San Carlo Honda Gresini Team riders Toni Elias and Alex De Angelis were able to continue their preparations for the 2009 MotoGP World Championship at Jerez today, where torrential early downpours subsided before midday and allowed the track to dry sufficiently for a useful first outing of a two-day test. The Spaniard and the San Marino rider were both able to push the limits of their Honda RC212V machinery and Bridgestone tyres, finishing the day inside the top ten on the unofficial time sheets.
Indeed, De Angelis pushed his package slightly over the limit with around 90 minutes remaining of the afternoon, running wide onto the grass just before the fast series of right-handers towards the end of the lap and crashing. Thankfully the youngster escaped injury, although the red flag was shown for several minutes whilst the debris was cleared from the track, and he was able to return to action and significantly improve his best lap time, climbing to eighth overall. Elias was impressed with the engine performance of his factory-spec machine but has work to do on chassis set-up after ending the day in tenth.
Testing continues tomorrow, building up to a televised 45-minute ‘qualifying’ session with the prize of a brand new car for the fastest rider at 2pm. It should prove to be an entertaining and interesting affair, not only because it is the first truly competitive action of the new season but also a trial run for what can be expected in qualifying practice this season, with new restrictions meaning the riders will have no soft ‘qualifying’ tyres at their disposition.
Alex De Angelis (8th 1’40.900): “At the start of the day we had a few problems finding traction and also getting the bike turned in tight corners. The team made some modifications and the bike felt better, so I was pushing to improve my lap times when I crashed. Basically I just ran a little wider on the exit of the corner, touched the grass at the side of the track and it was still wet from this morning so I lost the front and couldn’t keep it upright. Luckily I was unhurt and I was determined to get back because things had just started to improve for us. The guys did a great job to set my other bike up quickly and I was able to get back on the pace. Now we have a great base to work from tomorrow.”
Toni Elias (10th; 1’41.049): “I’m not completely satisfied with today because we haven’t improved as much as I would have liked. We’re over a second off the fastest guys and I want to be much closer. We have a great engine - it is really, really good - but we have to make the chassis work much better. We’re struggling to get enough heat into the rear tyre to gain the traction we need and it is something we have been working on all preseason. The new tyre restrictions haven’t helped us out with this but it is down to us to adapt. We only have one day of testing left before the start of the season so we want to try and make the most of every available minute tomorrow.”
Fausto Gresini - Team Manager: “Alex showed great determination this afternoon because after a crash a rider tends to lose his feeling for the bike and it is not easy to get back out there. Not only did he do that but he improved his lap time and it could have been even better if he didn’t get held up. Anyway, his performance was good - the thing we need to work on with him now is making sure he is consistent and finding a setting with the bike that can be fast over race distance. Toni is struggling to get a good feeling with the bike through the fast corners in T3 and T4 so finding a set-up compromise that offers him better handling and balance through there will be our main focus with him tomorrow.”
1 Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 1’39.791
2 Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 1’39.861
3 Casey STONER (Ducati) 1’39.906
4 Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki) 1’40.572
5 Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 1’40.579
6 Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 1’40.650
7 Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 1’40.821
8 Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 1’40.900
9 Nicky HAYDEN (Ducati) 1’40.987
10 Toni ELIAS (Honda) 1’41.049
11 James TOSELAND (Yamaha) 1’41.122
12 Marco MELANDRI (Hayate) 1’41.160
13 Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 1’41.168
14 Mika KALLIO (Ducati) 1’41.226
15 Yuki TAKAHASHI (Honda) 1’41.362
16 Sete GIBERNAU (Ducati) 1’41.737
17 Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati) 1’41.851
18 Kousuke AKIYOSHI (Honda) 1’42.286
19 Vittoriano GUARESCHI (Ducati) 1’42.324
| 
|