After the great race the Repsol Honda Team had yesterday, where they got three of the four top positions in the Portuguese Grand Prix, Dani Pedrosa, Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso got again today in their overalls for a new working session in Estoril. The day, thanks to the good weather conditions, allowed the riders to do many tests to prepare for the next World Championship rounds. Dani Pedrosa, after the victory achieved yesterday and still with pain in his left shoulder, decided to rest in the afternoon and only trained in the morning.
After yesterday’s effort to achieve his first success of the season, Pedrosa’s shoulder, that underwent surgery three weeks ago, suffered the effects of the effort and fatigue, and the Spaniard was the first to finish the test session. The Repsol rider only completed 17 laps, setting a fastest time of 1’37.679, very close to the fastest lap of the race he set yesterday on lap 27, while escaping from Lorenzo -1’37.629-. His tests were primarily focused on the clutch of the Honda RC212V.
Casey Stoner, after the physical problems he had yesterday with his back that did not prevent him from finishing on the podium – third -, returned today to the track in better conditions than he had when he finished the race. The Australian commented with surprise at the end of the day that his back was feeling better. The last Qatar Grand Prix winner focused on the new front fork, but he also tested the clutch and the tyres, the latter as part of the development work for 2012.
Andrea Dovizioso, after achieving a valuable and hard-worked fourth place in the very last metres when he overtook Valentino Rossi, also focused on tyres and clutch tests, and was satisfied at the end of the day.
The three Repsol Honda Team riders will now enjoy some days of rest before the next round, the French Grand Prix, that will be held in two weeks’ time at Le Mans.
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio >> Audio (cat)
1:37.679, 17 laps, 71 km.
“The shoulder is a bit better than last night thanks to some muscle relaxing tablets I took, but I’ve still got a lot of pain. I did a few laps with the bike I used yesterday for the race, but I saw immediately that I wouldn’t be able to do the full program today. I tried one modified clutch looking to reduce the hopping, the bumping on the rear we have when we release the clutch.It’s a shame not be able to profit from this test because we wanted to also try the new 2011 front fork and rear shock to get more traction, but I was unable to do it. Now, the plan before Le Mans race is to rest as much as I can for three or four days, trying to recover. Then I must check what is the best technique to relax the muscles, because it would be good to arrive in Le Mans in good shape and not so tense”.
Andrea Dovizioso >> Audio
1:37.460, 63 laps, 263 km.
“Today we tested a new clutch that gave us positive feedback and we had less hopping. We also tested two different settings that gave me a better feeling under braking. In general I was riding more comfortable than during the race weekend. Bridgestone also brought two new rear tyres but the feeling was not so good as I had some chattering on the front. Anyway, it has been a positive test and I’m looking forward to the next races”.
Casey Stoner >> Audio
1:36.602, 49 laps, 205 km.
“We haven’t had a lot to test, there aren’t really any new parts, we tried a different system on the clutch which was fine but not actually improving on what we have. We tried a few Bridgestone tyres with a new construction and compound, they were definitely an improvement especially on the left side, so that went well. We tested the new 2011 fork and everything worked well with them, last time we tried them we had some issues with chattering but we seem to have fixed that now. This is a big improvement as these forks work better on the bumps and on the brakes so hopefully we can continue to use them in the future. The beginning of the day my back was really sore and difficult to ride with but then it eased a little as the day progressed, so I hope it continues to get better”.
