Rian was the star of the show during the MotoGP riders` first contact with the new Indianapolis track where GP number fourteen of the 2008 season is to be held this weekend. Yesterday afternoon the first drops of rain began to fall on the paddock in Indianapolis, and this morning, the legendary American circuit awoke to find heavy rain and it did not stop the whole day.
These conditions were without a doubt not the best for Dani Pedrosa`s debut with Bridgestone tyres. The Repsol Honda Team rider is also competing with a new engine this weekend, one with pneumatic valves. All in all a lot of novelties for Pedrosa on the first day of practice for the Indianapolis GP, who in the first free session – in heavy rain – occupied the final position in the lap times. Things went better for the Repsol Honda Team rider in the second free practice in the afternoon. Pedrosa improved his times as the day went on, and together with his team got a better set up on his Honda RC212V with pneumatic valves. In the end this first day with his new equipment saw Dani finish with the 9th best time in the second free practice session.
The local ídol in the Repsol Honda Team, Nicky Hayden, has gone to Indianapolis still convalescing from the injury on his right heel. In spite of the pain Hayden was 8th in the first free session and 14th in the second, although he admitted that with so much water on the track in the second session he chose not to take too many risks.
In 250cc the heavy rain that fell in the afternoon just after the second MotoGP session made the first classification especially difficult. Julián Simón preferred not to go out at the beginning of the session because of the large amount of water on the track. In the end, he did just seven laps but finished in 8th position on the provisional grid.
In 125cc, an excellent performance from Marc Márquez in the first practice session at Indianapolis, in spite of a fall without any injury this morning. The young Repsol rider, who had finished well behind in the morning, 24th position, was at one point the fastest rider and that was when there were just five minutes left. In the end he was 5th on the first day. His teammate, Esteve Rabat, with some problems on the suspension set up, set the 12th fastest time in the morning, although in the afternoon the result was not so positive, as he classified in 20th position.
Dani Pedrosa, 1’56.782 sec, 52 laps, 219 Km. >> Audio
“Today has been a tough but interesting day. Everything was new: bike, tyres and track. Also this is the first time I have ridden the pneumatic-valve machine and Bridgestone tyres in wet conditions. That’s why we started calm this morning and then improved my lap times this afternoon. The rain made the process of adaptation to the new bike and tyres more difficult, but considering that this is only the first day, I’m quite happy. Now it’s important to improve session by session, we need to gain experience and confidence. I still haven’t found the limit with the Bridgestone rain tyres. This track is complicated by the fact that there are several different types of asphalt. The old asphalt is incredibly grippy, while the new section at the start of the lap is much more slippery, with a risk of aquaplaning. On the straight there’s so much standing water that you can hardly open the throttle. The circuit layout is unusual but there are some interesting sections. We need time to work on the bike and adapt the set-up but I’m confident. Tomorrow we hope to make another step forward. It will be important to get a good result in qualifying because the first corner is very near to the start and the next three turns are quite tight.”
Nicky Hayden, 1’53.931 sec, 54 laps, 228 Km. >> Audio
“Man, some serious rain out there this afternoon and this morning. It certainly hasn’t made things easy for anybody. We started both sessions kinda slow. This afternoon I wasn’t feeling so comfortable, then Pete [Benson, Hayden’s crew chief] wanted me to change bikes which was a good idea. The other bike had a little different set-up on it and felt better, so I was able to go faster, even though conditions were getting worse and worse. It’s not been a perfect first day but we’ve got a bit of data and learned a few things, the main thing is there’s so much standing water. I’d say it’s worst through that whole first section – turns one, two and three – and also at turns, seven eight and nine. At the end of the afternoon it got so bad that we shut her down early, we weren’t going to learn anything in those conditions. The first part of the track, with the new surface, is very slippery, like ice. The old surface has really good grip, that’s another big thing: there’s different grip all over the track. The heel is not too bad in the rain, if anything it makes it a little bit easier. I’m confident we can improve tomorrow. I think our tyres are okay, the main thing is finding something for the aquaplaning. They say the weather’s not looking real good for the rest of the weekend – the fans are already suffering, so that’s not cool for them.”
Julián Simón, 2’05.354 secs, 34 laps, 143km. >> Audio
“This was a very short practice. We knew that this is a circuit that dries very rapidly and so we decided to go out when there were five minutes left to do a couple of laps and I was able to improve my time a little. This morning, in the wet, we were able to confirm that we needed to improve quite a few things on the set up. Let`s hope that it does not rain like this tomorrow, really heavy, so that we can continue to set the bike up. I am pleased to be at this circuit, it is great to ride in the USA, something I have always dreamed of. I hope to get a good grid position tomorrow so that I can have a good race on the Sunday.”
Esteve Rabat, 2’03.591 secs, 30 laps, 126km. >> Audio
“I like this circuit. In the morning things did not go too badly, but in the afternoon I had a small engine problem and we had to stop in the pits. I stopped for quite a bit of time and when I went back out I only had time to do two laps. Taking the track conditions into account and this setback I was not able to do any better especially because I came across another rider on my last lap and he slowed me down as well. Let`s hope that it does not rain so much tomorrow so we can go faster.”
Marc Márquez, 1’59.615 secs, 30 laps, 126km. >> Audio
“The first free practice here went quite well. In the morning it took us some time to get going. We had a fall, nothing important though. When I went out in the afternnoon I was able to ride more comfortably and maintain a good pace. I am pleased with how things went, although tomorrow we will try to do things better. The circuit is quite technical and I like it, but it is a pity that the drainage on the first section is not good, with the rain that we had today it makes things even more dificult.”
