The Repsol Honda Team returned to the Brno circuit today to take part in the final MotoGP test day of the 2009 season. Fresh from their second and fourth places in yesterday’s Grand Prix of the Czech Republic, Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso were raring to go and ready to put in a full day’s work under the steady sunshine enjoyed over the GP weekend. The test went well, though the weather at the spectacular Brno circuit played its part today. After a clear morning during which both riders completed valuable laps testing machine set-up options and various components, two rain showers in the afternoon halted proceedings, with the MotoGP riders sitting in the garages from 2pm to 5pm.
Despite the interruptions, Pedrosa set a time in the morning of 1m 56.747s - a half second improvement on his fastest lap from the race yesterday. It was good enough for third best today, behind Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. His Repsol Honda team-mate was also able to complete some valuable analysis and improve on his speed from yesterday - Dovizioso setting a 1m 57.841s lap, which was one tenth inside his best time in the 22-lap race.
With the team’s engineers now primed to analyse all the data gathered today, Repsol Honda packs its crates ready for shipping to the famous banking of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the US. Round 12 of the MotoGP series - the Indianapolis Grand Prix - takes place on 30 August.
Dani Pedrosa – 3rd – 1m 56.747s
“It was a useful test session today, even though the rain tried to mess with our plans, and I hope that what we’ve learnt can help us for the next races. In the morning we worked on some set-up improvements from the race weekend and we were able to find some more speed. After lunch we were set to try some new suspension components which we managed to do when the track dried after the rain. Of course it takes time to perfect the set-up when you try new things, but our pace was quite good and the feeling was promising. Overall, this was a worthwhile test.”
Andrea Dovizioso – 5th – 1m 57.764s
“It was good to get some testing time today because the new rules mean any extra track time is very valuable. It was an interesting day because we tried quite a few set-up options including some different suspension parts, and this was a first for me. Because of the limited time, we couldn’t evaluate their full potential, but the initial feedback was positive. We also continued to work with the set-up for the new swingarm we used this weekend and managed to improve our speed. Honda is working very hard for the remaining races and also for next year, and the team is fully committed.”
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