British GP. First practice. Driver´s comments

Nieto: ‘We still have tomorrow left to improve the bike, so there’s no reason to rejoice yet’.
MotoGP, Valentino Rossi, 1.31´196 sec, 1st: ‘Pretty good first day. Much better than last year at least. We still need to do much more work to find the best tyre but we are in a good position. We also need to work hard to find the right gearing as at the moment I have a wheelie problem. Especially coming out of the slow parts of the circuit – like the loop and onto the start/ finish straight. We will talk to the team tonight and will work hard for tomorrow and for the race on Sunday.’MotoGP, Nicky Hayden, 1.32´199 sec, 12th: ‘Day one at Donington was OK really. I gotta pretty good feel for everything and have learnt a lot today. I’ve gotta lot of information to sleep on and have a lot to build on. There are a couple of places on the track I really need to work on and were a little tricky. A couple of blind corners that I need a little more time on. There’s lots of room for improvement and I’m looking forward to tomorrow250. Fonsi Nieto, 1.33´859 sec, 1st: ‘We’ve had a very good start. We tested several things in the morning that have given good results and I used the afternoon to get the rhythm and improve the lines. This circuit is one of my favourite ones, I had a good result last year; I finished second and took the pole. We still have tomorrow left to improve the bike, so there’s no reason to rejoice yet. We’ll look for a good rear tyre tomorrow; but I’m quite satisfied overall. We’re getting closer race by race and I’d love to take the victory here, for my team and for all the fans. They deserve it, and it’s about time they get it.’250. Toni Elias, 1.34´814 sec, 5th: ‘I’m satisfied but I would have liked to be in the front, fighting for the provisional pole. I have some little problems that we’ve not been able to solve today, but we’re quite close to the top anyway, although Fonsi has clocked a really fast lap. I’ve made some changes on the bike that we still have to tune, so tomorrow we’ll have to find a good compromise for the bike. I don’t like being fifth, but there’s still tomorrow and we’re working on the right line.’250. Sebastián Porto, 1.35´778 sec, 10th: ‘We’ve had several problems today, starting with the new engine Honda has brought for us. I’m a bit disappointed because we haven’t been able to make it work right. I think that it arrived from Japan with the problem; we don’t know how much power it has because it failed both in the morning and in the afternoon. As a consequence, we lost almost all the morning session, and the afternoon session was almost a first practice. We’ve had several problems with the engine, but also with the chassis because this circuit is quite complicated and it’s not easy to find a good set-up. But I’m not worried, there’s still tomorrow and now we have to analyse the telemetry in order to get the bike’s performance back and be back in the front.’250. Joan Olivé, 1.36´613 sec, 16th: ‘I’m satisfied because I’ve been keeping a good rhythm throughout the practice sessions. I was riding on harder tyres in the beginning but then I changed them for softer ones to compare and see what compound is able to stand a whole race. Now we have to keep on working to keep this rhythm. If we manage to do so, I think that we’ll be able to make a good race on Sunday.’250. Héctor Faubel, 1.37´098 sec, 19th: ‘Today has been a hard day because I crashed this morning, going downhill on one of the fastest sections of the circuit. When I got back on the bike in the afternoon, I still felt a bit dizzy. We’ve had some small problems with the engine, but I hope that we’ll be able to solve them tomorrow. Fortunately there’s still one day left before the race.’125. Dani Pedrosa, 1.38´328 sec, 2nd: ‘We had a complicated morning because we had several problems with the clutch, but the team has done a great job this afternoon finding solutions, giving me the chance to fight for the pole. The bike has been working quite well this afternoon; both the engine and the suspensions and I think the time is quite good. There are some things left to fine-tune but I think that we’ve found a good base for the race.’125. Héctor Barberá, 1.38´675 sec, 4th: ‘The free practice in the morning helped us to set the bike so everything was more or less in place in the afternoon. I risked it all during the last three laps of the timed session and managed to finish fourth. I’m very happy because I’m back in the front and it’s always good to start a new Grand Prix being competitive from the beginning. Let’s hope for a little luck and a good result on the race on Sunday.’125. Pablo Nieto, 1.39´020 sec, 8th: ‘During the first few laps of the practice I was able to lap alone and quite fast. Then I changed tyres and tried to clock a fast lap, but this is a very short circuit where you find several riders on the track. They overtook me at the chicane and that’s a spot where, if you’re overtaken, you almost have to stop, so I lost the seven tenths I had made up. But the most important is that the team is doing a great job and we’re on a good line. Let’s see if we’re able to be back in the front on Sunday.’