Shinya Ups The Pace For KONICA MINOLTA Honda At Qatar Test

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Shinya Nakano started to show the form he’s always promised aboard his new KONICA MINOLTA Honda RC212V today as the Japanese star upped the pace on the 800cc machine, despite a harmless fall during the day’s testing schedule.

The 29-year-old was uninjured in the crash, and said he was happy with the results of the day’s work. The former 250cc GP runner-up put in 73 laps on the RCV and took sixth-tenths of a second off his day-one lap time to record a best of 1’57.274”, making him the third fastest Honda out on track. Track conditions continued to be good, despite a rare overnight shower at the Losail circuit.

Testing will conclude for the KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team in Qatar tomorrow, but over the next weekend (23rd-25th of February) they will join the majority of MotoGP Teams at the official IRTA tests in Jerez – the final tests of the year before the season begins at the Losail circuit on 10th March.

Shinya Nakano – Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (73 laps – 1’57.274”)

“I’m very satisfied with this second day of testing as finally I was fast, despite a harmless crash! Most of the time today has been dedicated to the important job of testing the Michelin tyres. These are vital for the set-up of the new Honda RC212V. Today, I found a good front tyre and with this I was able to increase my corner speed, which is important on this new breed of 800cc machines. During tomorrow’s final day we will continue the job of tyre testing for Michelin by aiming to find a good rear tyre to be used as a reference point for the race which takes place in less than four weeks time! In the afternoon, if we have the time to do so, we have scheduled a race simulation. I’m looking forward to getting to know my new bike even more and aiming to give the Team all the feedback and information they need so we can improve still further. ”

Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda

“This morning we got to the end of the first set-up phase for the new Honda RC212V. We found today’s configuration on the 800cc bike now permits Nakano to turn in consistently fast laps with a good rhythm, which is vital for feedback to our engineers and is also what’s required in a race. While we reached this stage, we preferred to use standard Michelin rubber while in the afternoon we started our selection of tyres we will be looking to use during the race here next month, in particular we worked on the front tyre and by the end of the day we think we found a good compromise. In the afternoon after 4pm, the temperature out on track lowered considerably which didn’t help things, also the riders were finding it tricky to battle the high winds which seemed to affect them on the final part of the circuit. Tomorrow we will continue our hard work with the Michelin tyres and then after the break for lunch we will be aiming to make a race simulation to see where our hard work has taken us. ”


 
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