The good weather conditions and soft temperatures made working easier for the riders, although the state of the tarmac, quite dirty due to car tests carried out on the previous days, forced the riders to be cautious during the first hours due to a quite slippery track. Alex Barros and Nicky Hayden did not enter the track until ten thirty in the morning. The team will be testing tomorrow in Valencia as well and will then move to Barcelona where the official IRTA tests will be starting on March 26th.

Alex Barros, 1’33.5, 81 laps: “I’m satisfied. I’m feeling much better and I don’t need to put ice on the shoulder after every session any more. It usually hurt a lot after only five laps, but now I hardly feel anything. Now, after going back to Brazil, I’ll still have ten days left before the IRTA tests and the doctors have confirmed that I’ll be able to start working with weights and strengthen the shoulder during the break, because now I feel that my arms have not the necessary strength to ride a whole race at a hundred percent. Everything is working out as expected, both in the sporting area and the recovery of my shoulder injury. With regard to the bike and the work we’ve done here, today we’ve been focussing on the settings without needing to try new material. The bike has a very good level already and we’ve reached the point where times improve because the rider is improving and adapting better to the bike every day.”

Nicky Hayden, 1’33.7, 70 laps: “It’s been a good day. In the morning, when we started, the track was a bit dirty, I don’t know if it’s been because of the rain. Today we’ve mainly been working on some things with the suspensions. Tomorrow we’ve planned to make some tests with the tyres, there’s definitely going to be much more to do. The light rainfall in the afternoon bothered us a bit and I hope that the weather will be better for tomorrow. The bike transmits very good sensations, the grip is improving a lot and we’re going to make some tyre testing tomorrow. I think that we’re on the right path.”

Results

1. Alex Barros 1’33.5, 81 laps
2. Troy Bayliss 1’33.5, 70 laps
3. Nicky Hayden 1’33.7, 70 laps
4. Loris Capirossi 1’34.0, 46 laps
5. Kenny Roberts 1’34.7, 61 laps
6. Gregorio Lavilla 1’35.8, 70 laps
7. Nobuatsu Aoki 1’36.0, 45 laps
8. Marcelino Lucchi 1’37.0, 45 laps