Edwards and Toseland happy with early pace at Donington
Tech 3 Yamaha team pairing Colin Edwards and James Toseland
made an encouraging start to the British GP at Donington Park,
both clocking top ten times at the end of the first day of
free practice.
Edwards showed why Donington is the track where he's enjoyed
the most success in his MotoGP career as he clocked the fourth
best time overall. Edwards has claimed four top six finishes
at Donington and he was third fastest this morning despite
small issues with the gearing on his Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1.
Edwards held second until the closing stages this afternoon
and a best lap of 1.28.969 clinched fourth as the American
spent the opening day evaluating Michelin tyres and a new
rear shock from Ohlins.
Making his MotoGP debut at his home track, Toseland was able
to immediately post competitive and consistent lap times,
which only got faster as he honed the set-up of his YZR-M1
to suit the challenging Donington layout. Toseland set a best
time of 1.29.341, confident with more time on the new set-up
that he will be able to fight for a front row position in
tomorrow's crucial qualifying session.
Toseland will unveil a special one-off paint-scheme for his
home race tomorrow, having given fans a glimpse today of what
to expect with a St George's flag on the front and rear of
his YZR-M1 machine. A crowd of close to 80,000 is expected
to flock to the East Midlands to see Toseland's eagerly anticipated
British GP debut. Today's action was run under dry but cloudy
skies, with forecasts predicting heavy rain for tomorrow.
Colin Edwards - Position: 4th Time: 1'28.969Laps:
54
"I'm reasonably happy because I didn't get in many quality
laps this morning. I either caught traffic or the bike wasn't
quite right but this afternoon we made a change to the gearing
and I felt good right away. This year the rev limiter is different
on the bike so we had to make a change to alter that. When
you've come here for a few years you know what the revs are
in certain corners and when to change and you don't have to
think about it. But I wasn't sure if I was going down one
too many gears or going up one too less because the gearbox
was a bit out. We got the gearbox sorted and with some electronics
the grip got better and better and Michelin have done a fantastic
job. Every tyre I put in it seems to work and this will probably
be the only time all year where I could use three tyres in
the race on Sunday. Credit to Michelin because they have done
an amazing job. This afternoon I did some more laps on a tyre
that I'd already done 22 laps on and I was only two-tenths
slower than my best lap so we are in great shape.
Minus the Australian I'm happy because Casey has been impressive
and we've got to work something out to get closer to him.
But the rear shock from Ohlins I really liked. It's not often
you get a new suspension piece and throw it in and it works.
Usually you have to tinker with it and work out what springs
work with it, but it feels great. It just keeps the rear planted
more on the entry and it is not pitching weight to the front
as hard. So braking is better and mid-corner it feels like
there is no speed limit. You can brake harder because the
rear tyre stays consistently in the same position."
James Toseland - Position: 8th Time: 1'29.341Laps:
52
"The times are very close but unfortunately I found it
difficult with the setting we had from the Catalunya test
that I thought would work. I came away from that test with
a lot of confidence but the settings don't work here. We tried
to persevere with it but it was the wrong direction and at
the end we made a change and it was night and day different.
At least now we are moving the right way. I'm really comfortable
doing low 29s but with the Catalunya setting I couldn't enter
the corner. I didn't have the contact with the rear and that
was losing me a lot of corner speed. Around this track you
have to keep it fast and flowing and I couldn't keep my momentum
up. I'm sure I can get it in the 28s and it looks like that
will be the race pace so we have got to find a bit more. But
with more time on the new setting I'm confident we can improve
because we found it a bit too late to really dial it in.
I'm pleased to be in the ballpark, but obviously not pleased
with eighth but I don't think that is a reflection on where
we could and should have been. It is quite a bit different
riding at this track on an 800 that what I did last year in
World Superbikes. I tried my old lines but they don't work!
The speed is just so much faster and that determines the corner
speed you carry. Using my old lines I couldn't square the
corner off, so even though I know the track I have to learn
and adjust. The support for me out there is amazing with all
the JT flags and 52 flags. I think everybody wants to see
a British guy do well, so it's just down to me to get the
job done."
Circuit Length: 4023
Weather: Dry
2008 MotoGP Great Britain - Donington Park 20/06/2008
Free Practice
Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time
1 Casey Stoner Ducati AUS 1'28.253
2 Nicky Hayden Honda USA 1'28.829
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha ITA 1'28.909
4 Colin Edwards Yamaha USA 1'28.969
5 Alex De Angelis Honda SMR 1'28.992
6 Daniel Pedrosa Honda ESP 1'29.207
7 Shinya Nakano Honda JPN 1'29.207
8 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 1'29.341
9 Chris Vermeulen Suzuki AUS 1'29.410
10 Randy De Puniet Honda FRA 1'29.433
11 John Hopkins Kawasaki USA 1'29.441
12 Anthony West Kawasaki AUS 1'29.666
13 Andrea Dovizioso Honda ITA 1'29.718
14 Marco Melandri Ducati ITA 1'29.856
15 Toni Elias Ducati ESP 1'30.268
16 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha ESP 1'30.290
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