Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa prudent on the first working day under a heavy rain showers.
Hayden fifth and Pedrosa seventh today. Fifth fastest time for Shuhei Aoyama in the 250cc in his first contact with the Chinese track.
The intense rain fallen throughout the day at the Shanghai circuit was not really inviting for the riders to get on the track and take to many risks. However, there were several crashes in the 125cc and 250cc classes, and Repsol riders Bradley Smith and Sebastián Porto were among those who had the chance to try the Chinese asphalt.
In the premier class, both free practice sessions were carried out with no incidents for the Repsol Honda Team riders. Nicky Hayden, is showing himself more and more secure on the wet track, setting the sixth fastest time in the morning and the fifth in the afternoon, during the second free practices. Team mate Dani Pedrosa is also making huge steps forward in his adaptation process to wet conditions, and despite starting from a back position after setting the fifteenth time in the first session, he moved up to seventh in the afternoon. However, Pedrosa recognises that he has to keep on working hard to get closer to the top positions.
Positive day for Shuhei Aoyama, after his unfortunate Sunday performance in Istanbul two weeks ago and complicated first timed session for Sebastián Porto. Aoyama, has shown in his first contact with the Chinese track, that he feels very comfortable under the rain on the Shanghai circuit, setting the sixth fastest time in the morning and the fifth in the afternoon. However, team mate Sebastián Porto cannot say the same about this first day under the rain after setting the seventeenth fastest time in the morning and the twenty-second in he afternoon, after crashing in a session that was marked by the several crashes happened in that class.
Bradley Smith had also a complicated afternoon on the Chinese track. After a positive start of the morning’s free practice session on a completely unknown circuit for the English Repsol rider (21st), he suffered a heavy crash while being on lap two of the first qualifying practice. Strong skidding of the rear tyre, sent him over and off the bike, causing him a strong blow on his left shoulder. Some minutes later Bradley rejoined the race on this second bike, but the time lost with the incident hindered him from ding any better than twenty-ninth
Rider´s comments
Nicky Hayden,
44 laps, 232’364 Km.
‘Well that’s what you call a wet day! I think this track is probably the grippiest track I’ve ever ridden in the wet, and you can really reel off some of those corners which that makes it pretty interesting to ride. Being the first day and being no warmer than it is, it’s really impressive to have that kind of grip. Basically we just plugged in my rain settings and rode it all the day and just made a few little changes. Tonight we definitely have to sit down try to put something together and get that last little bit of performance and confidence and improve the feeling from the bike. In the light rain this afternoon I felt pretty good but this morning when it started heavily is when I felt the weakest so I’ll definitely have to talk to the team – and talk to the rider – and figure out how to improve. We’ll crack the curtains in the morning and see what the weather’s doing’.
Dani Pedrosa,
45 laps, 237’645 Km.
‘Today was wet so it was not easy for me, yet we improved a lot from the morning to the afternoon so I think this is good, even though my final position in the times is not the best. I’m happy to have made some progress. At the beginning of the race weekend it’s always tricky for me because I’m new to the track on this bike and I have to learn the best way to approach the track. I know I have plenty of room for improvement – unfortunately everyone else is improving too! This track has a lot of grip in the wet which gives me a little more confidence and the tyres work better so I feel a little better riding in the wet here. We’ll have to see what the weather does tomorrow because I think it doesn’t look so good, so we’ll just continue to find the best set-up in case the race is wet’.
Shuhei Aoyama,
38 laps, 200’678 Km.
‘I’m very happy with this result because I think that my team deserves it after the hard work they are doing. I like this circuit and the grip of the asphalt in the wet is impressive. We have a good setting for the wet but I’m a bit worried because of the weather, because they are announcing rain again for tomorrow but dry on Sunday and if they’re right, the settings will be like a lottery. The bike has a good set-up right now and what the rider has to do is to keep concentrated on the two remaining days of the GP.’
Sebastián Porto,
29 laps, 153’149 Km.
‘It’s been a complicated day. The truth is that we expected a lot because there were several new things to test, but with no doubt this has not been a good day for me. Today, with the rain, things became really complicated. We didn’t find the right setting in the morning, and then, in the afternoon I had a crash right after the start of the practice, so I had to take the second bike and it became even worse. But well, we still have tomorrow and Sunday. There’s a lot left to do and we have to work to improve if it’s a wet race and if it’s dry, I think that we’ll do much better.’
Bradley Smith,
22 laps, 116’182 Km.
‘The free practice went OK. I was improving every lap. In the last lap I was 0.4 off my best time and I nearly crashed. I was happy with the setting. I was looking forward to qualifying, and in qualifying, on the second lap I highsided coming round the long right before the back straight and crashed. I don’t know why, but I got back to the pits and on the spare bike, but it had dry settings so it was hard. We tried a different rear tyre but all the problems I had before the crash were repeated even with the different tyre and the dry settings. I’m 29th&hopefully tomorrow I can go faster, but I’m not sure about the weather conditions. If 29 is my position then that’s where I’ll have to start from, I’ll just have to make up for it in the race. If it’s a dry race everyone will start from stage one because they have no testing time. If it’s a wet race I’ll got go like I know how and I’ll try to push to the front and follow the top guy, because in the other races I’ve been left behind in the first few laps and I can’t keep on repeating the same thing over and over again so If we can get there I’ll be satisfied.’
Standings
MotoGP
- V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2’09.393
- L.Capirossi (Ducati) 2’09.748
- J.Hopkins (Suzuki) 2’10.007
- S.Gibernau (Ducati) 2’10.187
- N.Hayden (Honda) 2’10.247
7. D.Pedrosa (Honda) 2’10.815
250
- A.West (Aprilia) 1 2’16.726
- Y.Takahashi (Honda) 2’16.859
- J.Lorenzo (Aprilia) 2’17.161
- S.Guintoli (Aprilia) 2’17.161
- S.Aoyama (Honda) 2’17.282
22. S.Porto (Honda) 2’22.749
125
- M.Kallio (KTM) 2’21.545
- A.Bautista (Aprilia) 2’22.249
- L.Pesek (Derbi) 2’22.726
- F.Lai (Honda) 2’23.109
- G.Talmacsi (Honda) 2’23.303
29. B.Smith (Honda) 2.25.850
