The 125cc riders had the privilege this afternoon of officially opening the first training sessions of the 2008 season, and doing it under special…
There is an estimated total of 5’4 million Watt consumption for the lighting on the Losail Circuit, enough to light an imaginary road between Doha and Moscow. During the first MotoGP free session, Repsol Honda Team Riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden have been provided at their box with a 2007 version of the Honda RC212V and another 2008 version. The aim of the team was to compare the performance of the two bikes during these first two free training sessions, in order to speed up development of the 2008 version. Dani Pedrosa went on track first with the 2007 version, with which he completed 15 laps. 19 minutes away from the end of the first free session, Pedrosa went on track riding the 2008 version and rode another 8 laps, his best time being lap 21 using the second bike. Teammate Nicky Hayden started out on the track with the Honda RC212V 2008, with which he ran most of the session, running his best time on the fourth lap. The American has completed 17 laps on the 2008 version and 6 on the 2007 one. The second MotoGP free session did not end well for Repsol Honda Team rider Spaniard Dani Pedrosa.
Pedrosa, who had been alternating between bikes throughout the session, suffered a bad fall 19 minutes from the end. His front wheel hit Valentino Rossi’s rear wheel, when the Italian rider suddenly cut down speed in the middle of a curve both were taking. The accident happened on curve 15 of the Qatar track, a fast curve to the right. The fall was with the Honda RC212V 2008. Fortunately, Pedrosa was unhurt, though he preferred not to go back onto the track again and stayed at the box studying all the information available up until the accident. Teammate Nicky Hayden also rode both bikes throughout the second session, completing 24 laps on the Qatar track. In the quarter-litre category, Julián Simón was able to give a good performance during the first round of free training sessions, staying among the first five, and even scoring the best time. However, still half an hour away from the end, he lost his front wheel in the last curve of the circuit and hit the ground, luckily without physical harm. He finally took 8th position. Hiroshi Aoyama and Mikka Kallio, riders who receive support from Repsol, have given an overall performance very similar to that of the Spaniard, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.
During the first free training session in 125cc, the riders have started to ride fast, and Esteve Rabat took the chance to do a few first laps with the two bikes he now has at the box, and continued with the adjustments he tried out during the training sessions earlier this week on this same track. Later, in the first timed session, the Repsol rider concentrated on improving his riding, and thanks to his own, and the whole team’s work, he ended up running almost two seconds faster than during the first session. Rabat completed today 31 laps, running a best time of 2’06.869 secs during the first timed training session of the season. It was a major improvement which has put him in twelvth position on the provisional starting grid.
Dani Pedrosa, 1’56.962 secs, 38 laps, 204 km. >> Audio
“The two bikes are different, but it’s still too early to decide on which one we’ll use for the race. The accident happened when I was behind Rossi. I was catching up with him when he did something I didn’t expect and I couldn’t avoid hitting him. The fall made me quit earlier than I had planned, so we’ll have to spend some time with the mechanics before starting tomorrow. My right hand and arm feel quite tired after today, but the problem now is that it is starting to hurt a lot again”.
Nicky Hayden, 1’57.069 secs, 46 laps, 247 km. >> Audio
“It wasn’t spectacular in any way, but we knew that coming here wasn’t going to be easy, because we had a lot of problems during the training sessions we had last week. Tonight we tried out some totally different adjustments, so we’ll definitely have to sit down and make a decision upon which bike to use, in order to make some big progress tomorrow. Until now, last year’s bike brakes better and has better stability changing direction, though the times are very similar. I would say that the conditions on the track were better today than during the tests; I expected it to be dirtier, but it was fine. The tyres are no excuse and they performed well. I expected to improve during my last lap and I was pushing hard, but went off the track at a very fast point. I went straight off a curve into the gravel, but I didn’t fall, so I’m alright”.
Julián Simón, 2’01.147 secs, 38 laps, 204 km. >> Audio
“It was a complicated day. I had a rather tough start and then a bit of bad luck. At least the sensations I’m getting are more positive than after the tests we did here. This calls for optimism and we’re going to work hard on the problems that we’ve been having since the test. We’re finding it hard getting the front end adjusted. On fast curves I don’t feel 100% confident on the bike, which prevents me from riding as fast as those ahead of me. We’ve found that I lose time mainly in the fourth partial. It’s a shame that I’m having such difficulties with that part of the circuit, because I think that I don’t do too bad in the rest. I think that at the end of the day we could have done better, but we’ve had a problem with the engine and that stopped improvement. Tomorrow we are going to give it our best; I hope to be in the lead and get a good position on the grid”.
Esteve Rabat, 2’06.896 secs, 31 laps, 167 km >> Audio
“Today didn’t really go that well, but the good side is that we have taken a step forward, because up until now the training sessions have been quite disastrous. The team is doing all they can to help me, the bike is very competitive and I’m sure that it’s ready to take leading positions. We’re improving bit by bit and solving the problems we had. In any case, there is still a lot of work to be done, and that’s precisely what we’re going to do”.
