The Repsol Honda Team has had a strong start in this first tests of the year in Malaysia. If yesterday it was the newcomer Casey Stoner who set the best time of the day, today it was Dani Pedrosa’s turn. Early in the morning and still with the bike he used last year, the Spaniard stopped the clock with a magnificent time of 2 minutes, 0 seconds and 770 thousandths, one and a half seconds faster than the pole position time set by Lorenzo last October.
The time set by Pedrosa today in his fourth lap was the fastest ever set in this circuit with a motorbike. Pedrosa, who in that moment was riding last year bike to get the pace in the first laps, felt extremely comfortable in that run. The mild temperature of the asphalt in that moment -36º C-, also helped and, without pushing excessively or even being conscious of it, the Repsol Honda Team rider registered a superb time. Afterwards, already with the 2011 material –the new engine-, Dani devoted the rest of the day to rack kilometres, test some parts and focus on the new engine, of which he underlined the superior power output at high-revs.
His two team mates did work directly with the 2011 bike, Stoner focusing on comparing the two chassis available here –he asked for some modifications in Valencia to improve the rear traction on new tyres-, and Andrea working on the settings to slowly improve the feeling and, consequently, the times. The Italian, who finished eight yesterday 1 second behind of Stoner’s best time, was able to reduce that difference and was fourth at the end of the session.
Tomorrow will be the third and last test session in Sepang. After this tests, the teams will gather again at the end of this month –February 22 to 24- in Sepang, to check if the engineers will be able to come up with some improvements after such a short time.
Dani Pedrosa
“I think it’s the first time I’ve ridden so fast on this track, but you’re just fresh in the morning and I did four very good first laps. I was not looking for a time, but I saw that the track conditions were good and I pushed. The closer you get to the limit, the clearer the changes you are doing on the bike become, which leads you in the right direction. Today I tried the new engine, which has improved from Valencia, some chassis configurations and rear shocks. Tomorrow the plan is to continue comparing both bikes and it would be great to come away with the chassis and engine decided for the next test.”
Andrea Dovizioso
“I’m satisfied with the work done today. We have a good base that works well on different tracks. We started comparing again the 2010 and 2011 front forks and decided to stick to the 2011 version because it allows me to brake harder even if a small vibration still remains in the middle of the corner. I’m very happy with the pace I had today, but I am still not happy with my ability to improve my lap time when I try to push harder on the softer tyre”.
Casey Stoner
“Yesterday we really didn’t expect the best time, today we expected a bigger difference with the soft tyre – but with the chassis we chose we just couldn’t get the best out of the tyre. Tomorrow maybe we can focus a little more to compare the chassis again and then see which direction to go from there. We’ve got a few other small things here and there but they can wait until the next test. Now I’m starting to understand the bike a bit better and when I ride it, it feels more like home”.
