MotoGP 2004 - Catalunya Official Test

Yamaha

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi recorded the fastest lap of the weekend as an intense fight saw the top 13 MotoGP riders, including Rossi’s team-mate Carlos Checa, finish the Barcelona IRTA Test with times inside one minute of each other. Today’s MotoGP riding agenda entailed three sessions, and with a prize of a BMW Z4 up for grabs during the 45-minute afternoon official practice, Italian Rossi prevailed at the last minute with a time good enough to keep him at the top of the combined standings throughout the final free practice later on. After an early fall along with five other riders due to oil on the track, Carlos Checa finally finished the test ninth fastest at his home circuit, pleased with his progress and feeling positive for Jerez next week. The incident interrupted the first half of the early afternoon session, as the red flags were put out whilst track officials cleaned up the oil.

The leader board was dominated in the early afternoon by American Colin Edwards, who put in a string of consistently fast laps on his Honda machine. With seven minutes left on the clock, Rossi took the lead with a flying lap, only to relinquish it again to Edwards a few minutes later. Returning to the pits for a brief tyre change, Rossi took the lead again on his last lap with a time of 1’44.571. This was enough for him to claim the BMW prize, despite last minute charges from Edwards again (1’44.653) and fellow Honda rider Sete Gibernau (1’44.669.) Checa, slightly shaken up from his earlier brush with the tarmac, was happy to post the eighth fastest time of 1’45.171.

Rossi stayed on top for the rest of the day but the final leader board altered slightly during the last session of the test, when Honda team-mates Alex Barros and Nicky Hayden put in hot laps of 1’44.631 and 1’44.634 respectively to take them second and third fastest of the test. Checa had another unfortunate fall at the same corner as earlier, caught off-guard by tyres which were slightly too hard. However he was not hurt and continued to work on the set-up of Yamaha’s latest engine spec, which he first tested on Friday.

Valentino Rossi, 1st: 1’44.571 (34 laps) “This is really satisfying! I am really sincerely very happy to win this car, to have got this time and to have put in more than one fast lap. The whole day has been a brilliant surprise and we’re all very happy. I think this year will be great for the Championship as a whole because it’s going to be very competitive. Everyone has put in so much hard work – the team and the Yamaha engineers – and we’ve done a great job so far. There is still a lot of work to do and a long way to go, but we’ve made a good performance. This year is going to be a great challenge; let’s see if we can continue as we have started today.”

Carlos Checa, 9th: 1’45.171 (33 laps) - “The moment I went out on the track for the qualifying session I felt there was some oil on the track, and before I could do anything about it there were six bikes on the ground. The new engine spec I’m trying works quite well with this chassis but we need to alter the set-up a bit more; I still have a long way to go. Valentino did a great job today and it’s very motivating to have him as a team-mate; it’s a great challenge for me to see how close I can get.

Davide Brivio (Team Director) - “We didn’t win a race and we didn’t get any points but it’s nice to win this first prize. I’m very happy that we can offer today’s results to everyone involved in the project. We are having a very busy winter and it’s very satisfying for everyone on days like today. This will give us more motivation to continue working hard with the target to be competitive in a race situation as soon as possible.”

Tech 3 encouraged by strong Yamaha showing Barcelona, Spain (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3)

A 40-minute MotoGP super-sprint to win a sports car gave a 30,000 crowd a high-point during three gruelling days of testing and it was Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi topped the timesheets for the final day with a 1m 44.571s lap set during the televised sprint session. He won a new BMW sports car, but must be happier with the speed of his M1 machine as was Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3), who finished ninth fastest.

As snow still clung to the peaks of the surrounding hills, the sun finally shone on the Catalan circuit after two cold and wet days. But even today became gloomy for five riders involved in a multiple pile-up in the early stages of the sprint. Jeremy McWilliams crashed his Aprilia and the oil spill brought down the two Ducati riders Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss, Alex Barros (Honda) and Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team).

But Melandri escaped the carnage and set about working his way through the 40 minutes at a hot pace to finish 9th fastest with a 1’45.196s lap in the sprint session. The top three overall at the end of the day were Rossi, Barros and Nicky Hayden (Honda). And Melandri, who worked his machine well to finish only 0.625s shy of Rossi’s time. Marco continued to graft throughout the rest of the afternoon and found enough sustained speed to finish the day 10th overall.

His team-mate Norick Abe’s day came to a premature end after he crashed in the final ten minutes of the sprint. But the Japanese had shown speed in yesterday’s saturated session and was looking to translate his rain prowess into a fast dry time today. He was unhurt but did not ride for the rest of the day.

Marco Melandri, 10th: 1’45.196s (38 laps) “If someone had told me I’d only be just over half a second away from Rossi’s best time before we came here – I would not have believed them. I was losing nearly all the time in the last section of the track because the power delivery is very sharp. But I’m really close to Carlos’ (Checa) time (by just over 0.02 of a second) and that was what I was aiming for before we came here. During the rest of the afternoon I tested tyres and tried to get as many laps in as I could. This has been a good weekend despite the weather.”

Norick Abe, 22nd: 1’47.429s (26laps) - “We finished on a bad note, unfortunately. I put a softer tyre on for the sprint session and was catching a group in front of me, but when I got to the second main section of the track I crashed. This is my third crash this year and I’ve never had a problem with crashing as soon as I push hard before. But we’ll find a solution to this before Welkom I’m sure.”

Hervé Poncharal (Team Director) - “Marco is very close to the best time, and we know why he can’t quite match it. It’s because our current engine’s power delivery is very aggressive, but he could match Rossi in all sections except T3 (the second last quarter of the track). It’s good to see that the new engine Rossi has seems to have solved the power delivery issues – and that’s good for all Yamaha riders. Marco is a key man for Yamaha and he’s mentally tuned-in and he knows he will stay motivated while Yamaha works to support us. Norick struggled a bit here overall but shone in the rain yesterday on a 16.5” front Michelin wet, but overall we can be happy with being only 0.6 seconds away from the fastest time.”

Proton Team KR

Proton Team KR rider Nobuatsu Aoki joined the 200mph club at the Catalunya GP circuit today, the third of three days of official group tests for the forthcoming GP season. It is thought to be the first time this speed has been attained by any Proton, on two or four wheels.

Riding the second-generation Proton KR V5, with a revised engine and an all-new high-tech chassis, Aoki clocked 204.12 mph in the final session, in what was virtually a shake-down test for the latest machine.

With the engine still not yet fully set up, the new chassis fitted with a brand-new swingarm for the first time, and the team still gaining familiarity with their new Dunlop tyres, it was a clear proof of progress for the machine, and an endorsement of the confidence in its ultimate potential.

The new Proton is the first to bear the stamp of ex-F1 engineering guru John Barnard. Novel and super-accurate chassis construction techniques, culled from aerospace and F1 technology but never before seen on a motorcycle, take the all-independent England-built racer a clear step forward in the fight against the factories.

“We know we need more engine power, and we’re working on that. But we also know these are very early days for the new bike, and that everything is getting better all the time,” said team principal Kenny Roberts, a former triple World Champion, and racing legend.

The three-day tests were hit with bad weather, with the first day cut short by rain and the second all but drowned out completely …only a handful of riders went out, with Aoki running just three laps. The third was cold, with fresh snow on the mountains surrounding the circuit outside Barcelona, but dry and sunny. Aoki completed 52 laps, to place 22nd in the session.

Team-mate Kurtis Roberts was not at the tests, after dislocating his shoulder at earlier tests a fortnight ago in Valencia. He is recuperating at home in the USA, and is expected to be fit in time for the first race, the South African GP on April 18.

NOBUATSU AOKI – best time 1:48.128 - "I am happy with the new chassis and swingarm. We worked very hard and adjusted many things … it was like a shakedown this weekend. Now the bike is getting to the point where we have good base settings and can concentrate on fine running the suspension and so on. The new engine is not working properly yet. The top-end power is the same as last year, but the mid-range is not good at all. It makes the engine very peaky. When you touch the throttle at 10,000rpm it hesitates a lot, and is inconsistent. The engine shop has to work to make it easier to ride. It was our first official time on Dunlop tyres, and though the qualifying tyres are very good, there is a lot of work to do. We have to cooperate to improve things, and I hope I have given them a lot of ideas."

CHUCK AKSLAND – Team Manager - "I believe that’s the first time any Proton has done more than 200mph! All in it was a pretty positive end to the test. Nobu went faster than last year, and we still don’t have a lot of experience on the Dunlop tyres, or with the new bike. With the little bit of testing we’ve done, we know where we’re at. We need more engine performance, and to establish our relationship with Dunlop. And to keep moving forward."

Suzuki

Team Suzuki MotoGP rider Kenny Roberts underlined the potential of the fast-improving GSV-R racing motorcycle, placing a strong sixth-fastest in a special 40-minute test session that was a close simulation of a full race qualifying session. In the other sessions, timed separately, Kenny was fourth fastest.

The officially timed and televised special session, watched by 30,000 fans, came on the third of three days of official group IRTA tests at the 4.737km Catalunya GP circuit outside Barcelona, attended by all MotoGP teams in the run-up to the first race of the 2004 season, in South Africa on April 18. The special session was for the first spoils of 2004 a BMW sports car.

Team-mate John Hopkins placed 20th in the special session, but had been faster earlier on, placed 11th. It was his first ride on a racing bike for four months he has missed earlier tests after breaking both ankles in a Supercross crash in January; official test rider Gregorio Lavilla was 17th out of 25.

The fastest time in the special session was set by defending champion Valentino Rossi, a full second inside his own 2003 lap record in spite of cold conditions a reflection of a hike in performance and technology over the winter, as the four-stroke 990cc MotoGP class prepares for its third season.

Roberts's time was less than half-a-second slower, also inside the lap record. Most impressively, it was set on race tyres rather than soft "qualifying" rubber, another boost to the team's growing optimism, as they adjust the machine to the new Bridgestone tyres.

The three days of testing were hit by cold and wet weather, the first day cut short by rain and the second rained off, with only a handful of riders testing. The sun broke through for the third, but there was fresh snow on the surrounding hills of the circuit outside Barcelona.

KENNY ROBERTS best time: 1:45.046: "I'm riding just the same as always as I did when I won the World Championship, but with a significant improvement in times. We're getting better. It's come from little bits of everything the factory's been working hard, and improved a lot of things. The engine response is the biggest improvement, going into the corners and coming out. That's the greatest reduction in lap time, even though we are still awaiting a revised engine with more horsepower.

"As far as the team goes, we have several new guys here, some at their first test with us, as well as Erv Kanemoto, and we've been doing a good job, keeping within ourselves. Garry Taylor has done a good job getting people in the right places. Erv is staring to learn the ins and outs of the motorcycle: what makes it work and what makes it not work. Having him certainly helped to get the bike more friendly. It's still the tip of the iceberg. We're still learning so much, and the bike is better every time we go out. We still need to improve acceleration and top speed.

"The Bridgestone tyres suit the bike very well, and I've been surprised by the durability and the feel. Everything looks very positive at the moment. The factory has shown a lot of flexibility to help us get what we need to improve our situation. This team deserves good finishes and good results. I hope we can start from here, getting better and better, so we can be competitive over full race distance."

JOHN HOPKINS best time: 1:46.782: "All in all, this test has been great. The conditions could have been a lot better, but I was faster on the first day than in this special test. I haven't let this situation get to me, of trying to win the car. The season ahead is worth more than a car, and I don't want to get ahead of myself, in my first time on a racing bike for four months. My ankles haven't been any problem here. I'm really happy with the way things are going. I've been able to get on the bike and just ride it and get a feel for it without having to change any settings. There is a big difference from last year to this, just in the chassis. For the new Bridgestone tyres, I've tested from one extreme to the other, in blazing heat in Malaysia and real cold here. They've surprised me both times."

GARRY TAYLOR TEAM MANAGER: "This is just a test, but it's a very high-profile test. It's great to see John back, and not appearing troubled by his ankle injuries, though I am sure he's covering up some discomfort. Kenny was really close to the top of the board until the last minutes of the special session, and the most interesting thing was he was using race tyres, not qualifiers. Don't forget we're here to set the bike up for race distance, not to win a car. Kenny reminded people today that he is a world champion. There is still a way to go, but the smile on his face at the end of the session was rewarding for everyone, from the factory to the crew. If we keep improving at this rate, the others had better watch out."

HRC

The sun finally shone on the last day of this three-day test session at the Montmelo track near, Barcelona in Spain. Honda's six full-time MotoGP riders made the most of the dry track time and spent a full day circulating the 4.427km circuit as it warmed up to a more accommodating 16 degrees from a low of seven yesterday.

A sizeable crowd of 30,000 thronged the grandstands for the morning session and spectator interest peaked as a special 40-minute sprint, with a sports car as the prize for the fastest rider, began in the early afternoon. But after only ten minutes of action the session was red-flagged as Aprilia rider Jeremy McWilliams crashed and then four other riders went down on fluid lost from his machine.

The four riders, Alex Barros (Repsol Honda RC211V), Carlos Checa (Yamaha) and Ducati duo Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss, emerged relatively unscathed and continued testing. On the restart Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) rocketed himself into the reckoning and then headed the timesheet with a 1m 45.224s lap.

The Texan then carved that time down to 1m 45.167s with Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi 0.192 seconds shy of his time in second place with fifteen minutes of the session to go. In the final five minutes Capirossi catapulted himself to second spot with Rossi now heading the rankings with a 1m 44.716s lap.

But Edwards was by no means done yet and bested Rossi's time with a 1m 44.653s lap in the final minute - but with other riders on their final 'hot' laps his slender advantage was always under threat and Rossi pulled out a 1m 44.571s lap time on his final tour.

Among the top ten riders overall today were four Honda men: Barros in second, his team-mate Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) in third, Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) fourth and Sete Gibernau (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) fifth.

Alex Barros put in some steady work in the remaining hours of the day and thus climbed to second overall by mid-afternoon when the more serious business of prolonged testing resumed. His 1m 44.631s time reflecting the undoubted speed the experienced Brazilian will show this season on his return to the Honda fold after a troubled season with Yamaha.

Alex Barros: "A day of highs and lows," said second fastest man Alex Barros. "We were looking good in the morning when we checked that everything was OK for the sprint for the car. But early on I went down on the oil from someone else's crash. I was first to hit the spill and then the others. By the time any of us saw the flag it was already too late. I started again but then there was too much traffic and then the tyres went off. All the bad stuff happened at the same time! But we got going again in the afternoon and things are looking better now."

Nicky Hayden: "We had a bit of trouble with a disc when we went to fit a qualifier in the sprint and that hampered us a bit. But overall we've got lots of resources and I'm confident we're going to find the answers. But it's not all about the bike. My expectations from last year have changed and I have to aim high, but I feel like I've really learned stuff today."

Colin Edwards: "We didn't get a lot of track time to test the new chassis.
We only had two hours on Friday, we made some changes but you always need more time to get things right and we didn't have it. Things are OK overall and I just concentrated on some tyre endurance tests towards the end of the day - and then it's Jerez next week."

Sete Gibernau: "We tested as much as we could under the circumstances and today was not a bad day for us. The new chassis and the Michelins we tried were working well even if the conditions weren't great. The sprint was a little tough on everyone and I was on a fast lap right at the end before I hit traffic, but the main thing is the work we did overall."

Makoto Tamada (Camel Honda RC211V) was 11th fastest: "We had many things to try - and not a lot of time to try them in. And the problems with the cold and the wind only went away on the last day. We have a big test programme to complete and we're running out of time to complete it, but we have made a new plan to use at Jerez and we'll take things from there."

Max Biaggi: "These three days have not been positive for us. We are still very far away from our best set-up. The bike feels heavy during changes of direction and the weather has been a problem - but for everybody else too. At Sepang and Phillip Island we got close to our best set-ups quite quickly - but here we struggled. Let's hope we can do better at Jerez."

Kawasaki

Fuchs Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano took maximum advantage of a break in the weather to post the 13th fastest time in today's 40 minute timed practice session, during the final day of the IRTA test at the Circuit de Catalunya.

More important than his finishing position was the fact that the 26-year-old Japanese rider ended the session just over one second behind reigning World Champion, and today's pole position finisher, Valentino Rossi. For Kawasaki, this was the closest they have been to a dry pole position time since returning to the MotoGP World Championship at the end of the 2002 season. And, while today may have been only a practice session, with a BMW car on offer to the fastest rider, competition was as intense as for any race.

Preferring to continue with his planned test programme, rather than abandoning it in favour of chasing a one-off flying lap, Alex Hofmann still managed to finish today's timed session 15th fastest, just over three tenths of a second behind his more experienced teammate.

The 23-year-old German rider waited until the chequered flag came out to end the timed practice, before putting in his fastest lap with just seconds to spare. For the remainder of the day, Hofmann continued to work with his crew to refine the set-up of his Fuchs Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR, in preparation for the opening race of the season, which takes place on 18th April at Welkom in South Africa.

The Fuchs Kawasaki Racing Team head for Jerez in Southern Spain tomorrow, for a further two days of intensive testing.

Alex Hofmann: 15th (1'46.007) - "We concentrated today on completing our test programme, after losing so much time to bad weather during the first two days, rather than building up for a fast lap in the timed session. We used this afternoon's session to test some softer compound tyres and it was these tyres on which I set my fastest lap. I'm pretty happy with how things went today, although we know we still have some work to do with the bike. The chassis and tyres look to be a lot closer to our rivals in terms of performance in the turns and on the brakes, but the difference in top speeds on the main straight today is a good indication of where we need to concentrate our development effort. We need to find some more power from the engine, but we also need to be able to control this power better if we are to stop the bike from spinning up and trying to lift the front wheel out of the turns."

Shinya Nakano: 13th (1'45.654) - "After so much rain over the past two days I was glad to get in some dry laps on the bike today. My first run in the timed session felt good, and I was pretty confident that I'd be able to improve my lap time on my second run. Unfortunately, I had a problem with clutch slip on the main straight and, while the bike sounded real fast, I wasn't able to get the power down and hit top speed on my flying lap. Even so, we ended the timed session just over a second off pole position, so I'm reasonably happy overall. But, although we are closing the gap I think there is still room for improvement, especially out of the turns where the bike still spins up the rear too easily. We will continue to work on solving this problem during the two day test at Jerez next week."

Harald Eckl: Team Manager - "Today we closed the gap on the leading riders in the championship, which makes all the hard work during the winter months worthwhile. Of course, development work will continue, especially on the engine, and I am confident that there is still a lot more to come yet, both from the new bike and from Shinya and Alex."

Ducati

Ducati Marlboro Team rider Loris Capirossi ended today’s all-teams prologue test at Catalunya in fourth position, satisfied that he is making good forward progress with his brand-new Desmosedici GP4 MotoGP bikes. His best lap was just 0.3 seconds off the fastest of the day, and his best top speed of 347.4kmh/215.8mph was the talk of the paddock.

Capirossi and team-mate Bayliss, who ended the day in 19th spot, rode their 2004 machines for the first time here on Friday, and with yesterday’s session washed out by rain, had little time to dial in settings before today’s much-hyped 40-minute televised session. Their task was further complicated when both men slid off in the first ten minutes, innocent victims of an oil spill that also claimed three other riders. Both men used new engine mapping, a new exhaust system and new Shell Advance lubricants during these tests.

“We haven’t really had any time to work on the bikes here, so we’re very happy with the performance,” said Ducati Corse CEO Claudio Domenicali. “This year’s machine is quite different from last year’s, so we still have to get used to it and find the right set-up balance. I would say that the bike is at 70 per cent of its potential, now we have to focus on fine tuning to make it even faster. We weren’t expecting such an incredible top speed, but this only proves that the new GP4 has a lot of potential.”

Capirossi was happy with his pace, though he knows he has plenty of work ahead of him during next week’s final preseason tests at Jerez to get the bike ready for next month’s season-opening South African GP. “I’m very happy with today, which confirms the new bike’s promise,” he said. “We made various minor adjustments to get my GP4 ready for the fast laps in the televised session. Now we return to testing many new parts and settings. We have a lot to do, but at least we already know the bike is very fast.”

Bayliss wasn’t too concerned with featuring well in the televised session, he was keener to concentrate on improving the set-up of his Ducati Marlboro Team Desmosedici GP4. “At this stage of the year I’d rather focus on working on set-up than rushing around trying to do fast laps,” said the Australian. “We need time to relax so we can work on fine-tuning the set-up. The Jerez tests will be really important for us.”

Capirossi and Bayliss will test at Jerez on March 31 and April 1. The season kicks off at Welkom, South Africa on April 18.

Dorna

Valentino Rossi started the 2004 MotoGP season in exactly the same way he finished in 2003, topping the rider standings and driving home in a brand new BMW Z4 after the MotoGP Official Test at the Circuit de Catalunya. Rossi, riding the Yamaha YZR-M1, set a lap of 1'44.571 during the 40-minute timed and televised 'Official Practice' this afternoon despite cool track temperatures at the Barcelona venue to win the sports convertible ahead of Honda riders Colin Edwards and Sete Gibernau. Rossi now also leads the BMW Award - MotoGP Best Qualifier competition, with a model 645Ci on offer at the end of the season for the riders with the lowest accumulated qualifying times, and has delivered a huge psychological blow to the pretenders to his World Championship crown.

"I am very, very happy because we are at the top also with Yamaha," said Rossi, who made the controversial switch from Honda during the off-season. "I need to say a big, big thank you especially to all my mechanics - to Jeremy Burgess and all the mechanics who have come with me on this new adventure - and also to Yamaha who have made a big effort. In two months they have done incredible work and the bike is not so bad, so I am happy. For sure, the conditions were quite strange and nothing is won yet, but we are competitive."

The mouth-watering 2004 MotoGP season got off to a flying start in the first few minutes of the session, when Loris Capirossi went faster than any other rider in the history of the sport, making the most of a 40km/h tailwind to clock 347.4km/h on the Ducati Desmosedici GP4. Minutes later, Capirossi was one of the protagonists of a five-rider pileup caused by an oil spillage in turn five, where he was joined in the gravel trap by his team-mate Troy Bayliss, Aprilia rider Jeremy McWilliams, Honda's Alex Barros and Carlos Checa with the Yamaha.

The incident called for a red flag, which was displayed for a little over five minutes as the track marshals cleared the debris and threw cement dust on the affected area, but the excitement returned as soon as the pit-lane re-opened. Former World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards took control, setting a series of fast laps to dislodge Capirossi from the top of the time sheets.

However, Rossi imposed his authority over motorcycling's elite with just a few minutes remaining, setting a benchmark which would not be superseded despite the best efforts of Edwards and Gibernau as the chequered flag beckoned. Local favourite Ruben Xaus, preparing for his rookie season in the MotoGP class, made a valiant job of entertaining the 30,000 crowd alongside Gibernau, lapping seventh fastest on the 2003 version of the Desmosedici, whilst former World Champion Kenny Roberts gave signs of a Suzuki revival as he lapped in the top positions throughout the session and ended up sixth.

Whilst the 'Official Practice' finished at 3pm, the action continued until track closure three hours later as the teams, plagued by a day and a half of constant rain, made the most of the dry conditions to complete valuable set-up work with just three weeks remaining until the start of the season at Welkom, South Africa, on April 18th. Gibernau, Barros and Nicky Hayden all improved their times but none were able to overcome Rossi, with Barros coming within 0.060 seconds of the Italian's best lap and setting a top speed which was just 0.2km/h slower than Capirossi.

Unfortunately the improved weather conditions in Barcelona did not spread to the south of Spain and the Jerez Circuit, where the 125cc teams completed their final day of official preseason testing. Former World Champion Roberto Locatelli was again the fastest rider on a wet track, although he was one of several riders to crash before the session ended an hour early. The 250cc teams will be hoping for better conditions when they begin a two-day session on Monday, before the arrival of the MotoGP entourage on Wednesday, for a further two days of tests.

Times

Rossi 1m44.5
Edwards 1m44.6
Gibernau 1m44.6
Capirossi 1m44.8
Hayden 1m44.9
Roberts 1m45.0
Xaus 1m45.0
Checa 1m45.1
Melandri 1m45.1
Tamada 1m45.2
Biaggi 1m45.5
Hodgson 1m45.5
Nakano 1m45.6
Barros 1m45.7
Hofmann 1m46.0
Byrne 1m46.1
Lavilla 1m46.2
Itoh 1m46.3
Bayliss 1m46.4
Hopkins 1m46.9
Abe 1m47.4
Aoki 1m48.1
McWilliams 1m48.6
Fabrizio 1m50.1
Lucchi 1m54.2