first time on this circuit
and I had a lot of problems.
I keep losing time with respect to the rest. To be honest
it wasn't a good day so let's hope we can improve the result
tomorrow. I have problems coming out of the bends, but my
main problem is finding the right line, because the circuit
is very technical and complicated. As for tomorrow our mind
is quite clear. We'll also change the adjustments in the suspension,
to help me take the bends better.”
Marc Márquez >> 2’01.384 secs,
24 laps, 126 Km.
“This morning was complicated, because the track was
still damp. I had a fall, though luckily nothing happened,
but I didn't go out again. We have to look at the positive
side, because we've been making progress throughout the day.
Let's see romorrow if we can fine-tune the bike and improve
on today's result. All the adjustments were different to yesterday's,
because today it was dry, but we still didn't find the ideal
setup. It's a complicated circuit, but I think we can improve
a bit more, both the bike and myself. If we work hard today,
we'll see how far we can go in order to take another step
forward.”
Official Results
MotoGP
1. Valentino ROSSI (YAMAHA) 1:48.130
2. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) at 0.167
3. Loris CAPIROSSI (SUZUKI) at 0.183
4. Casey STONER (DUCATI) at 0.245
5. Colin EDWARDS (YAMAHA) at 0.253
6. Nicky HAYDEN (REPSOL HONDA) at 0.536
15. Tadayuki OKADA (REPSOL HONDA) at 1.699
250cc
1. Álvaro BAUTISTA (APRILIA) 1:52,675
2. Héctor BARBERÁ (APRILIA) at 0.772
3. Marco SIMONCELLI (GILERA) at 0.936
4. Mika KALLIO (KTM) at 0,960
5. Lucas PESEK (APRILIA) at 1,253
13. Julián SIMÓN (REPSOL KTM) at 1,951
125cc
1. Raffaele DE ROSA (KTM) 1:58.302
2. Gabor TALMACSI (APRILIA) at 0.165
3. Mike DI MEGLIO (DERBI) at 0.188
4. Pol ESPARGARÓ (DERBI) at 0.270
5. Sergio GADEA (APRILIA) at 0.329
20. Esteve RABAT (REPSOL KTM) at 2.238
23. Marc MÁRQUEZ (REPSOL KTM) at 3.082
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