IRTA tests start in Catalunya with the 125 class.
Héctor Faubel fastest Spanish rider after the two official 125cc sessions in Barcelona.
After the compulsory winter break and the first preseason tests, the official IRTA tests started yesterday at the Circuit de Catalunya, which will be the last tests before the official start of the World Championship in Jerez in three weeks time. All teams taking part in the 2005 Road Racing World Championship have gathered at the newly reasphalted circuit. Those in charge of giving the starting signal of the tests were the riders of the 125cc class, who had their first session on Tuesday and have opened today for the 250cc. The riders of the premier class will be on the track on Friday. The weather respected the riders work this time, allowing for a normal development of the sessions, after those cold and rainy days that spoiled some of the test sessions during the preseason.
The 125cc Repsol riders have finished the official test sessions with mixed feelings. While Héctor Faubel managed to set the fifth fastest time, thus becoming the fastest Spanish rider of the class, his teammate at the Master – Aspar Team, Sergio Gadea, was not quite satisfied with his bikes set-up after the session. After a total of 137 laps covered in two days, Gadea was twenty-second in the overall standings, one second and a half behind his teammate. Right behind Gadea finished Jordi Carchano, twenty-third, while his young teammate Julián Miralles Jr, sixteen years old and class rookie, managed to finish in a meritorious eighteenth place.
125 GP. Héctor Faubel
5th, 1’52.545, 146 laps:
‘Im satisfied with my debut in the class. The winter has been hard and Ive been working without hardly any references; most of the time under bad weather conditions, unable to work comfortably. Ive worked real hard during these tests, testing material supplied by Aprilia and at the same time trying to lap fast. The only clear thing is that were following the right path and that we have to stick to it in order not to go off course.’
125 GP Julián Miralles
18th, 1’53638, 139 laps:
‘I have to confess that its been quite hard to be riding a day and a half, always against the clock. I tried to forget that it was a timed test and in the end things worked out more o less well. I havent been able to be here with the whole team because my uncle injured himself on Sunday and had to stay at home. We have made progress as regards he settings of the bike and we were able to discard some configurations we were not sure about. The start of the season is getting closer and we have to be ready.’
125 GP Sergio Gadea
22nd, 1’53. 952, 137 laps:
‘I obviously expected much more of these tests, but theyre over and theres nothing we can do. Now theres only the IRTA test in Jerez before the first GP, to solve the problems weve been having with the settings of my bike. Riders sometimes have these runs of good and bad luck and it seems that Im going through a rather bad one now. Ill try to do better next week in Jerez.’
125 GP. Jordi Carchano
23rd, 1’54.019, 130 laps:
‘All riders have been very fast during these tests, you could see it in the time sheets. At the beginning it seemed as we would not be able to push too hard because of the new asphalt that might be more slippery than usual. But bit by bit we all shook off that feeling and the times started to become faster. Were following a good working path, so is the team, and we have top material. Now we only need to adapt in order to let everything turn out perfectly.’
125 GP. Joan Olivé
28th, 1’54.653, 147 laps:
‘These have been my first tests on the new bike. Our working plan was to cover as many kilometres as possible and start setting the bike bit by bit the way I like. Im quite satisfied because Ive felt good on the Aprilia and Im happy with the way its working. We have a lot of work ahead and fortunately we still have the IRTA tests in Jerez before the start of the season.’
Track Conditions
- Temperature: 18º
- Track: 25º
- Humidity: 40%
- Wind: 3 Km/h
