Sebastián Porto firmly dominates in Phillip Island.
The Repsol rider was fastest in both practice sessions; Nicky Hayden third fastest in MotoGP.
First practice day of the Australian Grand Prix, as usual a great show at the Phillip Island circuit. The typically strong wind on the coastal area, the clouds and the sun received the World Championship circus for the fifteenth round of the 2005 season. A special anecdotic highlight was the presence in the garage of the Repsol Honda Team of former Australian 500cc World Champion Wayne Gardner -1987, Honda NRS 500-, who as a tribute, was able to do four laps on the Australian track on one of Max Biaggi’s Repsol Honda RC211V. As regards the sporting aspects, good and bad result for the riders of the Repsol Honda Team.
Nicky Hayden is back at the venue of his first podium finish in 2003, and set the third fastest time of both free practice sessions staged today. The North American was eighth in the morning, more than one second behind the fastest time set by Gibernau, while his team-mate Max Biaggi was ninth, repeating the position in the afternoon.
In the 250cc, Sebastián Porto celebrated the arrival of the world championship circus in one of his favourite circuits setting the provisional pole, that brought back a smile on the face of the winner of the 2004 Australian Grand Prix. Fastest already in the morning’s free practice, the Repsol riders kept himself among the top five in the afternoon, clocking three fast laps at the end of the qualifying practice which finally gave him the provisional pole position. Dani Pedrosa, who is facing his first, though remote, chance to take his second 250cc title – he has to win and his rival Stoner has to finish fifteenth or be out of the points -, set the sixth fastest time in a first day where he hasn’t given the impression of feeling really comfortable at any time. Randy De Puniet, with some problems with the brakes, was eighth, behind Pedrosas team-mate, Japanese rider Hiroshi Aoyama, who was seventh.
The rain showed up during the morning session of the minor class, where Sergio Gadea managed to be fastest. In the afternoon and with the sun shining on a completely dry track, the qualifying practice of the eight-of-a-litre class run smoothly with Italian rider Pasini setting the fastest time. Héctor Faubel was once again the fastest of the Repsol riders although Aspar’s pupil had finally to settle for a back ninth place, half a second behind the fastest time. Joan Olivé was twelfth and Sergio Gadea fifteenth.
Repsol riders´s comments:
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden
First free practice 8th, 1’32.828, 26 laps
Second free practice 3rd, 1’31.016, 33 laps
This afternoon was a lot better than this morning. We made some changes and the guys did a good job. We raised the rear up and got it to steer a lot better through the fast corners and overall the bike just felt a lot better. This morning I wasn’t really doing much or having much fun and this afternoon I was able to loosen up and enjoy it a little bit more. Pretty solid this afternoon – there are some guys going real fast early on and I know we still gotta’ lot of work to do. The tyres are so important around here and I managed to find some tyres I liked and it was good to get finish the session with three pretty fast laps.
MotoGP. Max Biaggi
First free practice 9th, 1’32.872, 23 laps
Second free practice 9th, 1’31.988, 28 laps
We are in a better shape this afternoon compared with this morning but we still have a long way to go. The bike feels light on the front and pretty vague when we are hard on the power. There are a few turns that we seem to have more problems on than others. The last fast left is not so good and because it is such a long corner we lose much time here. I will have to work hard with the team before tomorrow to make the front more stable which is so important round a track like Phillip Island.
250. Sebastián Porto
First free practice 1st, 1’34.700, 23 laps
First qualifying practice 1st, 133.117, 19 laps
I’m very happy because we are back in top spot after a long time waiting. I think that the most important thing is that we’ve worked well since the morning session, and you can see how much. After having made changes in Qatar, the bike is responding well and today we made the most of that. In any case, we can’t relax, and will have to keep working hard, but I’m confident of repeating this tomorrow. This is one of my favourite tracks. Last year I was happy all weekend, and in the race we managed to take the win, so I’m hoping that this weekend we can once again be just as competitive, and can be at the front of the pack.
250. Dani Pedrosa
First free practice 10th, 1’36.375, 25 laps
First qualifying practice 6th, 134.189, 22 laps
I took it easy today; I preferred to start a bit slower than usual because I dont want to take unnecessary risks. We had some problems with the brakes in the morning and in the afternoon we had trouble trying to find the right tyres because one of the tyres we used at the end of the practice was defect. Well continue testing the different options tomorrow morning to decide which is the one we like most. We still have to improve the bikes set-up but its basically the track that has to improve. This is a circuit with a good layout and the most important is that you have to be constantly with an open throttle. As regards the shoulder, it still bothers but I feel better than in Qatar. We had good weather today so I hope that it will stay like this tomorrow to be able to continue improving.
250. Hiroshi Aoyama
First free practice 11th, 1’36.471, 21 laps
First qualifying practice 7th, 134.790, 23 laps
It hasnt been that bad considering the crash in the morning due to cold tyres. Ive been lucky because it was on a slow corner. I dont know whether well be able to improve times much tomorrow or not, because the weather is always a mystery on this circuit, but we need to improve, both the bike and me.
250. Randy De Puniet
First free practice 7th, 1’35.905, 28 laps
First qualifying practice 8th, 134.998 , 25 laps
It was tough for us today. The first part of practice wasn’t too bad, but then I began to have brake problems, and because of that I couldn’t do too much in the way of times. I think that if the team can find the solution to the problem, tomorrow we can improve our times.
125. Héctor Faubel
First free practice 19th, 1’45.309, 11 laps
First qualifying practice 9th, 1’39.185, 14 laps
This morning we were only able to get four laps in and suddenly it started to rain, so we lost the whole free practice. I didn’t go badly in the afternoon but we are still a little bit behind schedule. I feel confident and I’m sure that we will improve a lot more tomorrow. The track is incredible for me, both for its location and the way it adapts to my riding style. It’s very windy but personally it is one of my favourite tracks.
