Repsol Honda - Testing at Sepang - November 2000
|
Team Repsol YPF Honda riders Alex Crivillé and Tohru Ukawa have finished with their three-day test at the Malaysian circuit of Sepang. Once again, weather conditions have made testing difficult, especially on days 1 and 2 because of high temperatures and occasional rain showers. However, on the last day, the weather
was stable.
Alex Crivillé flew back to Spain in high spirits although "I'm a bit upset because weather conditions haven't let me test as much as I would have liked to. But all in all, conclusions are positive because the new bike is getting close to what we're looking for. Now it's only a question of continuing with our work in Jerez, testing more new things and tuning the bike's set-up". "I've ridden almost 50 laps of the circuit and my best times have been close to the other riders' so I think we're on the right path. Basically, we've focused on the engine and some other new material. It's very important to count on the new bike at this stage because now we have plenty of time to decide what is competitive and what isn't". Whilst Crivillé has been testing the 2001 Honda, his new team-mate Tohru Ukawa, continues to improve on his upgrading to the 500cc class. The Japanese rider is showing some good progress and although he has crashed out in the last morning session, his lap times prove that he is rapidly adapting to the king class. "I'm very happy because I learn something new every time and that motivates me. Today my times have been close to Alex and Valentino's although I'm more concerned about getting a good race pace riding a bike which behaves completely different to my usual 250. We've been doing race tests today but unfortunately after 17 laps I've crashed. This means I've got a long way to go so in Jerez we will have to work even harder". After Malaysia, Team Repsol YPF Honda are testing in Jerez next week to continue with the 2001 pre-season testing on days 27 to 29th of November. Valentino Rossi 2m07 |