Quotes from MotoGP Riders after day one at COTA
Marc Marquez – P1
“Today went well enough and in the second session I started to feel more comfortable on the bike, but there are some areas of the setup where we need to keep working hard, especially to improve the feeling with the front. The positive is that over the course of the day, we were able to complete a lot of work and try all the tyres, even the soft one, to see how the bike reacts. In the afternoon we also took a step forward with the electronics, finding a good enough base, although we also want to sort out some more details there to improve the bike’s behaviour on the bumps. I look forward to tomorrow, to continue the good work on the bike and on myself as well, I also can improve in T4.”
Johann Zarco – P2
“We started the weekend in a very positive way and I’m looking forward to pushing more tomorrow. Today I ran a lot of laps on the medium and used tyres in order to get up to speed. Then, at the end of the FP2 session, I went out on the soft compound, which clearly works well at this circuit, and my feeling was strong which is why I could ride a quick lap like in qualifying. We made the right choice by choosing to complete some distance first, and then when we needed to cut the time, I produced a lap which put me in second, so right now the situation is perfect. The track is tough with the constant changing of direction as well as a lot of hard braking points and it costs energy, plus it’s a bit bumpier than last year. However, even though I am still learning, everything is going well so far. We will continue our work tomorrow for the race on Sunday, but before that, I am confident that I can produce a positive qualifying performance.”
Maverick Vinales – P3
“I’m really happy, we were working really hard for the race. We are quite confident, I know we can do a very good job. I’m working good, I’m working hard on the bike, I feel that I’m on a good level. We still have to work on the electronics in many places. I’m feeling great, that is something important. We were focusing on ourselves. We’re doing a good job all the time, we are trying to improve step by step. Important for us is working for the race, preparing for the last ten laps, because that’s where we can improve”
Valentino Rossi – P4
“On this track the winglets can help. We do a lot of accelerating from a low speed, but we also have a lot of change of directions, so we prefer to go with the normal cowling. It was a better start compared to the first two races, for sure, those were a disaster. I think this is very important for us, because we didn’t change the bike a lot from the Argentina setting and tried to understand if the bike also works on this track, which is very different. Already this morning I was in the top10 and not far from first. It looks like we will be able to do some adjustments, but now we have a better understanding of the base setting. In the afternoon I did a good lap with the softer tyre, so I’m fourth, but we still have to work on the pace. Especially braking, it is difficult to stop, but for sure, compared to Qatar and Argentina, this is a better start. After Qatar I expected better results, but in Argentina I suffered a lot. There we really modified the balance of the bike a lot and now I have a better feeling. For me, we understand something important.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“Today was definitely a very positive start to our weekend at COTA; surely the best start ever since our first race here in Austin. Even more so if we consider that Maverick did his best lap time on a race set-up bike! Valentino has spent his best Friday since the start of the championship and this will give him the chance to work ‘quietly’ tomorrow, to fine-tune the bike. Both riders are pretty satisfied with their bikes’ set-up, although we believe there’s a big margin for improvement tomorrow. Let’s say our riders have given us more than one reason to be confident for Sunday. Today we tested several tyre specs with good feedback both about lap times and wear. Tomorrow we’ll continue this work and we’ll decide which configuration is best for the race.”
Dani Pedrosa – P5
“We were able to improve after the first practice session and to try some more things with the setup, and also with the tyres. We must do a good job of using the information we gathered today in order to take another step forward tomorrow. We’re especially looking to improve in the first and third sectors, and to prepare for the race as well as possible.”
Andrea Dovizioso – P6
“It was a bit of an unusual day because we found a track that was quite different from last year. There are a lot of dips in it and so everything became rather complicated: it’s not easy to find the right set-up because there isn’t much grip, you can’t push very hard on the front, and in any case we must also consider tyre wear for the race. All in all, despite the overall feeling not being that great, we are not bad at all for pace. At this moment there is no doubt that Viñales and Marquez have a lot more pace, but after them we are all in there together. Tomorrow the temperature should be a bit lower than today, and we will try and take advantage of the situation and work with the race in mind.”
Cal Crutchlow – P7
“Today we found quite a good setting in the second free practice. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel great during the first free practice on the bike or the tyres, but this afternoon it seemed a bit better with the harder front tyre and the harder rear tyre. We still have a few small things that we want to try on the bike, areas where I want to improve and I think we can. But the team did a good job and hopefully we can improve even more tomorrow.”
Jonas Folger – P8
“It was a solid first day and I’m certain that we can do a really good job here on Sunday. The Circuit of The Americas is such a technical track with a lot of corners, so it took me a bit of time to adapt and find the flow on the MotoGP bike. However, in FP2, on the last run, we put the soft tyres in and I was able to ride quite a positive lap so to finish the day inside the top ten is a strong start to proceedings. There are a few corners where I am making some small mistakes and missing a bit of pace, so I need to sit down and analyse where I am going wrong in order to try to improve myself. For tomorrow in FP3, we will work on the race setup and then once we have found a good pace, we will go for a quick time so that I can get into Q2 in the afternoon. I am certain that we can continue in this encouraging way and I’m excited to get back on my Yamaha.”
Scott Redding – P9
“I’m quite satisfied. In the morning session we always used the same tires and the feeling was good. I set my best time on the last lap and this is an other good signal. In the afternoon we tried many tires solutions. In the end we got in for the time attack with the medium at the front and the soft at the rear and it was a good combination even though I had to push to the limit. All thing considered my feelings are positive and I think we can improve tomorrow”.
Andrea Iannone – P10
“Today has been a tough one. We improved from morning to afternoon, but not enough yet. It is not an easy thing. It’s a problem we’ve always had, and it is evident to a greater or lesser extent according to the circuit. We are working on it, but still I struggle. It’s something I have to adapt to. We tried to take some steps to enhance the machine, but for the moment we haven’t found the proper way forward. We improved, but not enough, so we’re back to the baseline settings. We need to further investigate tonight and hopefully find better ideas for tomorrow. I’m pretty satisfied about the hard tyres. I made good runs with them, while I still struggled with the soft ones.”
Jorge Lorenzo – P11
“Even though my position is not very good and for the moment I am outside the top 10, I am quite happy. We still have tomorrow morning’s FP3 session to play with, but the most important thing is that my feeling with the Desmosedici has improved a lot from Argentina. The new riding position gives me a lot more confidence and feels safer in corner entry and in general I feel better on the bike. In the end we are not far off fourth or fifth place and tomorrow I hope to make another step forward.”
Danilo Petrucci – P12
“I have not been lapping on this circuit for two years and I have been struggling to find back the feeling. To be honest I have to say the track is much worse as there are too many bumps. As for today’s performance I can’t be satisfied. The position is not good and the race pace is not the best. I was struggling to find the right set up but I still want to be positive for tomorrow. We have found the right direction to take and that’s why I’m confident. Of course we have to improve a lot”.
Jack Miller was still satisfied with his performance in getting the RC213V machine to absorb the bumps better. Miller challenged for the top six in an exciting FP2 and he ended the day in 13th place and close to the top 10.
Jack Miller – P13
“I felt pretty comfortable on the bike today but the track is definitely bumpier than it has been in the past. It is something that we are going to have work on with the setting tonight to make our package a bit more user-friendly around here. It seems that the bike gets very unstable and once you hit the bumps it is difficult to stop the bouncing and shaking. The biggest issue with the bumps seem to be mid-corner. I think it comes a lot from Formula One because they have so much downforce and go through the corners with such speed and pressure on the tarmac that it creates bumps in the middle of the corner and that makes it hard. I’d have liked to have kept my place in the top 10 at the end of the session but I still view it as a positive start to the weekend and I feel competitive.”
Ramon Aurin – Jack Miller’s Chief Engineer
“The big challenge today has been to work on a compromise for the setting of the front of the bike. You need to be relatively soft to absorb the bumps but you also need to consider harder front fork options to manage the hard-braking zones and to give you support in the middle of the corner to carry good corner speed. It is the same process for the rear set-up too, so we will take a close look at the data tonight and work on modifying the setting to help us reach that compromise. I think our race pace is not too bad but we need to improve our one lap pace for qualifying. We can’t seem to be able to put together one fast lap. Jack is fast in all four sectors but we need him to do it all together on one lap for a good place on the grid.”
Tito Rabat – P17
“This morning in FP1 I felt strong and confident but this afternoon I didn’t have the same feeling. I experienced a problem and I must thank my team for finding a solution very quickly that allowed me to recover some of the positive sensations from the first session. I was confident I could improve my lap time at the end of the session but when I tried to push I found a lot of traffic and it was not possible. I’m happy though because this track was very difficult for me last year, and to be doing the lap time I managed makes me optimistic that I can be fighting in the points again.”
Aleix Espargaro – P14
“It was certainly not our best day of practice. I struggled, especially with front end stability. We also had some trouble with direction changes. The RS-GP is still not as agile as I would like it to be. Now the guys on the team will analyse the data. I think for tomorrow that we will work on the geometry and on weight distribution. Rear tyre choice, on the other hand, shouldn’t be a problem. I tried two options and both felt good, so we will focus on the feeling with the front end, which is our main problem for now.”
Hector Barbera – P15
“Today has been a positive day. As I said before coming here, I still need to adapt my riding style to this bike, but today I felt better riding my bike and my riding style is becoming more natural. We have to keep working in this way because I want to get the maximum out of the bike. I want to say a big thank you to my team, they have been patient and they managed to provide the necessary calm to reach our goal. We are still far from where we want to be, but I’m sure that we will get there sooner or later. Their support is really important and without it, everything would be more difficult.”
Alex Rins – P18
“I’m positive about today. We were able to take some steps forward towards improving the bike. We have always had some issues with the setup of the front end. While here, we made some improvements on this. We focused a lot on the setup, more than on electronics, and my feel for the bike is getting better and better. We are working hard. The good thing is that little by little I’m adapting to the machine, but also the machine is adapting to me; so we are both growing fast. We need to review the data tonight to find better solutions for tomorrow. I feel good about the ankle. It hurts at some points, but I’m trying to adapt my riding style in order not to push it too much.”
Loris Baz – P19
“The first day was more complicated that Argentina, but we are not so bad as it seems in the standings. This morning I didn’t want to use the soft tyre at the end of the session and I did the 45 minutes with the same set of tyres, which gave us valuable information for the race. In the afternoon I improved my pace riding on my own and the feeling was good. At the end we mounted a new soft rear tyre, but didn’t change the front as I wanted to keep one set for tomorrow. I knew that this combination would push the front. Braking into turn one I made a small mistake and I crashed. I hope to improve tomorrow in FP3 to try to get into Q2.”
Sam Lowes – P22
“The second session went rather well. I was able to improve both in terms of time and my feeling. As often happens, our pace is better than our flying lap. I must say that this is a demanding track with the MotoGP bike, but these are difficulties that help me to improve quickly, changing lines, riding style and my position in the saddle. The track has a lot of dips and our bike is usually stable, but here we will need to work on absorbing the bumps. I think it is a problem that a lot of the riders will have. We will try to solve it by both working on the setup and by trying to change a few trajectories.”
MotoGP 2017 – Round Three – Day One Combined FP1/FP2 Practice Times
- MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 2’04.061
- ZARCO Johann 5 FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 0.286
- VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.390
- ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.745
- PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.750
- DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 0.769
- CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 0.944
- FOLGER Jonas 94 GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 0.972
- REDDING Scott 45 GBR Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 1.055
- IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1.081
- LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Ducati Team Ducati 1.221
- PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 1.223
- MILLER Jack 43 AUS Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1.402
- ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1.407
- BARBERA Hector 8 SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 1.523
- BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 1.541
- RABAT Tito 53 SPA Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1.882
- RINS Alex 42 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 2.094
- BAZ Loris 76 FRA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 2.297
- ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 2.442
- ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team Ducati 2.648
- LOWES Sam 22 GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 2.680
- SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 3.373
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