Grand Prix of Germany Free Practice - Rossi
Ambient temperature: 30 degrees
Track temperature: 41 degrees
Humidity: 31%
ROSSI LOOKING TO IMPROVE PACE IN GERMANY
The MotoGP paddock returned to action today at the Sachsenring
in eastern Germany and Valentino Rossi and his crew were quick
to get back to work, with the aim of recouping the points
they lost last time out in Assen. The hot and sunny weather
today was a welcome respite from the rain that has been following
the paddock around Europe, and a full day of dry set-up time
left the Fiat Yamaha rider 4th in the combined standings.
Rossi, who currently lies second in the championship, made
a good start this morning and finished the first session in
third, just 0.299 off Casey Stoner. He was confident of making
more improvement this afternoon but a small set-up change
failed to reap the expected rewards and he was unable to improve
on his time from this morning. He still finished the practice
in fourth place but a second’s gap to the lead rider
means that Rossi and his crew face a hard day’s work
tomorrow to make up for the time they lost this afternoon.
His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo meanwhile made an improvement
of almost half a second this afternoon and finished the day
in sixth.
Valentino Rossi
Position: 4th Time: 1'22.617 Laps: 63
“For sure I’m not happy after today’s practice!
This afternoon we tried some modifications to the setting
and we decided to try a softer set-up, but things didn’t
work how we hoped and we couldn’t improve our time.
In the fast corners I wasn’t fast enough, and I was
always a little bit wide. This afternoon I couldn’t
ride how I wanted to. Obviously this afternoon’s choice
is not the right way for us at this circuit and therefore
tomorrow morning we will return to this morning’s set-up
and try to close the gap to Casey. I didn’t try the
new electronics today and actually at the moment it’s
more likely that we won’t this weekend, but I did try
some different Bridgestone tyres and we found one which we
think will be okay for the race. I am confident that our potential
is more than today so we will do our best to improve tomorrow.”
Davide Brivio
Team Manager
“We started well this morning but unfortunately we weren’t
able to improve our lap times this afternoon. We tried something
different for the second session and it didn’t have
the right result so now we have to analyse all of today’s
information to make sure that we make up for this tomorrow.
We had a chance to test some tyres and they’re not so
bad here but of course we need more time to improve the package
as a whole at this tricky track.”
Combined Free Practice Times
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'21.582
2. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'21.993
3. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'22.463
4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'22.617
5. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'22.759
6. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'22.894
7. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'22.922
8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'22.975
9. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'22.999
10. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'23.116
11. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'23.209
12. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'23.274
13. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'23.366
14. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'23.411
15. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'23.452
16. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'23.698
17. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'23.864
Sachsenring: Record Lap
D. Pedrosa (Honda) 2007, 1'23.082
Sachsenring: Best Lap
D. Pedrosa (Honda) 2006, 1'21.815
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