Honda and Kawasaki make progress during Misano test session
Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa had an intensive day of testing at Misano today, making his debut with Bridgestone tyres and testing Honda’s pneumatic-valve RC212V. He enjoyed a positive feeling with the tyres and set a fast pace at the end of the day using the pneumatic-valve machine.
Pedrosa rode from 13.30 to 18.15, starting out with the spring-valve RCV that he used during the weekend’s San Marino GP. The Spaniard began the process of adjusting bike set-up to suit the Bridgestones and got on well with the tyres. He rode a best lap of 1m 35.555s, then later in the day switched to the pneumatic-valve RCV and clocked a 1m 34.652s, learning more about his new tyres and gaining valuable data for ongoing machine development. Conditions were once again hot and sunny, with ambient temperature at 34 degrees and track temperature at 42 degrees.
Pedrosa’s first day with Bridgestone was very encouraging. Now his team will analyse what they’ve learned today to prepare for the next MotoGP round at Indianapolis on September 12/13/14.
Dani Pedrosa, fastest lap: 1m 34.652s (81 laps)
“I’m happy starting this new challenge and I would like to thank Bridgestone. Today we also made an important step forward in developing the 2009 bike, but now my first priority is to be fully competitive again. Of course, there is a lot of work to do but I am determined to win again this year. Today we worked hard on bike set-up. The feeling with the new tyres on my RC212V is different, both for settings and for riding style, but I just tried to follow my feelings and adjust the set-up accordingly.
“Today was only the first day of this new challenge but I am happy. I also tested the pneumatic-valve engine. The engine character is different, the power delivery is a bit more aggressive, but the engine has some good points. I have no experience on this latest bike, so I had to test many new things today. This has been an important test. Now we will analyse all the data and we look forward to the next race at Indianapolis.”
Kazuhiko Yamano – Team Manager
“Today’s test session was important and Dani’s feeling with the Bridgestone tyres was positive. He started the session with the valve-spring engine and then switched to the pneumatic-valve engine. The character of these two bikes is different but Dani was faster with the pneumatic-valve engine, his lap times improved a lot. Of course, there are positive and negative points with the engine which we will now analyse.”
FREE PRACTICE LAP TIMES
1. Pedrosa (Spa-Honda) 1’3”652 (81 laps)
2. Nakano (Jap-Honda) 1’35”446 (53)
3. Hopkins (Usa-Kawasaki) 1’35”879 (70)
4. De Puniet (Fra-Honda) 1’35”972 (48)
5. West (Aus-Kawasaki) 1’36”101 (77)
6. De Angelis (Rsm-Honda) 1’36”120 (41)
KAWASAKI CONTINUES DEVELOPMENT AT MISANO
Kawasaki’s John Hopkins and Anthony West returned to the Misano circuit today for a one-day post-race test, to continue development of their upgraded Ninja ZX-RR race machines.
Hopkins was keen to make up for track time lost recently to his Assen and Brno injuries, and spent the five hours on track running through an extensive test programme, concentrating particularly on improving the front-end stability of his machine.
The 25-year-old Anglo-American worked mainly on enhancing his set-up to accommodate a newer specification Bridgestone front tyre option that many of the MotoGP front-runners now use. This brought a new direction for the team, but with only a short time out on track today, he will not be able to add it to his tyre allocation without further set-up development of his Ninja ZX-RR. The Kawasaki pilot spent the last few hours refining the chassis setting of his machine using his current tyre options, and ended the day confident of improvements.
West used the time on track to eradicate the front-end problems that have hampered his progress at this circuit. The 27-year-old Australian worked closely with his crew to test various different chassis components, and, although he has not managed to find a complete solution to the confidence issues that have stopped him from pushing the front of his Ninja ZX-RR harder, he has made significant steps forward in set-up.
Along with the changes to his chassis set-up, West also tested different tyre options and found an improvement in the agility of his machine. The Kawasaki pilot noted an increased amount of front-end grip into the turns, which has enabled to achieve a better lap time than during the race weekend.
Hopkins – #21: 69 Laps – 1’35.879
“Today we had a lot of work to do as I’ve missed so much time on track recently. Our focus was mainly on the front-end of the machine, and we have refined our setting from this weekend by changing the way the chassis is set up. We also started work on using a Bridgestone front tyre option that both Valentino (Rossi) and Casey (Stoner) use. This meant we had to alter the bike a lot, but we are now the only team using the old type of tyre, basically because we’ve not had any chance to test. This new specification tyre is definitely the future for us, but unfortunately it can’t be in my allocation until we’re completely happy with the way the machine handles with it. I’m pleased with the results of today’s test, but still have a lot of catching up to do with the upgraded bike. I’m really excited about Indianapolis, particularly as it’s my home round, and we’ll be looking to achieve strong results there.”
West – #13: 76 Laps – 1’36.101
“We’ve basically spent the test time today trying to improve the feedback from the front-end of the bike. We also tried a different swing-arm, but this didn’t really make any significant difference for us. We have some more direction with how we can move forward with the front-end troubles and I felt a lot more confident going into the turns, which resulted in a quicker lap time than we managed in the race. We also evaluated a few different Bridgestone tyre options, and the conclusion is positive, but we still have more work to do. I’m looking forward to Indianapolis, particularly because it’s an even field as no-one has previous track experience there, and we’ll be looking to gain a strong finish.”
Kawasaki Technical Manager
“It’s been a useful day testing for us here at Misano. With John we spent most of the day using different tyre options and altered his machine set-up, which has been an improvement over the lap times we could achieve at the weekend. Anthony tested some different chassis components and we’ve been trying to improve our package to make it easier for him to turn his machine. Overall it’s been a positive test, but we still have a lot of development to do over the next few races.”
