Team San Carlo Honda Gresini began their preparations for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island today, although a wet afternoon proved to be a familiar and unwelcome hindrance.
Following a dry opening session in which both riders established a good feeling with their machines, set-up work was severely set back in the afternoon after a heavy and consistent downpour.
Despite crashing in the slippery conditions, Alex De Angelis remains confident that his positive work in the dry can prove decisive as he looks to recover his feeling with the bike after a difficult Grand Prix of Japan last weekend.
Shinya’s work together with the team was also slowed by the wet track and conditions he rarely feels comfortable in. However, the Japanese rider is also happy with his progress in the dry and hopes for better weather tomorrow.
Alex De Angelis (3rd - 1’31’’043):
“I’m really pleased with how first free practice went this morning because we rediscovered some of the feeling we’d lost in Japan. It is obviously only one session and we have to keep working because we still have a lot of other things to try. Unfortunately we didn’t get chance to do that this afternoon because of the rain and the crash was another setback. Now I’m really looking forward to tomorrow because the forecast is good and I’m keen to get out there and make more progress.”
Shinya Nakano (7th - 1’31’’221):
“I’m satisfied with the job we did on a dry track this morning although the afternoon was much more difficult because of the rain. We tried a few different things with the tyres but we need to improve the feeling with the bike in the wet and find some more grip if we’re going to be fast. Now we’ll have to wait and see what the weather does tomorrow because deciding which way to go with the setting. I’m comfortable in the dry although we do still need to take some small steps forward with the setting.”
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