Sepang MotoGP test: Day Three final times

That starts looking very much like season 2011.

Posted: 02/02/2012 at 12:22

i'm bored already

Posted: 02/02/2012 at 12:46

Don't fucking watch it then, doofus. Leave the rest of us who do love it in peace.

Posted: 02/02/2012 at 13:33

keep your hair on , no one uses the term doofus outside of america

Posted: 02/02/2012 at 13:44

Pagik, this is what worries me as per conversation yesterday, Stoner has gone 1.2 seconds quicker, Rossi 1 second quicker and the overall gap is now wider than ever.

Whilst everybody says don't read too much into pre-season testing, with limited track time its too hard to come back from 1.2 secs behind at the start of the season, I really want Rossi up front, but I am losing heart that Ducati have yes, certainly improved the bike, but not enough to make an impact on HRC.

Posted: 02/02/2012 at 14:05

I do see your point Mike, but I have a wait and see attitude to it. I am not for one minute suggesting VR's going to do what he did in '04. It's just not going to happen. But, I do think that the gap will close up by a fair chunk this year. I also think there's a couple of wins in that bike.

It's not gonna blow the paddock apart, but nor is it going to be languishing in 7th. I think there'll be quite a lot of 4ths, and a few podiums, and the (very) occasional win with it.

I agree that Stoners clearly gone quicker, and of course he was ALWAYS going to, otherwise whats the point being there. On the other side of that, and I know I keep saying it, this bike has been put together in 4 months, and it's 0.6 quicker out of the box than last years "effort"..that's a huge improvement, but, as you say, the Hondas gone quicker, so the gap goes up. If VR and JB and crew had NOT got their way, that gap would now be out to nearly 2 seconds...

At the end of the day, all I wanna see is a good old 4 or 5 man scrap for the podium. And I think this evolution of the Desmocidici is the one that could do that. Along with the M1's (of which I have been ultra impressed by Messers Spies and Lorenzo this test. I don't think HRC are going to get it all their own way this year.

I also think we need to collectively give Cal a massive round of applause for what he's done this week. Fucking stunning effort.

Posted: 02/02/2012 at 14:29

As long as ducati have made a bike thats got some potential in it then its all good news.
If i might be so bold to say stoner won't be developing that bike so he'll pretty much be on the same thrash it or crash level most of the year. I can see ducati and yamaha making big steps forward with the likes of rossi, hayden, lorenzo and spies developing their respective bikes.

But yeah if you don't like it and your feeling bored already then piss off and watch x-factor or some talentless bullcrap of a show.

:D
GO ON CAL!

Posted: 02/02/2012 at 16:21

4 or 5 man scrap... I'll vote for that

Posted: 02/02/2012 at 16:35

how dare you mention the x factor! I said I'm bored but not that bored, of course I'll still be watching on the off chance that perhaps something magical will happen....

Posted: 02/02/2012 at 20:22

Stoner won't be developing the bike? Not even sure what that means. Thrash it or crash? The only time he binned it was when VR took him out.

He's the quickest rider out there. if you can't admit that much, you've got your head up your arse.

Posted: 02/02/2012 at 23:23

jesus...joel

He's clearly the fastest guy out there. I never said he wasn't you silly tit...

He has insane ammounts of natural bike control and is clearly very good at riding flat out. But it seems like he rides around problems rather than trying to fix them.

I was looking forward to watching the new season. Shame i won't see it, what with having my face inside my own bumhole. :(

Posted: 03/02/2012 at 00:51

Of course, the times tell the story. But there seems an underlying assumption that Rossi is still the best out there, he's just on a crap machine. I don't think he is.

It just seems to me that everyone wants to have their cake and eat it with Rossi. Given Stoner's superior results on the Ducati, onny one of two conclusions can be drawn:

1. Rossi is a better developer but hasn't as much talent, or
2. He's a faster rider but hasn't got a clue how to set it up.

Of course it could be that the Honda is VASTLY superior. I don't think so. Super Sic - God rest his soul - had plenty of speed but struggled in races. Dani and Dovi were still regularly pipped by the Yamahas. I think we're seeing something very special in Stoner, people are just taking a while to catch on.

Posted: 03/02/2012 at 02:11

Great performance by Cal - I bet he's chuffed !

Posted: 03/02/2012 at 02:40

I'm mixed on this. Lets start with Cals done a stunning Job and the surprise has been Yamaha and Ducati for me. I didn't expect Yamaha to move forward so much, but they have, and they've done it extremely well.

So, the Rossi/Ducati thing. Pre-season tests mean a lot, and a gap of 0.5 on everyone is a hell of a lot, but Stoner cannot ride slow, he cant slow down and set a 'pace' lap, it's normally all or nothing and I think thats why he does so few laps.

I do think that the other crews (Jorge, Dani, VR) are probrably striving to find setup improvements that get them closer to a batshit casey lap but in a little more comfort.

Dont forget these bikes have had 200cc added to the motor, and have had NO fuel increase, it's still 21 litres, that means smoother riding will mean better fuel economy meaning more Powa' later in the race.

Fast laps are on thing but being fast for 20 laps is another. Casey can certainly do it, and do it very well, but with the tests I highly expect him to be fighting harder for those wins this year.

Ducati being 1.2 off is a lot, but it's only 0.7 off 2nd, that's not so bad. And we all know VR qualifys worse than he races, so him coming 3rd/4th means he can win over a race distance.

Ducati have just had to do their dirty washing infront of the entire paddock, and their washing really wasn't that dirty. That bike had done 3 days of testing on one track before coming here, to design a bike on CAD, with theory and knowledge of how you wanted it to behave and be 1.2 seconds down from a fully developed HRC with Stoner on it? I'd be brimming with smiles right now. I'd think with a few changes to parts here and there and learning more about the setup, they'll have an awesome bike soon.

Don't forget, Ducati - and Honda and Yamaha dont have to just run official tests now, they've each got 240 tyres per season and can use them as they like. If they want to rent Mugello this week and put Rossi round it, they can do it. I highly suspect Rossi will do several laps on a modified version of this bike before he comes back to Sepang.

Posted: 03/02/2012 at 09:14

Just heard Hayden will be testing an updated version that's already in the works between 20th and 22nd Feb @ Valencia. Preziosi is expecting most people to be in the low 1.59s next time they're at Sepang.

Posted: 03/02/2012 at 09:55

The voice of reason strikes Rob. If they get the Duke back down to early 1.59's by the time they get back to Sepang, then they have every right to be completely cockahoop imo.

The whole Casey v Vale thing is summed up best by Ago. "Casey and Vale is like me (Ago) and Hailwood. Once the bike was set up how I wanted it, I could go very fast, Mike just used to ride around problems".

Let's not forget, "the doctor", he FIXES the bike. Casey grabs it by the scruff of the neck and beats it into submission. This is why in my humble, no one else got on with the Duke. But time will tell...

Posted: 03/02/2012 at 11:12

I think it is going to be a great opening season back in the 1000cc era and without doubt VR will be up there mixing it I'm sure. Do also think a little about the situation last year in reality; if Stoner had been on the Ducati and Rossi on that Honda, I doubt Stoner would have been on the Podium very much either.He can throw it down the road as good as anybody!!!

Posted: 03/02/2012 at 18:35

Amazing performance by Stoner, considering his back and limited amount of laps. Not a bad a showing by Ducati. But if you need to post pictures of yourself to prove how the bike is better, you know you are still in a hole. If Ducati gets to 1:59 by the second time in Sepang, good, but there's no way the others will not improve as well.

I have to say Stoner is the luckiest guy on earth. Not being able to set up bike at all, but constantly able to win or turn out fast laps ... really lucky. The bs how Rossi fixes bikes and Stoner doesn't ... Rossi has to fix it, because he cannot ride other than perfectly-to-him cut bike.

Posted: 06/02/2012 at 12:18