Bad weather calls on caution in the debut of the Grand Prix of China.
Repsol riders finish the first practice day in intermediate positions. Sebastián Porto is third and Dani Pedrosa fourth in the 250cc.
The weather spoiled the World Championship debut of the impressive Shanghai Circuit. After yesterday’s sunshine, welcoming the Grand Prix of China, the first in the history of the Motorcycle Grand Prix, the first practice day had a cloudy daybreak and it became worse as the morning went by, until the rain showed up at the beginning of the 250cc free practice session. In addition to the bad weather, technical problems with the medical helicopter forced to stop the practices from 10 o’clock in the morning to 12.30 until the arrival of a new helicopter. All of it took to a significant delay, causing the 250cc practice to finish at six o’clock in the evening, not long before the sunset.
In the MotoGP class, Nicky Hayden started the day with a special relationship with the Chinese track during the first free practice session, setting the fastest time and being especially fast throughout the session. In the afternoon and with the track under awful conditions – half dry, half wet – the North American rider of the Repsol Honda Team was set back to the sixteenth place. Exactly the contrary happened to his teammate Max Biaggi: set back in the morning and much more competitive in the afternoon. In the morning session, the Roman rider did not manage to be better than eleventh, but set the fifth fastest time in the afternoon. Fastest of the second free practice session was Suzuki rider Kenny Roberts.
The 250cc. riders were forced to hold their practice session on a track with some dry and some wet sections. Under such difficult conditions, prudence was the main thought of all riders and despite the complications, there were fortunately not many crashes. In the morning, Repsol rider Sebastián Porto set the fastest time, with Dani Pedrosa fourth, Randy De Puniet sixth and Japanese rider Hiroshi Aoyama eighth. In the afternoon’s first qualifying practice, Porto was third, with Pedrosa repeating fourth, Aoyama sixth and Frenchman De Puniet in a back thirteenth position.
The qualifying practice of the minor class was held under persistent rain, something that together with the low visibility and the state of the track, very dirty, forced the riders to ride calmly. After the second place achieved by Repsol rider Héctor Faubel at the Portuguese Grand Prix, Jorge Martínez Aspar’s pupil arrived in China eager to reconfirm his place among the leading riders of the class. Ninth in the morning’s free practice on a dry track, Faubel finished in a back twenty-seventh place in the afternoon session under the rain, suffering from lack of confidence in the front end of his Aprilia.
Repsol rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Max Biaggi
5th, 2’15.834, 18 laps:
‘Today was supposed to be useful to learn the new track, but the weather conditions compromised our job. Too many changes on the circuit: dry at first, then completely wet and finally very humid, anyhow always slippery and tricky. We really could not ride as much as we needed to. We still haven’t found the right set up of my bike. We must hurry up tomorrow morning, before the qualifying practice. But we’ll use any available minute until Sunday warm-up. Here more than anywhere else going in and out of the turns is fundamental. And cornering is right the kind of problem that my bike carries on since race one, in Jerez. Certainly my team and I are giving our best, hopefully. The track is very technical and I like it, it’s an interesting challenge. But for sure, the race won’t be easy.’
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden
16th, 2’19.423, 13 laps:
‘The track is okay – a couple of strange corners – but overall I like it. I especially like the surface, real good grip and a lot of feeling. Pretty sweet. It was nice to be quickest this morning but this afternoon was pretty tough. We were in good shape with full wets but had a few problems in the middle of the session when it started to dry. At the end of the session we put on intermediates but only managed a lap so really didn’t get much of a feel. Overall not a bad day.’
250. Sebastián Porto
3rd, 2’09.684, 12 laps:
‘We had complicated conditions today, although it was the same for all of us. We obviously would have liked to do some more laps to get to know the track better, but for us, what we’ve been able to do today is OK. During the afternoon’s timed session I was only able to make one fast lap, so I hope to be able to make better use of the day tomorrow. This is a very technical circuit, with no doubt the most technical of the Championship. We shouldn’t forget that it’s a new track and that we’re starting from zero. Furthermore, the corners are quite difficult because it combines very slow sections with a very long straight and very hard braking. In short, I consider it a very complete and at the same time amusing track.’
250. Randy De Puniet
13th, 2’14.013, 15 laps:
‘Today has been a rather strange day for all of us. We were not able to work well in the morning, because it began to rain and we did not have enough time to work on the bike. I don’t feel comfortable on this track either. I’m not satisfied with the position achieved, but I trust that we’ll be able to improve tomorrow. The circuit is impressive and the track as well, although it doesn’t adapt very well to my riding style. Fortunately we got another day left to keep on working.’
250. Dani Pedrosa
4th, 2’10.044, 15 laps:
‘It’s been a complicated day in general. In the morning it rained towards the end of the session and the contrary happened in the afternoon, wet at the beginning and one dry lane towards the end. This isn’t of much help on a new track, where you need to do as many laps as possible to know it better. We also have to choose a base for the set-up, the gear relation, he tyres, the brakes…, and that’s something really difficult to do on a day like this. I don’t really like the circuit either, I think that it’s a bit out of balance, with two very long straights, tight corners, wider sections and some narrow ones. But that’s what there is. We’re fourth for the moment, and they say that it’s going to rain on Sunday and tomorrow, so we’ll have to get ready’.
125.Héctor Faubel
27th, 2’32.878, 10 laps:
‘Things went quite well this morning on the dry track, but the rain wasn’t good for me at all. I didn’t feel the front tyre with the rain and that hindered me from forcing the pace; it would have been very easy to crash and I wanted to avoid it no matter what. I hope that the weather improves to let us do our job easier. The circuit is fantastic and the track is very technical, with very long corners where you’re leaning for a long time.’
