The first day of training at the Catalunya Grand Prix was not free of incidents. The numerous falls, among them Repsol riders Esteve Rabat in the 125cc category and Dani Pedrosa in MotoGP, and the parity of the times registered – 14 riders separated by less than a second this afternoon in MotoGP-, were some of the highlights of this first day, as was Pedrosa’a performance, the fastest during both MotoGP free training sessions.
After his third position in the Italian race last weekend, Pedrosa started the first day of his Grand Prix, to be held just a few kilometres away from his home next weekend, by dominating both free training sessions, though in both cases with a slight margin over his rivals. Only a minor crash on the slowest bend of the circuit -the SEAT curve, a downhill left-hander-, slightly spoiled the Spanish rider’s performance, though fortunately he was able to return quickly to the paddock and get back to the track on his spare bike. His teammate, American Nicky Hayden, was fourteenth this morning and ninth in the afternoon, after changing a few aspects of his bike’s setup, improving its performance.
In the quarter-litre category, Julián Simón was not satisfied at the end of the day, as while this morning he tried out a new chassis that was performing better, he also tried out an injection system which did not deliver the expected performance. The Repsol rider continued to experience poor performance from the engine of his KTM 250 FRR, finally running a fastest lap of 1’47.631secs, which places him in a provisional thirteenth position. Hiroshi Aoyama and Mika Kallio, riders who receive technical support from Repsol, finished in fifth and seventh position, respectively.
A worse day for the Repsol riders in the smallest category, where Esteve Rabat fell hard at the end of the timed session, receiving a hard hit to the head. His front wheel lost adherence at right-hander bend number 20, suffering with the impact a serious cervical contusion, as indicated by the Circuit de Catalunya medical services after an initial exploration. Rabat was conscious when taken by an ambulance to the Catalunya General Hospital, where a number of tests are being carried out. Teammate Marc Màrquez had some problems with the setup this first day, and was unable to ride comfortably. At the start of the free session, the track was still wet due to last night’s rain, and the riders had to use a setup for wet conditions. In the end the riders mounted slick tyres, but without the ideal setup for the bikes. In the timed session Márquez improved his time, with a lap time of 1’53.777 secs, the 25th best time.
Dani Pedrosa, fastest, 1m 43.017s >> Audio
“We started practice this morning using the set-up from Mugello. We tried various different chassis settings and we also tried a few different tyres for the race. This morning the asphalt was quite dirty, and although the track conditions improved a bit this afternoon the surface was still dirty off-line. Also, this track is quite bumpy, from the F1 cars. Late this afternoon I crashed at turn five. There’s a joint in the asphalt there, I hit the bump and lost the front. Fortunately I wasn’t hurt and I was able to continue riding. We had two dry sessions today which was good. Tomorrow we will continue tuning the set-up and testing tyres for the race”.
Nicky Hayden, 9th fastest, 1m 43.614s >> Audio
“Today hasn’t been the smoothest. There’s a lot of long corners here, so we’ve been trying to get a bit of rear traction, that’s what we’re working on. We’ve tried a few things and we had something we were going to try on the second bike this afternoon but we lost a bit of time with that bike. There’s been a lot of rain here the last couple of days, this morning the track was a bit damp off line, with a little bit of water sitting in the kerbs, which made them pretty slippery. This afternoon the weather was perfect but the track was still a little slippery off-line”.
Julián Simón, 1’47.631 secs, 40 laps, 189 Km. >> Audio
“It was a complicated day. We tried out a new chassis and a few new parts for the engine which went OK. But as for tomorrow we’ll probably leave them aside to try them out with more calm, because they haven’t really been a big step forward regarding the engine. In fact, we’ve focused more on the chassis, which has great potential; I like it more than the old one. As for tomorrow our idea is to keep on working on the setup and try to get the bike to pick up more speed, because up until now this weekend we’ve been finding it a bit hard. I’m motivated and the team is going to work really hard, as well as myself. I have to improve on certains areas of the track which I find hard, though it’s normal, as it’s the first time I’m riding here on this bike. There are certain bends I’m finding more difficult than last year, but we’ll keep on working to try and run some good times tomorrow and get up in the lead”.
Esteve Rabat, 1’52.752 secs, 33 laps, 156 Km.
“I fell during my last lap, I was riding fast trying to improve my time when the front wheel skidded. I couldn’t avoid it, and when I fell I hit my head badly. I can’t say much more”.
Marc Márquez, 1’53.777 secs, 33 laps, 156 Km. >> Audio
“It was a complicated day. When we started this morning the track was wet, though as time passed it gradually dried out. A good few of us didn’t have time to change the setup of the bike for dry conditions, so we had to be careful not to fall, because it was very easy to do so. This afternoon, when I started to ride faster, the bike wasn’t working too well and I did a pitstop. We tried to change a few things, but didn’t come up with the solution for the suspension to ride more comfortably. Let’s see if we can improve tomorrow and ride faster”.
