Bushiee46
16-02-2007, 13:28
http://www.gixerjunkies.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7588&stc=1&d=1171628804http://www.gixerjunkies.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7589&stc=1&d=1171628804
After two days of Yamaha domination, Dani Pedrosa put Honda on top during the third and final day of official testing at Qatar - but only after early pace setter John Hopkins was hospitalised by a 120mph highside.
Despite light overnight rain reducing grip, Thursday's final day saw lap times tumble to record breaking levels as qualifying tyres were fitted to most of the new 800s for the first time at Doha - eventually resulting in Pedrosa, best of the rest behind the factory M1s of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi after day two, setting a scorching 1min 55.471secs.
"On the final day we didn't test too much on the bike," said Dani. "We took the best settings from yesterday and the day before and put in a good number of laps to get a better feeling for how the tyres will behave during the race. I also did a race simulation and put on qualifying tyres at the end of the day. Definitely this was as a test for myself more than for the bike and that's good.
"It was really important to get a good feeling here because the first race of the season will be held here and now I hope that when we come back the conditions are similar and we can take advantage of this test. But it wasn't only us that had a good test: also Yamaha and Suzuki are fast, Ducati as well. We will continue to see how the tyres work and that's why we cannot relax. We wanted to see the performance of the bike at the end of the race and we've got some information about this which is important. Now we have to keep improving," he warned.
Pedrosa's best lap was several tenths inside Casey Stoner's 2006 (990cc) Qatar pole time and 0.354secs clear of nearest rival Hopkins - but Rizla Suzuki had little to cheer about since Hopkins, the first rider to go out on qualifiers on Thursday, finished the test in hospital.
The Anglo-American, sixth after day two, suffered a 120mph highside just before lunch - while at the top of the timesheets - and is feared to have fractures in both his right hand and foot (see separate story). The only good news for Hopkins and Suzuki is that, depending on the outcome of further medical checks, he might still be able to make the final pre-season test at Jerez next week and is expected to be present for the first race of the season, again at Qatar, on March 10th.
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Meanwhile Rossi, winner of last year's Qatar Grand Prix, was the only other rider to break the 1min 56secs barrier as the former five-times MotoGP champion beat team-mate Colin Edwards for the first time in three days. The Texan, fastest at the previous Sepang test then for the first two days at Qatar, was still a speedy fifth as both factory Yamaha riders undertook race simulations.
Making a surprise appearance between the duo was Pramac d'Antin's Alex Hofmann. The German was the fastest of all the Ducati riders for the first time on an 800cc bike - another extremely positive step for the satellite team, after team-mate Alex Barros' impressive outing at Phillip Island.
Completing the top six was Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet, who delivered another promising performance on the ZX-RR. Randy was rejoined by team-mate Olivier Jacque after the older of the two Frenchmen sat out yesterday's proceedings to recover from a day one fall. A Ducati trio then followed within two tenths of de Puniet, consisting of factory stars Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner, then Barros.
After another somewhat discreet test, triple 2006 race winner Marco Melandri picked up the pace slightly on day three, continuing his adaptation to Bridgestone tyres and the 800cc RC212V as he completed the top ten. Amazingly, that still meant Melandri was the second quickest Honda behind Pedrosa, indicating that HRC still has work to do with its new machine if it is to suit the majority of its riders.
Indeed, reigning world champion Nicky Hayden was worryingly left almost two seconds behind team-mate Pedrosa in 14th but, although far from pleased with his lack of pace, claimed he "didn't get too carried away chasing lap times" and instead concentrated on set-up after suffering two falls on day two.
Further back, Jeremy McWilliams joined Jacque in returning to action on the final day - the Ulsterman rounding out the 22-riders (including Ducati test rider Shinichi Ito) as he lapped within 0.6secs of Ilmor team-mate Andrew Pitt. MotoGP's newest team still look to have much work to do after Pitt was left 1.5secs behind Ito and over two-seconds from closest full-time racer Sylvain Guintoli (excluding injured Kawasaki rider Olivier Jacque).
The second and final official pre-season test will take place at Jerez in Spain from February 23-25, and include the traditional 40-minute pre-season 'qualifying' shoot-out, before teams and riders return to Qatar for the season-opening grand prix on March 10.
1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda RC212V 1:55.471
2 John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R800 1:55.825
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Factory Racing Team Yamaha 1:55.954
4 Alex Hofmann Pramac D'Antin Ducati GP7 1:56.315
5 Colin Edwards Yamaha Factory Racing Team Yamaha 1:56.371
6 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 1:56.753
7 Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati GP7 1:56.807
8 Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati GP7 1:56.834
9 Alex Barros Pramac D'Antin Ducati GP7 1:56.950
10 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini Honda RC212V 1:56.980
11 Shinya Nakano Konica Minolta Honda Honda RC212V 1:56.980
12 Makoto Tamada Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha 1:57.232
13 Toni Elias Honda Gresini Honda RC212V 1:57.246
14 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team Honda RC212V 1:57.269
15 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R800 1:57.365
16 Kenny Roberts JUNIOR Team Roberts KR212V 1:57.408
17 Carlos Checa Honda LCR Honda RC212V 1:57.497
18 Sylvain Guintoli Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha 1:58.379
19 Roger Lee Itoh Ducati Test Team 1:58.974
20 Andrew Pitt Ilmor 2:00.081
After two days of Yamaha domination, Dani Pedrosa put Honda on top during the third and final day of official testing at Qatar - but only after early pace setter John Hopkins was hospitalised by a 120mph highside.
Despite light overnight rain reducing grip, Thursday's final day saw lap times tumble to record breaking levels as qualifying tyres were fitted to most of the new 800s for the first time at Doha - eventually resulting in Pedrosa, best of the rest behind the factory M1s of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi after day two, setting a scorching 1min 55.471secs.
"On the final day we didn't test too much on the bike," said Dani. "We took the best settings from yesterday and the day before and put in a good number of laps to get a better feeling for how the tyres will behave during the race. I also did a race simulation and put on qualifying tyres at the end of the day. Definitely this was as a test for myself more than for the bike and that's good.
"It was really important to get a good feeling here because the first race of the season will be held here and now I hope that when we come back the conditions are similar and we can take advantage of this test. But it wasn't only us that had a good test: also Yamaha and Suzuki are fast, Ducati as well. We will continue to see how the tyres work and that's why we cannot relax. We wanted to see the performance of the bike at the end of the race and we've got some information about this which is important. Now we have to keep improving," he warned.
Pedrosa's best lap was several tenths inside Casey Stoner's 2006 (990cc) Qatar pole time and 0.354secs clear of nearest rival Hopkins - but Rizla Suzuki had little to cheer about since Hopkins, the first rider to go out on qualifiers on Thursday, finished the test in hospital.
The Anglo-American, sixth after day two, suffered a 120mph highside just before lunch - while at the top of the timesheets - and is feared to have fractures in both his right hand and foot (see separate story). The only good news for Hopkins and Suzuki is that, depending on the outcome of further medical checks, he might still be able to make the final pre-season test at Jerez next week and is expected to be present for the first race of the season, again at Qatar, on March 10th.
http://www.gixerjunkies.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7590&stc=1&d=1171628804
Meanwhile Rossi, winner of last year's Qatar Grand Prix, was the only other rider to break the 1min 56secs barrier as the former five-times MotoGP champion beat team-mate Colin Edwards for the first time in three days. The Texan, fastest at the previous Sepang test then for the first two days at Qatar, was still a speedy fifth as both factory Yamaha riders undertook race simulations.
Making a surprise appearance between the duo was Pramac d'Antin's Alex Hofmann. The German was the fastest of all the Ducati riders for the first time on an 800cc bike - another extremely positive step for the satellite team, after team-mate Alex Barros' impressive outing at Phillip Island.
Completing the top six was Kawasaki's Randy de Puniet, who delivered another promising performance on the ZX-RR. Randy was rejoined by team-mate Olivier Jacque after the older of the two Frenchmen sat out yesterday's proceedings to recover from a day one fall. A Ducati trio then followed within two tenths of de Puniet, consisting of factory stars Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner, then Barros.
After another somewhat discreet test, triple 2006 race winner Marco Melandri picked up the pace slightly on day three, continuing his adaptation to Bridgestone tyres and the 800cc RC212V as he completed the top ten. Amazingly, that still meant Melandri was the second quickest Honda behind Pedrosa, indicating that HRC still has work to do with its new machine if it is to suit the majority of its riders.
Indeed, reigning world champion Nicky Hayden was worryingly left almost two seconds behind team-mate Pedrosa in 14th but, although far from pleased with his lack of pace, claimed he "didn't get too carried away chasing lap times" and instead concentrated on set-up after suffering two falls on day two.
Further back, Jeremy McWilliams joined Jacque in returning to action on the final day - the Ulsterman rounding out the 22-riders (including Ducati test rider Shinichi Ito) as he lapped within 0.6secs of Ilmor team-mate Andrew Pitt. MotoGP's newest team still look to have much work to do after Pitt was left 1.5secs behind Ito and over two-seconds from closest full-time racer Sylvain Guintoli (excluding injured Kawasaki rider Olivier Jacque).
The second and final official pre-season test will take place at Jerez in Spain from February 23-25, and include the traditional 40-minute pre-season 'qualifying' shoot-out, before teams and riders return to Qatar for the season-opening grand prix on March 10.
1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda RC212V 1:55.471
2 John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R800 1:55.825
3 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Factory Racing Team Yamaha 1:55.954
4 Alex Hofmann Pramac D'Antin Ducati GP7 1:56.315
5 Colin Edwards Yamaha Factory Racing Team Yamaha 1:56.371
6 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki 1:56.753
7 Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati GP7 1:56.807
8 Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Team Ducati GP7 1:56.834
9 Alex Barros Pramac D'Antin Ducati GP7 1:56.950
10 Marco Melandri Honda Gresini Honda RC212V 1:56.980
11 Shinya Nakano Konica Minolta Honda Honda RC212V 1:56.980
12 Makoto Tamada Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha 1:57.232
13 Toni Elias Honda Gresini Honda RC212V 1:57.246
14 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda Team Honda RC212V 1:57.269
15 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki MotoGP Suzuki GSV-R800 1:57.365
16 Kenny Roberts JUNIOR Team Roberts KR212V 1:57.408
17 Carlos Checa Honda LCR Honda RC212V 1:57.497
18 Sylvain Guintoli Tech 3 Yamaha Yamaha 1:58.379
19 Roger Lee Itoh Ducati Test Team 1:58.974
20 Andrew Pitt Ilmor 2:00.081