Suzuka Tests, Day 3 - Mar 21, 2001
| After two days of pleasant temperatures and sunshine, somehow unusual in Japan during this time of the year, the wind
arrived in Suzuka with a vengeance. The poor condition of the track, very filthy with the dust from the renovation works that are currently under way at the Japanese circuit, didn't allow the riders to improve or even get close to the lap time set by Repsol YPF Honda rider Tohru Ukawa yesterday. However, the challenge starts all over again in a little more than two weeks from now, when the riders return to the track for the first race of the year, the Japanese Grand Prix on April 8th.
Japanese star Norick Abe (Antena 3 Yamaha) set fastest lap time on the final day of GP testing at the Suzuka circuit and was less than a tenth of a second faster than the Honda NSR500 of Brazilian Alex Barros (West Honda Pons) with Italy's Max Biaggi (Marlboro Yamaha) a further tenth of a second adrift. Alex Barros, the fastest Honda rider today, said. "Today was not very profitable as the wind was very annoying. It has also blown sand from the nearby works on to some turns, making it useless. However, the work done on the bike will be seen in the grand prix." Checa and Biaggi have been consistently the strongest team at the three group test sessions they’ve attended over the past six weeks at Jerez, Estoril and Suzuka. The pair have been second or third quickest on each occasion, with different riders just a fraction ahead of them at each circuit. "From track to track, no one has been more consistent than either of our guys," said Marlboro Yamaha Team manager Geoff Crust. "And while some riders have been putting in just one or two quick laps, Carlos and Max have been both fast and consistent wherever we’ve been to test. It shows that the new bike is really good and that our riders are feeling confident – we can’t wait to get racing." Taking times from all 3 days meant that Checa was second quickest at Suzuka, only 0.164 seconds behind Tohru Ukawa (Honda), with Biaggi third, a further 0.562 seconds back, and just ahead of Valentino Rossi (Honda). The fastest six riders all lapped inside Biaggi’s three-year-old lap record. "We got the bike dialed in very quickly which allowed us to concentrate on trying lots of different tyres," said Checa. "This track is different in character from most other circuits we go to so we started with suspension adjustments but we got that sorted and then did plenty of race-distance tyre testing. "I’m feeling good because whenever we’ve come across a problem over the last few weeks, we’ve always been able to fix things pretty quickly. I think we’re in good shape for the race here and for the championship." Like most of his rivals, Checa rode his best laps on day 2 of the test with the final day's times slightly down due to strong winds. The windy conditions did catch out the Spaniard, who fell this morning as he rode through the fifth gear right hander before Spoon Curve. "I was trying to hold a tight line to keep the bike steady when the wind took the front wheel away," explained Checa, who was able to ride his YZR500 back to the pits, suffering just a few friction burns in the 240kmh tumble. Biaggi ended the session sharing his team-mate’s confidence for the season-opening Japanese GP and beyond. Like Checa he focused on perfecting machine set-up with Michelin’s 16.5in rear slick, which is likely to be the popular choice at the Japanese GP. "I’ve been testing various different settings and tyres so that I get a real feel for the bike," explained Biaggi. "It’s all about fine tuning, especially here where you really need the bike to hold its line. I was a bit disappointed with today’s windy conditions because I wanted to improve my times but the main thing is that we feel ready to go racing, we already have a good set-up for this track. Testing has been good this winter and now we’re ready for racing, it’s what we do all this work for, it’s the big fight." While riders battled today’s strong winds, the Suzuka track surface has also been dirty in parts, the result of ongoing track improvements. Lap times are faster than ever at the impressive Japanese venue, though Yamaha Grand Prix manager Masahiko Nakajima believes the circuit changes haven’t made much difference to times. "The first part of the esses is tighter while the final section, before Dunlop Curve, is more open, so I think they cancel each other out," he said. "This is a specialist circuit anyway, and we’ve worked hard to perfect our engine and chassis settings. The good thing is that our 2001 YZR500 seems very consistent in performance at all the different tracks and we have a good base setting that seems to work everywhere. "This is the third year of the Marlboro Yamaha Team programme and I think our experience together is beginning to show. Both riders have a lot of confidence in the machine and we have real faith that they can both challenge for the World Championship. We have given Carlos and Max the best possible bikes so they’ve got the best possible chance of winning the crown." Barros' West Honda Pons team-mate Loris Capirossi, rode consistently well over the three days of testing but he needed a good day today to complete his test programme. Capirossi said. "Today we couldn't do the planned work and we leave the circuit with the challenge of solving the stability problem I have before the grand prix. I think I can go faster if he bike is more stable. Maybe the day of the race might be warmer and the problem could solved without having to make more tests." Valentino Rossi (Nastro Azzurro Honda) sat out the third and final day of the test having achieved all he set out to on the first two days. Alex Criville (Repsol Honda), returning after a hand injury, was two seconds off the pace set by his fellow NSR500 riders. Criville, 500cc World Champion in 1999, has just two weeks to get up to speed before the first qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix, at Suzuka on April 8. "The tests didn't go the way I expected on any of the three days and I ended up way back. The same thing that slowed me down on the first two days happened again to me, I simply don't feel comfortable riding and I lack confidence. Analysing the data recording we confirmed that I'm not braking the way I usually do. In a situation like that we mustn't get too alarmed, we have to stay calm instead. The grand prix takes place in two weeks, the most important thing is that I'm able to get on the bike at 100 percent, which I wasn't able to do these three days of testing." Commented Criville. Tohru Ukawa - "My best lap time today was slower than the one I did yesterday, but this does not worry me too much. The weather conditions haven't been as good for us as they were the first two days, the wind has been quite strong and blew quite a lot of dirt onto the track, so we had to settle for what was possible under the circumstances, and I am quite happy with the result. We have basically dedicated this third day of testing to further improving the rear suspension, changing the set-up several times and checking the behaviour of the bike with each alteration. We finally accomplished what we had planned to do in these three days of testing, and my mind is already set on the first Grand Prix - I can't wait for it to arrive!" Kenny Roberts had a slight fall and left the circuit a few hours before the close of the day but it is largely unhurt from the crash. "I'm glad the testings over now, and I'm leaving Japan feeling more confident than before. The new bike is back on the right track, though we need to keep on improving. But I'm ready now for the real stuff .... I can hardly wait to go racing." Telefonica Suzuki Team Manager Garry Taylor had this to say "We had some worries with the new 2001 chassis, but we were able to find out why and the factory was able to make some modifications that made all the difference, we're happy now we've found a good direction of development for the new bike. "We came to Suzuka to do back-to-back tests with the 2000 machine, which Kenny had preferred at earlier tests. Having last year's title-winning bike gave us a good fall-back position, but now we're finally confident the new bike is an improvement," he added. Sete Gibernau was slower than the might have liked - "It's definitely a learning process when you change to a different motorcycle, and I'm moving through that process all the time. I've felt ready to race the Suzuki for a while now, and I'm looking forward to that - but I know I still have things to learn about the bike before I can reach maximum potential." 500cc Emilio Alzamora improved his time by over a second, had the weather been
better the Spaniard is confident he could have been faster. |