Max Biaggi, second in the both free sessions, preparing his strategy meticulously.
Good performance of the rest of the Repsol riders, with Hayden seventh in MotoGP, Porto third in the 250cc, followed by Pedrosa, fourth and De Puniet, sixth. Faubel third in the 125cc.
Good start of the weekend for the riders of the Repsol Honda Team at the first practice day of the Grand Prix of Italy. Local hero Max Biaggi, supported by a large crowd of fans in Mugello, played one of the leading roles MotoGP during both practice sessions of the day. Max, second fastest in the morning behind Rossi, made it again to second in the afternoon during the second free practice and shows himself very optimistic for the race on Sunday. His teammate Nicky Hayden, after clocking the fourth fastest time in the morning, was seventh in the afternoon, on a circuit where he took a place on the front row of the grid last year after setting the second fastest time.
A lot of movement to be seen in the leading positions of the quarter-of-a-litre class first practice day. In the morning, Repsol rider Sebastián Porto was fastest, followed by class rookies Lorenzo and Stoner, as well as De Angelis, De Puniet, Pedrosa and Barberá in this order. In the afternoon, Australian rider Stoner was fastest, followed by De Angelis and Sebastián Porto. Behind the Repsol rider came Dani Pedrosa, who was set back in his tests due to some mechanical problems.
Fifth fastest time for Lorenzo; sixth was French Repsol rider Randy De Puniet, who suffered a light crash without physical consequences.First provisional row of the grid for Héctor Faubel in the minor class. The rider from Valencia set the third fastest time in the first qualifying practice; half a second behind poleman Kallio and less than a tenth behind Italian rider Pasini, who was second. Faubel, who was ninth fastest in the morning’s free practice, will keep on improving the settings of his Aprilia tomorrow, especially as regards suspensions, in order to try to improve his position on the definitive grid. Competitive performance shown as well by his teammate Sergio Gadea, who managed to be second during the morning practice. However, Gadea finished in a back position – fifteenth – in the first qualifying practice due to problems with the suspension settings of his Aprilia, one of the most critical aspects together with speed, on this track.
Good performance of rookie Julián Miralles, who finished eighteenth, improving the time set in the morning (34th) by three seconds. Jordi Carchano, who was back on his bike for the first time since his wrist operation was only able to make nine laps in the afternoon practice due to electrical problems with his bike, finishing more than five seconds behind the leader, on 41st place. Joan Olivé finished twenty-first, due to several problems with the settings of his Honda.
Repsol rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Max Biaggi
First free practice 2nd, 150.823, 21 laps
Second free practice 2nd, 150.662, 25 laps
This has been the best Friday of the season. But still just a free practice Friday. We scored good fast laps, and this is positive, but race pace and qualifying practice requires more effort. Anyhow its nice to make a step forward. Part of this improvement is surely due to a new fork we tried in Le Mans. Still we must improve braking and cornering. Im very happy with the atmosphere in the pit and with the way we are working. My team and I are really trying our best and I hope it will be all right. Im serene: we started with a good step. We really needed it.
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden
First free practice 4th, 151.158, 25 laps
Second free practice 7th, 151.239, 27 lapsNot 100% comfortable yet.
This track is really special but it takes some time to get into a grove. Its so up and down with quite a few blind crests and corners you really have to be so confident here. I just need to sort out a few reference points and I think the lap time will come. Weve got a little work to do with the suspension but were not too far away. Were struggling with a bit of grip as the track warmed up this afternoon but that is the same for everyone.
250. Sebastián Porto
First free practice 1st, 154.444, 25 laps
First qualifying practice 3rd, 154.149, 18 laps
Im happy because weve made two very good practice sessions. We’ve got a large amount of data which we’re going to analyse later in order to improve the bike’s settings. We didnt choose the right engine configuration in the afternoon and that hindered us from lapping a bit faster; but Im sure that tomorrow Ill be able to do it. Were going to focus on the engine and the suspensions in order to find a good compromise for our bike because that’s fundamental on this track. The layout is with no doubt favourable for the Aprilia, but given the Championship, all makes adapt well to any layout.
250. Dani Pedrosa
First free practice 6th, 155.548, 23 laps
First qualifying practice 4th, 154.500, 16 laps
We were making several tests in the afternoon and we had problems with the engine of one of the bikes. I rode back to the garage and back on the track again but I finally had to stop at the end of the straight. I ran back to the garage to get on the other bike and finish the last ten minutes of the session. The worst of all is that we had problems with one of the bikes and the other isnt working really well either, but Im hopeful for tomorrow. Im sure that well be able to fix everything for tomorrow and make good use of the day. Mugello is a track I dont really like much, but, as always, well try to do our very best, both tomorrow and on Sunday.
250. Randy De Puniet
First free practice 5th, 155.196, 23 laps
First qualifying practice 6th, 154.776, 17 laps
I crashed halfway the qualifying practice and that made me loose the pace, in addition to valuable time. The crash was with bike number one, but fortunately I was able to continue with it, so I havent lost the good feelings. Were still far from having a perfect bike, and therefore well have to work hard this afternoon and during tomorrows free practice in order to be able to improve. The main reason for the crash was that I went off the line and on a very dirty section of the track. Well surely be able to improve tomorrow.
125 GP. Héctor Faubel
First free practice 9th, 201.492, 19 laps
First qualifying practice 3rd, 159837, 11 laps
Im quite happy with the work weve done today, because weve been improving every time we went onto the track. Ive been in the lead for quite a lot of time, but in the end I haven’t been able to keep the pole and finished third. Right now were on the provisional front row and Im highly motivated; I hope to make a good race. I wasnt able to score at the French Grand Prix, and that gives me much more strength to do things right here.
Track conditions
- Air: 26º-30º
- Asphalt: 32º-50º
- Humidity: 16%-19%
- Wind: 2 Km/h
