Repsol rider Dani Pedrosa starts his 2006 MotoGP preseason in Valencia.
Pedrosa covered a total of 62 laps and 250 kilometres on this first day. Nicky Hayden set the fastest clock of the day.
Big excitement today at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia due to Dani Pedrosas debut on what will be his new machine for the 2006 season. In front of more than thirty journalists and TV cameras, and in the venue where only three days ago the Repsol rider took his eighth victory of the season, Dani Pedrosa started today his 2006 preseason, where he will be racing in the premier class of the Motorcycle World Championship, MotoGP. At 10.20h, dressed with a red overall and on his Honda RC211V with some changes, Pedrosa made a total of 62 laps on the Valencian track. Dani has been working from early in the morning together with technicians and mechanics of the Repsol Honda Team to adapt the bike to his needs in order to facilitate his riding to a bigger bike than his old Honda RS 250 W with which he took his third world title only a couple of weeks ago.
Nicky Hayden, who was also present at the private tests, set the fastest time of all riders present, after a total of 53 laps and 210 kilometres. The weather did not make things easy for Dani in his first tests. First there was strong wind and low temperatures 10º C-, and later the sky was covered with thick black clouds that brought intermittent rain. However, Dani managed to follow the planned test schedule with the main aim of adapting to his new machine and tune the main elements brake and gear bars, handlebars, seat, suspensions, footrests according to his needs and physical characteristics. Pedrosa finished his first contact satisfactorily and declared afterwards to feel happy with this new stage in his sports career that has started today.
Dani Pedrosa:
Today was only an initial contact, but Im happy. I have found a serious and professionally working team and that always makes you feel good. The bike I used has a standard configuration, so basically what weve done today is to fix small details to set everything the way I like: seat, handlebar, footrests, brake and gear bars, etc. I remembered the experience of last years test so I wasnt surprised about what I found now that Ive changed from 250cc to MotoGP: the bike is heavier and more powerful, it accelerates much more and it is much faster, you have to go step by step because crashing with one of these bikes may be really heavy. In addition, it has several set-ups and all of them have an influence to make the bike go faster. I arrived in the class with no experience, but fortunately my new team includes people who have been in MotoGP for several years and they know perfectly well what to do. Im happy and satisfied with this initial contact, everything worked out fine today.
Nicky Hayden:
Well, weve basically been testing some thing we couldnt test during the GP week, because there was not enough time. Today has been positive, but the low temperatures, the wind and the rain forced me to take this first preseason tests easy. We wanted to test some tyres but we couldnt due to the low temperatures. Well see what happens tomorrow.
Times given by the teams
- Nicky Hayden 1.34.4 sec. 53 laps
- Marco Melandri 1.34.7 sec. 8 laps
- John Hopkins 1.34.9 sec. –
- Casey Stoner 1.35.0 sec. 69 laps
- Carlos Checa 1.35.1 sec. 33 laps
- Sete Gibernau 1.35.2 sec. 32 laps
- Dani Pedrosa 1.35.5 sec. 62 laps
- Toni Elias 1.35.7 sec. 34 laps
- James Ellison 1.35.7 sec. 74 laps
- Roberto Rolfo 1.35.7 sec. 55 laps
