Repsol riders in leading positions at a sunny Sachsenring.
Nicky Hayden in MotoGP, Dani Pedrosa and Sebastián Porto in the 250cc, and Sergio Gadea in the 125cc, on the first and second rows of the grid looking forward to improving tomorrow.
Only five days after the rainy Sunday at the British Grand Prix, the riders were back on their bikes today to contest the first practice day of the German round. In MotoGP, many of them have been trying to forget what happened in Donington, and of them all, Repsol Honda Team rider Nicky Hayden made the best start of the weekend. Hayden was fastest this morning and the only one capable of lapping under one minute and 24 seconds, ahead of Gibernau, Edwards and Checa, with his teammate Max Biaggi fifth. In the afternoon, during the second free practice, Hayden set the fourth fastest time behind Barros, Gibernau and Checa. His teammate Biaggi was seventh in this very even second session, with eight riders within only 5 tenths.
In the 250cc, the four Repsol riders finished the first qualifying session among the top ten. Pedrosa, who kept on improving as the first day went by -7th in the morning and 3rd in the afternoons’ qualifying -, even managed to lead the time sheets but was finally passed by De Angelis, fastest, and Lorenzo, second. Pedrosa, who had several problems with the setting of his both bikes today, kept on improving, slowly but steadily throughout the day until achieving a lap time that allowed him to get a place on the provisional front row of the starting grid.
Sebastián Porto and Randy De Puniet, who have been intensely working on the set-up of their bikes, kept themselves in the leading positions during the whole session, finally finishing fourth and seventh, respectively.In the minor class, Sergio Gadea and Héctor Faubel have been once again the fastest Repsol riders, with Gadea being the most competitive after the first practice day. In the morning, Gadea set the fourth fastest time behind Luthi, Kallio and Lai, while Carchano – in high spirits after his thirteenth place in England – managed to be ninth fastest, Olivé eleventh and Faubel twelfth. In the afternoon, at the first qualifying session of the weekend, the fastest time was set by Pasini, with Gadea sixth in a group of five riders closely following the leader -Kallio, Simoncelli, Koyama and Luthi-, separated by scarcely over 1 hundredth of a second. Héctor Faubel, who is a bit weakened after the strong hit suffered in England during the race, finished this first qualifying session in ninth position.
Repsol rider´s comments:
MotoGP. Nicky Hayden
First free practice 1st, 1’23.995, 31 laps
Second free practice 4th, 1’24.060, 34 laps
‘Quite a solid day really. At the beginning it wasn’t really coming and I was trying to be real smooth and steady but the lap time just wasn’t there. I tried a little bit more aggressively and things started to look better. This track is tight, twisty and bumpy and you have to attack. There are a few spots where you have to let the track come to you and the times fall. The first section is the worst section for me for sure. I just need some time to figure out what’s going on there and there are a few corners where it’s all getting a bit too sideways.’
MotoGP.Max Biaggi
First free practice 5th, 1’24.366, 32 laps
Second free practice 7th, 1’24.248, 33 laps
‘What can I say? Of course I come here with high expectation. I have done a good job here before and I really like the track. It holds no secrets for me. It suits my style and after the hard season so far – except for Mugello when it all felt good straight from the first practice session – I had real high hopes for the race here. But it is not good. The bike has chatter, it hops and I am not able to make a good lap. I know the conditions are different but I am nearly 0.5s slower here on the factory bike at the end of the first day than I was here last year. I hope the team can come up with something as I know I am giving 100% and I know that is all I can give.’
250.Dani Pedrosa
First free practice 7th, 1’26.674, 28 laps
First qualifying practice 3rd, 1’25.653, 24 laps
‘At the beginning of the free practice, bike number one wasn’t working too well and I took number two, but it didn’t work the way I like it either. I lost most of the practice. We improved quite a lot in the afternoon. As regards tomorrow, I hope to be able to fine-tune some details to feel a bit better on the bike. Let’s see how things work out during the weekend. If the rain forecasts come true, I’ll be happy because we have a place on the front row. A good start is important on this circuit because you may be completely blocked, and from the first corner to the end of the circuit all curves are really tight; overtaking gets very difficult. These kind of circuits, so small and with connected corners are usually slower and the differences between riders get much smaller, so a difference of four tenths can send you back to seventh.
250. Sebastián Porto
First free practice 3rd, 1’26.279, 24 laps
First qualifying practice 4th, 1’25.913, 19 laps
‘It didn’t go too badly, we need to do some more work on the engine though where we are losing a bit of time. We improved our time a bit in the afternoon but we are still not at 100 percent. It is very hot here and we are having some problems with the tyres. The forecasts predict rain tomorrow, if that’s true then at least we will start from the front row, if not then we will have another day in the dry to work on the bike.’
250. Randy De Puniet
First free practice 9th, 1’26.791, 29 laps
First qualifying practice 7th, 1’26.519, 26 laps
‘I am pleased with how the bike is working, but in the afternoon qualifying session I did not have time to get a qualifying tyre on. If I had I am sure I could have gone a second and a half quicker. What’s more, on my final three laps I got stuck behind a rider who held me up and annoyed me quite a lot. The most important thing is that the bike is going well and I feel comfortable. We’ll see if it rains tomorrow, but after the win at Donington we have shown we are not bad in those conditions.’
125. Sergio Gadea
First free practice 4th, 1’29.773, 21 laps
First qualifying practice 6th, 1’29.261, 15 laps
‘I felt very comfortable during both the sessions because it is a circuit I like. Last year I had a good race here and I hope to do even better this time. The times came to me relatively easily and I am quite close to the best times already which gives me more margin to work with. I hope to find a good set-up for the race and be in with a chance of winning.’
125. Héctor Faubel
First free practice 12th, 1’30.567, 22 laps
First qualifying practice 9th, 1’29.432, 14 laps
‘The bike is working better here than it did at Donington and that is something that gives me a lot confidence as we work on it. What’s more, the conditions are perfect for developing the bike. I am ninth but the times are very close and I must concentrate on getting on the first or second row as it looks like being a group race.’
