After yesterday`s rain at the Japanese track of Motegi, today there was splendid sunshine and this allowed a whole day`s practice without the weather affecting the calssification sessions. In MotoGP, a positive day for the two Repsol Honda Team riders. On Honda`s own track the two official HRC riders put in an excellent performance, in both the third free practice as well as the definitive afternoon session.
Nicky Hayden started stronger in the second half of the session, due to the classification tyres. His first attempt, 26 minutes from the end, put him into first position. After being overtaken by other riders while he changed the rear tyre, his second try was not any faster, and on his last two attempts he was third, guaranteeing him a place on the front row.
Dani Pedrosa, with a good pace for tomorrow`s race, continued to get used to the Bridgestoneclassification tyres. Today he improved his performance on them considerably, but gradually. On his first attempt Pedrosa was 14th, he improved on this position on his second trip to the track with a classification tyre – 9th . His third attempt ten minutes from the end put him into 5th place, and his final definitive lap saw Pedrosa almost move onto the front row of the grid, but a mistake on the third sector of the circuit saw him drop to 5th position at the end of the session. So then, first row for Nicky Hayden and second row for Dani Pedrosa in the Japanese GP.
SIMÓN SEVENTH IN 250cc, MÁRQUEZ THIRTEENTH AND RABAT TWENTY-FIRST IN 125cc.
At a circuit where the Repsol 250cc rider Julián Simón says that he feels very comfortable, he finished in 7th place today. In the morning, in the third practice session, Simón set the third fastest time, but a fall towards the end of the session meant that he had to go out in the second and definitive classification period on his second motorbike, and this was not at the same level as the other. In spite of this Simón is quite optimistic about tomorrow`s race and is counting on a podium finish.
In 125cc, the two Repsol KTM riders had different problems with the set up on their machines, this meant that they were not among the best at the Japanese track. Márquez, 15th in the morning, finished 13th in the afternoon – fourth row of the grid – whilst his teammate Esteve Rabat, 25th in the morning, finished in a disappointing 21st position in the afternoon – sixth row of the grid.
Dani Pedrosa, 1’46.303 sec, 52 laps, 250 Km. >> Audio
“I am happier than I was after Indy qualifying because we are improving all the time. Every time I go out with another qualifying tyre I get faster, but during my last lap today I made a mistake at one corner and lost a lot of time. The second row is okay, it’s important to get a good start here because the first corner is so close to the grid. Today we tried a few different race tyres and did some good work, but we still need to make some improvements in a few different places. This is Honda’s home track, I have always been a Honda rider, so it is very important for all of us to get a good result here. I will do my best.”
Nicky Hayden, 1’45.971 sec, 48 laps, 230 Km.
“Honda’s home race, we’re on the front row which is nice, now we’ve got to try and get a result. Yesterday the bike didn’t feel good, balance and all. We made some pretty good changes overnight. A lot of the time when you make changes, in theory they should do this or that but a lot of the time it don’t work out like that, but today everything worked like we thought it would, so my guys did some good work. My race pace is decent but not great, we need to improve tomorrow morning if we want to turn it into a result, which is the plan. My first qualifier went good, my second I didn’t really improve, the third one I did improve, then the fourth felt really good. But going into turn three there was a pack of riders, so I just had to shut it down. I went hard enough for the rest of that lap to keep heat in the tyres and then tried to pull the trigger again. Luckily I was able to get two laps out of it, though the last little bit of the second lap the right side started to go. The Michelin qualifiers were really good today, so I just held on to squeeze on to the front row. That’s important here especially because in the past there’s been plenty of carnage at the first turn. We’ll try to improve the bike in morning, try to get away with them, then see what we got.”
Julián Simón, 1’52.033 seg, 41 vueltas, 197 Km. >> Audio
“This was a positive day. This morning we rode comfortably and we were fast. The bike was a bit faster than in the afternoon, and then I fell so I had to chnge the bike for the classification. The set up was not exactly the same and the engine did not perform as well as in the free practice. That meant I could not finish higher than 7th, although I think I could have done a little better. Whatever, I am very pleased, because I feel fine riding at this circuit. Tomorrow, if the bike allows me to take advantage of the slipstream created by those in front of me, I think that I can have a good race. I am very motivated and I am planning to fight the best I can. I hope everything works out well and we can go to Australia with good sensations.”
Esteve Rabat, 2’01 121 secs, 29 laps, 139 Km. >> Audio
“This was a very difficult day because we had a lot of problems. In the free practice I fell again and in the classification I could not get the right set up that would let me ride comfortably. I did all I could and I really can`t say any more. I had problems at both the rear – it was sliding around a lot – and entering corners – the steering kept locking – and with the engine, it was not very fast. I have not managed to get the bike right for this circuit and now we are looking to make more adjustments. In the race I will have to make a good start and go flat out to get to the front. ”
Marc Márquez, 1’59.783 secs, 30 laps, 144 Km. >> Audio
“Today the practice went a little better since it was dry all the time and this allowed us to work on the set up, but it still isn`t perfect. We have some problems at the front end, and we have to find out whether it is the the suspension or the tyres. In 125cc the tyre selection is not very big, so you have to choose well. In the morning we will try a different tyre, and if it does not work out, we will look at the suspension and change that. We will see if I can make a good start in the race, catch up with the leading group, and keep up with them.”
