After the Catalunya Grand Prix, Team Repsol YPF Honda stayed an extra day on the Catalonian circuit in order to test and prepare for the Dutch TT in Holland. Which as is usual with the Dutch race, held on a Saturday at Assen. This year that date is June 30th.

Other teams remained on the Catalunya circuit as well, with Valentino Rossi, Carlos Checa, Loris Capirossi, Alex Barros and Noriyuki Haga sharing the track. 

On a windy morning with pleasant temperatures, Alex Crivillé and his team-mate Tohru Ukawa went out at 10.00 a.m. and worked on fine-tuning the set-up they used in the race on Sunday. After a brief lunch break, both riders continued to ride until 6 p.m., the scheduled finish of Team Repsol YPF Honda’s test session.

Alex Crivillé completed a total of 74 laps on the Catalunya track, an equivalent of 350 kilometers, with a best time of 1’46.44’’, two tenths of a second faster than his best time on the race weekend. 

“We dedicated our day to small changes on the motorcycle that I rode with yesterday in the race, mainly concentrating on the suspension set-up. These changes made a real difference as the bike proved to perform better than it did in the race, which allowed me to improve on the lap times I put in during the weekend. Without the pressure of a race weekend, I find it easier to make certain changes and to improve step by step, discovering the way we have to go. The temperature was more pleasant today, but the wind increased during the afternoon which made it more difficult in certain sections of the track.”

His team-mate Tohru Ukawa completed a total of 90 laps which converts to 425 kilometers, putting in his fastest lap in 1’46.72”, a time just a fraction slower than his personal best throughout the weekend. “We didn’t chase fast lap times today. Instead, our goal was to improve the overall pace that I was running at in yesterday’s race, which we managed to achieve. I rode consistently in the low 1’47’s, after mainly working on the suspension settings and after trying different tyre compounds. These tests have been very valuable for us and they will be very useful for the next Grand Prix in Holland. Even though I won there last year with the Honda NSR 250, I think Assen will be especially difficult for us with the 500, because the circuit is very fast and technical.”