Capirossi gets first taste of the Rizla Suzuki in the wet
 Rizla
Suzuki MotoGP’s new signing Loris Capirossi got his
first chance to ride the Suzuki GSV-R in wet conditions during
today’s test at Phillip Island in Australia.
Steady rain throughout the morning at the 4.4km circuit gave
the riders and crew perfect wet weather testing conditions
and they made the most of it by trying the new 2008 Suzuki
GSV-R in the wet for the first time. Capirossi and team-mate
Chris Vermeulen were both pleased with the bike’s performance
in the damp conditions and collected valuable data for future
rain affected races.
Capirossi and Vermeulen were also able to get in some dry
testing – after about an hour-and-a-half waiting for
the track to dry - and the two Rizla Suzuki racers wasted
no time by getting down to some in-depth tyre testing with
Bridgestone and finding the best settings and mapping for
the bike at the Phillip Island track.
Due to the delay Capirossi and Vermeulen only managed to
complete 62 and 50 laps respectively today. The Italian clocked
a fastest time of 1’31.545 to give him eighth place
on the timesheets and Vermeulen recorded a best lap of 1’31.774
for 11th position. Capirossi suffered a crash at the end of
the day, but he walked away from the incident unhurt and will
be fit to join Vermeulen for the final day of the test tomorrow.
Loris Capirossi:
“I was able to ride the bike in the wet today for the
first time and for me the feeling was good right away. We
changed some settings and made some more adjustments and by
the time the track started to dry we think we have a good
set-up for the rain. As it dried in the afternoon we were
able to test a couple of bits and we went well on the race
tyres, even though the track was not in the best condition
because of the weather earlier. I put on a qualifier at the
end of the day, but unfortunately I crashed. I am ok and will
be able to continue with the test tomorrow.”
Chris Vermeulen:
“It has been a positive day today - although my position
is not where I would want to be - we got through a lot of
work and have a definite direction we want to go in. We had
a good run in the rain this morning and know where we need
to be in the wet. When it dried out we did some tyre testing
and continued to get the best set-up we can for here, and
we are now closer to getting there than we have been before,
we have made some big steps forward! We still have some way
to go to get the bike to be as competitive as we want it for
this track, but what the guys have produced over the last
couple of days has really made that target closer.”
Phillip Island Test Day Two Classification:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1’29.938: 2. Alex De Angelis
(Honda) +0.511: 3. Andrea Dovizioso +1.136: 4. Shinya Nakano
(Honda) +1.378: 5. Nicky Hayden (Honda) +1.435: 8. LORIS CAPIROSSI
(RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.607: 10. CHRIS VERMEULEN (RIZLA SUZUKI
MOTOGP) +1.836:
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