Gran Prix of San Marino Free Practice - Rossi
Ambient temperature: 32 degrees
Track temperature: 45 degrees
Humidity: 37%
ROSSI BEGINS HOME CHALLENGE IN MISANO SUNSHINE
Valentino Rossi made a strong start to his second home race
of the season today, finishing second on the opening day of
action at the San Marino Grand Prix. The Misano circuit is
just 15km north of the Fiat Yamaha rider’s home town
of Tavullia on the Adriatic coast, and the local hero is keen
to delight his hordes of fans by adding another Italian win
to his victory in Mugello earlier this year.
The bad weather that has followed the paddock around Europe
finally gave way to the Italian summer today, with temperatures
in the low 30s soaring to 45 degrees on track. This morning
saw Rossi in fifth but a few set-up changes and some work
on Bridgestone tyres this afternoon saw him improve and he
finished the session 0.418 seconds off Casey Stoner in second.
His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo also had a positive day, finishing
seventh in the combined standings.
Valentino Rossi
Position: 2nd Time: 1'35.224 Laps: 54
“We made quite a good start today but not as good as
we could have hoped, so we still have some work to do in order
to close the gap to Casey. At the moment the main problem
is T4, where I am quite slow and so we really need to look
at the data and work out why. Anyway we’re still second
so we’re close, but I hope tomorrow to be closer because
it seems that everyone is quite competitive here so we’re
going to have to work hard. We have some ideas and we will
see what we can do. It’s great to be racing in the sunshine
so close to my home, on the track which was the first one
I ever rode on, and I really hope we can make it a fantastic
weekend for all of the fans.”
Davide Brivio
Team Manager
“For the first day it hasn’t been so bad and we’re
in quite good shape. It’s clear that there are some
areas in which we can and need to improve, so now we will
use the information we have gathered today to work on those
areas and refine our set up. We have worked through a few
different things today on the setting and we have also tried
some different tyres, and we’re confident that we have
good potential. Luckily, for once, we can expect the same
weather again tomorrow so this will give us the chance to
check everything we’ve learnt today.”
Combined Free Practice Times
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'34.806
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'35.224
3. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'35.377
4. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'35.424
5. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'35.620
6. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'35.743
7. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'35.766
8. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'35.861
9. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'36.100
10. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'36.105
11. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'36.189
12. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'36.219
13. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'36.356
14. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'36.425
15. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'36.619
16. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'37.096
17. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'37.929
Misano: Record Lap
C.Stoner (Ducati) 2007, 1'34.649
Misano: Best Lap
C.Stoner (Ducati) 2007, 1'33.918
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