Lorenzo ruled testing with a best time of 1:38.679
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SPANISH superstar Jorge Lorenzo was half a second quicker than
second-quickest Valentino Rossi at yesterday's day of testing at Jerez.
A host of MotoGP riders stayed on at the punishing circuit for a planned
two-day test
following the grand prixt.
Lorenzo brutalised the timesheets with a best of 1m 38.679 - just 0.5s
slower than his stunning pole position time set on Saturday.
Another day of Andalucian sunshine today provided Lorenzo and his crew with
the chance to work on general setting and their all-important tyre testing
programme with Michelin amid slightly more relaxed surroundings. The Mallorcan
continued to show his ability and fast rate of progress, not only topping the
time sheets on a qualifying tyre but lapping consistenly fast on race tyres.
His best time on a race tyre was 1m 39.59, over half a second faster than the
fastest lap record recorded in the race and he was the only rider to dip
under the 1m 38 mark on a qualifier.
Team manager Daniele Romagnoli said: "It was a another really good day
today. Jorge's progress is almost unbelievable for us to watch and every day is
enjoyable. The most impressive thing today is that we were able to improve on
Jorge's race pace from Saturday, which was the best pace of the whole weekend.
We continued to work on set-up and improved the front feeling with the help
of a new fork setting, and with race tyres today he was very consistent and
very fast. We also refined some engine mapping and through this it seems that
we've been able to obtain improvement with tyre wear. Michelin had planned a
very interesting tyre test for us today with Estoril in mind and we found
some good things, especially concerning the rear tyre. Jorge has done a great
job at just his second race and today's test gave us a chance to check out some
important things that will help us at the next race in Estoril."
Frenchman Randy de Puniet was the fastest of the six Honda riders who stayed
behind after the weekend's races for vital testing.
De Puniet managed setting fourth fastest time on the opening day of the two
day test. De Puniet, who crashed on lap three of the grand prix, worked to
improve the front end feeling of the RCV before working on
the rear suspension in a bid to improve traction.
The second fastest Honda man was Shinya Nakano. The Japanese star is
beginning to find his feet at San Carlo Gresini Honda and after finishing ninth in
the race continued his recent improvement.
Nakano and team-mate Alex De Angelis spent the greater part of the day
testing tyres for Bridgestone.
The Repsol Honda Team of Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden worked hard on
perfecting machine set up following data gathered from the race. Pedrosa missed
virtually all pre-season testing due to a broken hand and his first day's work
on the base set-up was vital on the 2008 bike.
Hayden spent time working on the clutch of his RCV in a bid to improve his
corner entry speed then got to work with tyre supplier Michelin testing a
range of new tyres prepared for the test by the French manufacturer.
Pedrosa and Hayden ended the day eighth and ninth respectively on the time
sheet using race tyres while the seven riders ahead of them all set their best
times on qualifying rubber.
De Puniet said: "It was a very long day for us. I made 88 laps in total and
tested many things. This morning we lost some track time to fix a front-end
problem. Then we will focus our work mainly on suspension
regulations and tyre testing. We found some good solutions but we still miss
some adjustments to make a step forward. Anyway we improved the rear
traction and, in the last two laps of the day, I tried many starts. I think we got a
good base for next GP at Estoril."
Pedrosa added: "Today we worked on basic set-up to help us get more familiar
with the bike, to know our package better and to find the best direction so
we can continue improving. It's the kind of work we usually do at preseason
tests but we weren't able to do this year because of my injury. It was a
necessary job with a lot of stops in the pits but I think it was very useful. We
also started working on tyres with
Michelin and we will focus on tyre testing all day Tuesday. It will be a
very important day, crucial for our development programme."
Hayden: "We learned some stuff today, we were able to run pretty decent and
consistent laps using reference tyres and we got some good data, so quite a
positive day all in all. We had nothing major to test, just some different
clutch options to get into the corners a little bit better and some general
set-up options, looking for a bit of edge traction to help save the tyre over
race distance. We'll come back
again tomorrow, get another full day and just work our way through some more
options."
Top 10 lap times
1. Jorge LORENZO (YAMAHA) 1:38:679
2. Valentino ROSSI (YAMAHA) 1:39:117
3. Casey STONER (DUCATI) 1:39:218
4. Randy DE PUNIET(HONDA) 1:39:484
5. John HOPKINS (KAWASAKI) 1:39:569
8. Dani PEDROSA (REPSOL HONDA) 1:40:166
9. Nicky HAYDEN (REPSOL HONDA) 1:40:389
10 Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Team Scot) 1:40.394
