Dani Pedrosa is bak into action after celebrating his title in Australia.
Dani finished seventh on this first day and Sebastián Porto was fastest in the 250cc. Nicky Hayden sets the third fastest time in MotoGP, and Héctor Faubel is second in the 125cc.
Turkey and the Istanbul circuit have welcomed the World Championship circus with their peculiar local colour and the friendliness of their people. With rather low temperatures -around 14º C- but sunshine, the first official practice session was staged today on the new Turkish track. The layout that had created a lot of expectation due to its attractive design has been defined by most of the riders as original, fast, varied and very difficult. In the premier class, Nicky Hayden set the third fastest time in the second free session after setting the sixth this morning. His team-mate Max Biaggi, eleventh fastest in the morning, was tenth in the afternoons session.
Both Repsol Honda Team riders even Hayden who was third-, are more than one second behind Marco Melandri, who was fastest today, so it became evident that both riders and their teams have yet a lot of work to do. After the relevant changes they will do this afternoon, they will keep on testing tomorrow to prepare the race the best possible way. In the 250cc, the Paddock was ready to work this morning with the title conquered by Repsol rider Dani Pedrosa only a couple of days ago in Australia, fresh in everybodys minds. Dani took todays practices easy after the nerves and tension of the last weeks. Fourth in the morning, the two-times World Champion of the class set the seventh fastest time in the afternoon. Pedrosa finished a bit more one second behind the fastest time, set on both sessions by Repsol rider Sebastián Porto.
Danis team-mate, Hiroshi Aoyama, was sixth and Portos team-mate, Randy De Puniet, eighth. In the minor class, the weekend had a good start or the Repsol riders, with three of them within the top nine of the timing sheets after the first qualifying session. Joan Olivé, who has been showing himself much more competitive in the latest races, took the lead of the session some of minutes before the end, followed by Héctor Faubel, eager to show his best weapons on the Turkish track. Faubel took over from Olive with five minutes to go and remained there until the last minute, when he was overtaken by Kallio. Aspars pupil tried to do one last fast lap in order to keep the provisional pole, but made a mistake, off-track included, that forced him to settle for the second place. His team-mate Sergio Gadea had also a good first qualifying session, setting the eighth fastest time, taking a place on the second row of the provisional starting grid. And one row behind, on the third, there is Joan Olivé, who finally dropped back to the ninth place.
Rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden:
First free practice 6th, 155.874, 34 laps
Second free practice 3rd, 154.774, 25 laps
The track seems alright. Some of the corners are a little bit slower than Id hoped they would be but the grip seems really good and the surface is good. My guys did a great job in getting the set-up pretty accurate first time out. The gear-box ratios were a good choice and to be so close out of the gate was good. Overall today weve made positive progress. Although third fastest seems okay the real concern is being 1.2s off the fastest time. Thats quite a gap and indicates weve got a lot to do tomorrow.
MotoGP. Max Biaggi
First free practice 11th, 156.926, 36 laps
Second free practice 10th, 155.478, x laps
Its always nice to see a new track and this one is very interesting. This morning it was very cold and there was not so much grip. We have some balance problems with the bike at the moment. This is made more difficult as the track has quite a lot of changes in level and the front goes very light when we are on full power and this makes it hard to control. We did make some progress in the session and things did get better but we still have much work to do. Two seconds off the fastest lap is not a great position but Im confident we have some good ideas for tomorrow
250. Dani Pedrosa
First free practice 4th, 159.167, 25 laps
First qualifying practice 7th, 158.441, 18 laps
I took the practice sessions with ease; its been the first practice day and on a new track. Its been a rather complicated day, because we have to do a lot of adjustments, especially as regards the gear change, but also the suspensions. The lines are new and we havent got any reference. The aim is to learn the layout and to find the limits, to choose the tyres… The circuit is completely different to all the others; Im not sure if I like it yet, because its a bit strange. Its wide and the surface is a bit bumpy, I guess due to the Formula 1 cars, but the grip is good. It has some overtaking points, constant gradient changes and some rather unusual corners. My shoulder is doing better, although it hurt more in the afternoon. I guess it is due to the cold and the humidity. But fortunately Im not riding and thinking about the pain anymore.
250. Sebastián Porto
First free practice 1st, 158.541, 27 laps
First qualifying practice 1st, 157.408, 17 laps
I am very happy today as I felt good throughout the day. This track is very difficult because its totally different to all the others we race at. Its very long and combines many climbs and drops and some blind corners. In general its got some very difficult, but very enjoyable sections. This morning I took a while to find the right line but in the end Im satisfied because we did a good job and the bike responded very well. I hope things will continue like this tomorrow and, if they do, I am sure we can improve our time further. The important thing is that I feel good and believe I can go even better tomorrow.
250. Hiroshi Aoyama
First free practice 9th, 159.939, 29 laps
First qualifying practice 6th, 158.263, 19 laps
I like the circuit in general terms, because some sections make me remember the typical Japanese tracks. It links slow sections with very fast corners and it is difficult to find the right line and the braking points, because it’s really wide and it’s easy to make mistake until you have adapted to it. The fast section is the one Im having more trouble with for the moment.
250. Randy De Puniet
First free practice 2nd, 158.591, 30 laps
First qualifying practice 8th, 158.563, 17 laps
I am a little unhappy because both in the morning and the afternoon we did a good job, but it was not really reflected in the standings. In the morning I was second, and in the afternoon, just when I was going to improve my time, I was held up and that stopped me from moving up the qualifying times. However, Im happy with the work Ive done and believe we can improve a lot tomorrow. I like the track a lot; its very technical but also very enjoyable.
125. Héctor Faubel
First free practice 5th, 207.404, 21 laps
First qualifying practice 2nd, 204.997, 12 laps
We have started off on the right foot at this new circuit where we’re all starting from an equal footing and have no data. However, we can’t relax and I’m confident we can improve our time tomorrow. For the moment I’m satisfied and tomorrow I’ll try to lower my time a little more. I like the track a lot as it is different to the rest of the tracks on the calendar, it has a lot of climbs and drops and blind corners to the left.
125. Sergio Gadea
First free practice 2nd, 206.621, 21 laps
First qualifying practice 8th, 205.722, 11 laps
I am happy for the time being and I feel comfortable on this circuit. I was a bit annoyed at the end of the qualifying session as I wasn’t able to go as quick as I would have liked. I have some faults to iron out and we’ll have to change the set-up the a bit, but in general I’m happy and think we can improve tomorrow. This circuit is very enjoyable with a lot of corners in quick succession and it’s different to the rest.
125. Joan Olivé
First free practice 23rd, 209.305, 22 laps
First qualifying practice 9th, 205.845, 13 laps
Its been a good day. I liked the circuit a lot; the track is very amusing and technical, with a lot of gradient changes, fast sections, wide and with a good grip. It hasnt been bad at all, considering that it’s been the first practice day. We used the morning session to rediscover the bike, get to know the circuit and look at some details, as well as to choose the tyres. We pushed harder in the afternoons qualifying practice. As regards the setting were doing well, and tomorrow were going to work on smaller aspects such as the engine, something very important here, especially the back area before the finish.
Standings:
125
- M.Kallio (KTM) 2’04.740
- H.Faubel (Aprilia) 2 2’04.997
- T.Koyama (Honda) 2’05.026
- G.Talmacsi (KTM) 2’05.161
- T.Luthi (Honda) 2’05.257
8. S.Gadea (Aprilia) 2’05.722
9. J.OIivé (Aprilia) 2’05.845
250
- S.Porto (Aprilia) 1’57.408
- A. de Angelis (Aprilia) 1’57.544
- C.Stoner (Aprilia) 1’57.845
- A.Dovizioso (Honda) 1’58.107
- J.Lorenzo (Honda) 1’58.233
- H.Aoyama (Honda) 1’58.263
- D.Pedrosa (Honda) 1’58.441
- R.de Puniet (Aprilia) 1’58.463
MotoGP
- M.Melandri (Honda) 1’53.506
- S.Gibernau (Honda) 1’53.945
- N.Hayden (Honda) 1’54.774
- S.Nakano (Kawasaki) 1’55.015
- V.Rossi (Yamaha) 1’55.078
10. M.Biaggi (Honda) 1’55.478
Track conditions:
- Weather: sunny
- Air: 14º-15º
- Asphalt: 17º-26º
- Humidity: 25%
- Wind: 2-7 Km/h
