MotoGP is still going through a tight and intense season, and this first day of training sessions for the China Grand Prix, disputed on the Shanghai Circuit, was an exciting new chapter. Three riders stood out among the rest during these first training sessions: Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, and Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa, who were the fastest both during the morning session and also in the afternoon.
The leader of the classification chart, Jorge Lorenzo -at a draw with Dani Pedrosa-, today suffered a spectacular fall during this morning’s free training sessions, an incident which prevented him from running in the afternoon.Taking both sessions into account, Rossi was the fastest -with his fastest lap time this morning-, while Stoner was second, and Pedrosa, third.
The Repsol rider ran the third fastest time in both free training sessions. Nicky Hayden also showed a good performance on the Chinese track. In the morning, the Repsol Honda Team rider was eighth, and in the afternoon, sixth, with the improvements introduced by his team for the Honda RC212V. After both sessions, Hayden ran an overall sixth fastest time.
In the 250cc category, the day did not start too well for Julián Simón, who this morning hit the ground in this weekend’s first training session. The fall happened on bend number 6 -to the left- when the front tyre of his KTM FRR 250cc lost adherence.
Simón had a few problems with the setup of his bike, especially with the gear ratio, which made him lose precious time during the afternoon’s first timed session. However, Simón finally ran the sixth fastest time, hoping to improve tomorrow and to make it to the first row on the grid.In the smallest of the three categories, Esteve Rabat was back in action today on the circuit where a year ago he took his only podium position to-date in a World Championship. Rabat ran the ninth fastest time in the first free training session -his best result so far on the KTM-, and expected to perform just as well in the first timed session.
But in the afternoon, Rabat and his technical team encountered problems with the setup of the suspension which prevented him from running any faster, finally running the 24th fastest time. Marc Màrquez, on his first visit to the Chinese track, was 26th in the morning and 28th in the afternoon, though in his case he admits that he needs some more time to get used to the track and progressively improve his lap times.
Dani Pedrosa, >> Audio
2’00.361 seg, 45 laps, 238 Km.
‘Today’s two sessions were quite good for the first day, but we still need to improve our overall package here. During both sessions we concentrated mostly on chassis set-up and tyre choice, working to improve overall performance. My pace was faster this afternoon but not quite what we had expected, so we need to keep on working. Tomorrow we will aim to make another step forward, we will try to find a couple of tenths by making some more detail chassis adjustments and by working closely with the Michelin technicians to find the best tyres. I’m feeling confident for Saturday.’
Nicky Hayden, >> Audio
2’00.607 seg, 45 laps, 238 Km.
‘This afternoon was quite a lot better than this morning. Even though our position isn’t a lot better, our gap to the front has come down a lot. After the morning session we changed the spring and made quite a lot of other small changes. Straight away this afternoon the bike worked a lot better and I enjoyed riding it more. I felt pretty comfortable out there. My team did a good job to make some good improvements, so thanks to them. We definitely found some good direction between FP1 and FP2, so hopefully if we can keep working in that direction we’ll be a lot closer again tomorrow. But we need another big step if we’re to really improve.’
Julián Simón, >> Audio
2’06.238 seg, 34 laps, 180 Km.
‘Our gear ratio was wrong today, based on what information we had, and that prevented us from running on the straightaway as fast as we could have. This mistake made us lose a lot of time, because the straightaway here is very important, and our sixth gear was too long, which gave us some trouble. In the end we solved a few problems, mainly with the chassis, which gave us the chance to improve our times and keep motivated for tomorrow. I like this circuit a lot and I think this bike can perform well here. This morning I tried out a few different things; though there was the problem with the top speed, I was probably riding too fast and I hit the ground. It was just another fall, my front wheel skidded, but I’m OK. It might have been a mistake, because it wasn’t a timed session, and was still the first free session, but this is part of the race. As for tomorrow, I’m looking forward to being up in the lead.’
Esteve Rabat, >> Audio
2’16.109 seg, 28 laps, 148 Km.
‘We’re here in China once again, on my favourite track and where I took my first podium. This morning I went out there and let the bike run for a while, saw what the circuit was like, taking it easy. At the beginning the track was a bit dirty, but we managed to finish among the first ten. But this afternoon we had a few problems with the suspension; during the second lap I noticed that if I opened up the gas the rear of the bike would skid. I don’t exactly know what happened. Now we’ll try to see what it was, to try and improve for tomorrow. I’m sure we can do much better tomorrow’.
Marc Márquez, >> Audio
2’16.629 seg, 31 laps, 164 Km.
‘It was a complicated day, because the circuit’s very long and we do quite few laps. We still don’t know what setup we’ll use for the bike. This afternoon we’ll have to get down to work with the information we have and make the adjustments to the bike, to try and do our best tomorrow. What impressed me the most about this circuit was the width of the track. There are very long and tricky bends, so you have to adapt. My arm is in perfect condition and isn’t giving me any problems. We only have to concentrate on riding fast. I was passed by a few riders, but for the time being I can’t follow them, both because of my riding and because of the bike, but we’ll see if I can get closer to them tomorrow.’
