Cataluña GP. 1st qualifying practice. Driver´s comments

Elías: ‘With this heat, the track surface gets very hot, and the tyres wear more quickly, so it’s more difficult to control the bike’
Repsol driver´s comments about Cataluña 1st qualifying practiceValentino Rossi 5th MotoGP: ”We seem to have a little traction problem. I’m trying to ride as sweetly as possible but it is still difficult to find grip. I can control the bike sideways no problem but I want to go forwards – not sideways. This is not speedway! We made changes to the suspension during the session and it helped but not enough! I think that in the middle of the corner I’m loosing a lot of time. The bike doesn’t feel the same as when we tested here in March. We will have a busy time tomorrow!’Tohru Ukawa 3rd GP: ‘Got to be pretty happy really. A provisional front row position will do for me at this stage. The bike generally feels pretty good. We made some changes from this morning’s session and the times have improved. The bike is fast in a straight line and I seem to be able to hold corner speed. I’m always happy to hold a good position going into the final session. I qualified ninth for the GP here last year and the race was a fight all the way.’Fonsi Nieto, 5th 250: ‘Today’s heat was asphyxiating. Fifth is not bad, but we still have tomorrow to improve a little more. In spite of the high temperatures, I feel very comfortable with my bike. The only inconvenience is that the tyres wear much quicker. Today we tried different compounds, to try and find the right combination for the race. The leading group rode a second slower than last year. For tomorrow, we’ll make some front suspension changes to try and find some improvement.’Toni Elías 6th 250 : ‘I am happy about the way things went today. It was a hard, because conditions were more like Malaysia than Catalunya. With this heat, the track surface gets very hot, and the tyres wear more quickly, so it’s more difficult to control the bike. It has been a horribly hot day, but that is the same for all of us. My team and I have worked on the tyre choice, because for sure that will be vitally important for the race. At the moment we have a good direction, I have a good pace, and in general I am satisfied with the way the bike is working. We’re also working on suspension adjustments. In the afternoon we improved compared with the morning free practice, and tomorrow I hope to improve a little more.’Daniel Pedrosa 2nd 125: ‘Racing at home makes me very happy. You can feel the support of the fans, and this is a strong motivation. Each race is different, and this one is going to be defined by very hot weather. With the track at more than 40 degrees, the engine suffers. The temperature that will also determine the choice of tyres. This is a track of many right turns, and it will be very important to find a set-up that will be easier on tyres, to help them last the full race distance. We dedicated today’s sessions to working on these aspects.’Joan Olivé 16th 125: ‘For some reason that we still haven’t discovered, the bike was down on speed and power today. It was impossible to get a good time. When I came onto the straight, the group would just run away from me, and I had to take a lot of risks in the corners to catch up again. This morning I set the same lap time with hardly any effort. This afternoon I was taking big risks and almost crashing, for the same time. This hot weather is generally a drawback for Honda, but the others don’t seem to have the same difficulty, so I am not sure why it is happening to me.’