Suzuki top day one at Catalunya MotoGP
Aleix Espargaro springs Suzuki surprise on day one of Catalunya MotoGP
A thrilling first day of MotoGP Free Practice action at the Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya in Barcelona ended with a sensational performance from Team Suzuki Ecstar’s home crowd favourite Aleix Espargaro. Espargaro took full advantage of an upgraded Suzuki engine to power his GSX-RR machine to an impressive lap time of 1’41.158, which was less than 0.3s away from Dani Pedrosa’s circuit best lap set in 2013.
Aleix Espargaro – P1 – “It’s a very positive feeling. This race means a lot to me and I feel very comfortable on this track, therefore it is emotional to be leading the pack. I know it’s only Friday but we’ve done a huge job, also because this track requires a very fine-handling machine and my GSX-RR excels at that. We mainly worked to find a good set-up and started immediately to use the new engine developments that arrived from Japan; I don’t feel an extraordinary difference but for sure we showed some improvements. Of course we still need to work on them to find the best set-up and electronics settings. Apart from the results, which are very satisfying, the best feeling is that Suzuki is giving me unbelievable support; everyone is working very hard and deeply believe in the project: This is something that makes me very proud and happy.”
Overnight thunderstorms meant grip levels weren’t ideal for FP1 this morning, but conditions improved throughout the day, with track temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius for FP2. Lap times quickly tumbled, with mixed weather forecasts for Saturday placing extra emphasis on today’s second session as riders were anxious to secure an automatic place in Q2 in case of rain tomorrow.
In a frantic last few minutes of FP2, it was Espargaro’s brilliant lap on the Bridgestone’s soft option Open spec rear tyre that secured him top spot ahead of reigning World Champion Marc Marquez. The Repsol Honda rider (+0.285s) was the only man to get within half-a-second of the leading Suzuki, as he debuted a new exhaust and updated electronics to improve the power characteristics on his RC213V.
Marc Marquez – P2 – “I’m happy because I felt pretty good on the bike. We are working with a focus on the second part of the race, because at this track the tyres degrade a lot, but it’s the same for everyone. We did some tests and it seems that we have solved a few of the problems we have had, but we must continue with this because I still don’t feel quite right. However, I think we have definitely taken a step forward. That is the important thing: Improving and getting increasingly closer to the top time. Anyway, we still have work to do to prepare the second part of the race when tyres drop down.”
Dani Pedrosa (+0.631s) was in third ahead of Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso (+0.665s) who with his teammate Andrea Iannone ran modified aerodynamic winglets on the GP15 to avoid touching the raised curbs at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Dani Pedrosa – P3 – “Thankfully the track dried after yesterday’s rain and we made the most of this to work a lot with the tyres. The asphalt was not in ideal condition but we tried some changes to the setup for the rear; tomorrow we will continue to see if we can improve both on the entry and exit of corners. Today we put on both the hard tyre and the soft compound and, although the grip was not perfect, both are very similar and there is not much difference, this will be key for the race. I also tested two different swing arms, and we will decide which one we will use after checking carefully the data, as both have pluses and minuses.”
Andrea Dovizioso – P4 – “Today was a bit of a strange day: the feeling I had with my GP15 was rather unusual and so we will have to check through the data to see what we need to modify on the bike. The track doesn’t have much grip and there are also a lot of dips created by the cars, which cause us a lot of bother. We’ve still got all day tomorrow to work on things, so we’ll have a look at the data calmly before deciding the right direction to take to improve.”
Andrea Iannone – P6 – “Today went differently to how I expected it to go: I didn’t think I’d struggle so much and thought I’d be quick right out of the box. Instead it was difficult for me to get into the right rhythm. For the moment I don’t have the feeling I want: probably the bike’s behaviour won’t change very much on this track over the weekend, but I am sure that we will find a way to be quicker and in any case today we’ve already improved the bike in the braking points. I’m not particularly worried because I’m working well with the team and I’m sure we will find the right direction tomorrow.”
Team Suzuki Ecstar enjoyed a day to remember as Maverick Viñales (+0.764s) also showed good pace on the second GSX-RR to finish in fifth.
Maverick Viñales – P5 – “I’m happy for the day and for the job we’ve done. The track is unbelievable, I like it so much, even if I had to struggle a little to adapt my reference points compared to previous years. This is why my crew and I decided to start in the morning with my original machine and find a good set-up with it, which was then the base to introduce the evolution bike and engine in the afternoon. The feeling is very good, we did many laps, very fast and we now need to investigate further the set-up for overall pace. Tomorrow will be important to find a balance that makes me comfortable, both for the consistent race-pace and for the quick-lap attack in FP3 and in qualifying.”
Andrea Iannone (+0.780s) improved from eleventh in FP1 to end the day in sixth overall, with the big surprise coming from Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniard has dominated the last three races in Jerez, Le Mans and Mugello but he found himself down in seventh on the Movistar Yamaha M1.
Jorge Lorenzo – P7 – “I think we did a great job from the morning to the afternoon. In the morning the grip of the track was a lot worse compared to Mugello. The bike moved around a lot, especially in acceleration. We did a great job in making the bike more stable, so the performance improved a lot and we have a consistent pace. This will be very important for Sunday’s race. Here, compared to the first lap, the pace can drop a lot in the middle of the race, so if we have a good set up we can have an advantage at the end of the race.”
Cal Crutchlow (CWM LCR Honda), Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) completed the top ten, despite Redding crashing heavily at turn 10 during the afternoon.
Cal Crutchlow – P8 – “We’re a little disappointed with today, I feel we should have made some improvement in the afternoon session and especially the middle run. We were perhaps trying a few too many things comparing back-to-back runs, and tomorrow I think we need to concentrate on our own schedule and our own bike. I think we can do a good job tomorrow, because I feel comfortable and happy on the bike and the CWM LCR Honda Team have done a really good job with it all today.”
Pol Espargaro – P9 – “Overall, I am pleased with how the day went as we performed a lot better than the time sheets indicate. We have the same handicap as usual whereby the MotoGP open class bikes with the soft tyres, are in front of us. Furthermore, the Ducati’s have a clear advantage as well on the long straight because of their engines. Yet, we still did a solid job as we are only just behind Lorenzo and in front of Rossi. The bike is working well at this track and although we still have some margin of improvement to make, we are doing our best in getting ready for Sunday which is the day it really counts.”
Scott Redding – P10 – “The feeling with the bike is getting consistently better and our lap times are more consistent also. But we’re still missing a bit to the front guys, so we’re working to improve rear traction, because I can make a good lap time on a new tyre but once the grip drops off I lose about half a second and that is too much. For the race we need to find something that isn’t as aggressive on the tyre. I crashed at turn nine after something came off the back of Hernandez’s bike. I stayed out of the way but then I just went down. It was like there was something on the asphalt but I couldn’t see anything there, so I just put it down to being a bit off line.”
Nine-times World Champion Valentino Rossi ended the day down in 11th.
Valentino Rossi – P11 – “It wasn’t a bad start. At the end of the practice we found a better setting and balance of the bike and I didn’t feel so bad. I’m just a little bit worried about the position, because I’m not inside the top ten. The reality is that everybody rode incredible lap times and pushed very hard. I feel good with the bike and the pace is not so bad. We have to better our times and try to improve the position tomorrow. A lot of riders rode a very good lap time to stay in the top ten to secure a place in tomorrow’s Q2 in case of bad weather conditions tomorrow. I went on track thinking 1’42.3 was enough to guarantee me a spot, but unfortunately Redding overtook me and I’m in eleventh place. However, the feeling with the bike is more important and we hope for some good conditions tomorrow.”
Nicky Hayden slipped down the order to 13th after the American was an impressive seventh in the morning session. That put the 2006 World Champion ahead of Bradley Smith (14th). Irishman Eugene Laverty set the 19th fastest time of the day.
Nicky Hayden – P13 – “This morning things went well and we were able to keep improving throughout the first session. I got my best time on my own and with the soft tyre, but here that tyre does not provide significant advantages. In the afternoon we struggled to keep improving, I guess due to the high temperatures. The good thing is that this afternoon we ran for a long time with used tyres, which is important for the race. In the second session we lost a bit of speed cornering, something we have to correct tomorrow. We must also work on the durability of the tyres. Today we continued working with the swing arm I had in Jerez, and it works well in terms of stability, but does not really give us anything extra, nothing that makes us really change our times. This morning it was good to see us just eight tenths off the best time. The team is working hard both on and off the track and every week we improve the electronics a bit.”
Bradley Smith – P14 – “It was a slightly tricky opening to this round. This was due to the fact the track has a little less grip than in previous years, so we struggled a bit to get the optimum traction. However, we made a lot of setting changes in order to find a good direction to head towards tomorrow, which we now have, especially after I was able to check over both of the front and rear tyres today. At the end of the practice I focused more on getting a good rhythm with the soft tyre, instead of setting a hot lap time as I believe this compound will be the one for the race so I tried to remain in the 1’42’s consistently. Overall, I am pleased with the bike and now we just need to find a little bit of additional grip. If we achieve this, I believe we can have a strong showing and finish we were want to.”
Loris Baz – P16 – “It was a long day of work, we had some new solutions to try and I feel we are going in the right direction. This afternoon we kept working on that and we found some improvements for the electronics. I’m happy as I was able to push hard with a fresh set of tyres. We have to improve our pace for tomorrow but we made a big step compared to this morning.”
Eugene Laverty – P19 – “Today we improved a lot from one session to the next, something positive compared to the races in Italy and France, certainly this Friday has been more positive than those. In Mugello we learned how best to turn the bike in certain types of corners and that helped us today in the final sector. Thanks to that this afternoon we managed to improve our feelings and our times. We still have to continue to improve the maneuverability of the front end in some parts of the circuit. In addition, in the afternoon, with increasing temperatures, the rear wheel bounced a lot, so we will try to fix it tomorrow.”
Australian Jack Miller had ran comfortably inside the top 15 for much of the sessions but as other riders quickened their pace Miller ended the day in 20th position, 2.2 seconds behind the lead rider, with front-end feel still his main bugbear.
Jack Miller #43 – 20th (1.43.369) – “I’m reasonably happy with the day, but there’s mixed feelings because whilst we did a good lap time, the position isn’t quite where I want to be. We need to make some improvements tomorrow. Yet again we struggled with the grip on the front end, I just don’t feel too comfortable with it, so we need to try and work this out for qualifying and hope that we can do an even better job then.”
After showing a good speed in the morning, Stefan Bradl could not find the right feeling with the bike on the corner entrance and he was not able to progress in the afternoon. His best lap time was 1’43.536 which earned him the 22nd position.
Stefan Bradl – P22 – “This morning the practice was good, we tried to make some improvement on the bike but unfortunately I cannot flick the bike as fast as I would like into the corners and I think we are losing some speed there. We stay positive for tomorrow and we keep working.”
Alvaro Bautista finished today’s free practice sessions with the 21st best time (in 1’43,463). Marco Melandri was lagging a bit behind, finishing in 25th place with a best time of 1’45,270.
Romano Albesiano (Aprilia Racing Manager) – “These were two very demanding sessions in terms of bike setup. Barcelona is a very complex track but toward the end of the session we made significant improvement with Alvaro, also trying some of the solutions we had tested at Misano. We’ll use some others tomorrow with the goal of increasing grip to the rear, which is currently our most important objective. Marco was also feeling a general instability with the bike, so we have a few different solutions there as well that we’ll try on the track Saturday.”
Alvaro Bautista – “This was an important day because we wanted to try the frame we had tested at Misano straight away. I found some advantages there, but here the difference wasn’t quite as clear, so obviously it depends on the circuit. Now we need to improve above all in the braking sections and we need more grip on the fast turns.”
Marco Melandri – “Today we worked on the setup and we had some difficulties, especially in terms of grip. So tomorrow we’ll try to make a few changes to the frame geometries, trying to reach a higher level of confidence with the bike.”
Zarco and Cortese share the spoils in Moto2 practice Catalunya MotoGP
Ajo Motorsport’s Moto2 World Championship leader Johann Zarco ended the first day of practice on top of the combined timesheets at the Gram Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya. The French rider set the fastest time of the day in cooler conditions this morning with a 1’47.144, as he looks to extend his 31-point lead over reigning Champion Tito Rabat at the Montmelo track.
Cortese finished second on the combined timesheets after the German topped FP2 with a 1’46.941 (+0.186s). Only three of the top 10 were able to improve their pace in significantly warmer conditions this afternoon and most riders lost crucial time through the technical final sector in the second session.
Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes (+0.248s) crashed in both sessions. He was unhurt after a fall at turn 5 this morning and the Briton fell again at turn 10 in FP2 before bouncing back to end the day third fastest. AGR Team’s Jonas Folger (+0.249s) was fourth fastest despite suffering a gearshifter malfunction in FP2, with reigning Moto2™ World Champion Rabat (+0.255s) taking fifth as he tried to improve a front-end chatter issue.
Folger’s teammate Axel Pons (+0.289s) was sixth fastest on the combined timesheets, with Alex Rins (Paginas Amarillas HP40), Dominique Aegerter (Technomag Racing Interwetten), Thomas Luthi (Derendinger Racing Interwetten), and Luis Salom (Paginas Amarillas HP40) completing the top ten.
Less than a second separated the top 20 riders, with Ratthapark Wilairot ending the day in 27th on his return to Moto2 as replacement rider for Zaqwhan Zaidi in the JPMoto Malaysia squad.
Kent ends close first day of Moto3 practice on top in Barcelona Catalunya MotoGP
Leopard Racing’s Danny Kent came out on top of a typically closely contested practice day for the Moto3 field at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Kent, who holds a commanding 46-point lead in the standings, finished with a 1’51.637 that put him top of the timesheets by just 0.011s from Italian Niccolo Antonelli on the Ongetta-Rivacold Honda. Kent’s best pace was still some way off the fastest Moto3™ lap around the 4.7km circuit of 1’50.232 set by Alex Marquez one year ago. But less than 0.1s split the top four and less than a second covered the top 22, with the big surprise supplied by Italian Alessandro Tonucci (+0.065s) in third spot on board the Outox Reset Drink Team Mahindra. Tonucci was behind Mugello winner Miguel Oliveira and Livio Loi when he set his fastest lap of 1’51.702.
RW Racing GP’s Loi (+0.089s) clearly benefitted from having Oliveira as a reference in front of him too as he finished fourth fastest. Enea Bastianini (+0.113s) on the Gresini Racing Team Moto3 Honda recovered from an early nasty crash in FP1 to set the fifth fastest time. Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Oliveira, who became the first Portuguese rider in history to win a Grand Prix in Mugello earlier this month, completed the top six. Spanish rider Jorge Navarro had topped the overcast morning FP1 session, but as conditions improved throughout the day, every rider managed to improve their times in FP2.
Navarro dropped back to eighth on the timesheets to finish one place behind his (Estrella Galicia 0,0) teammate Fabio Quartararo. Hiroki Ono (Leopard Racing) and Phillip Oettl (Shedl GP Racing) completed the top ten. Scottish rider John McPhee on the SAXOPRINT RTG Honda had finished FP1 in twelfth but he dropped down to 19th by the end of FP2.
Remy Gardner (1’52:985): “We’ve been trying different set-ups and working a lot with suspensions and geometry and, at the end of the day things have gone better. My best lap time at the second Free Practice is been more than 1.5 seconds faster than during the morning and it means that we are working well and very close to find the best possible settings for the race”.
