Repsol HRC

The Phillip Island circuit lived right up to its reputation for fickle weather today as the first day of practice for the 2007 Australian Grand Prix took place in perpetually changing conditions. With bright sunshine at one moment giving way to rain showers the next, the Repsol Honda squad made the most of limited consistent track time to begin the process of setting up the RC212Vs of Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa ahead of Sunday’s 27-lap race.

The morning session began with sunny skies and a wet but rapidly-drying track. For ten minutes the Repsol Honda riders circulated on treaded tyres before switching to intermediate Michelin rubber and then to slick tyres. However, with 20 minutes of the session to go it began raining again at the 4.448km (2.764-mile) circuit and the final portion of the session was completed in wet conditions.

The afternoon practice was even more disjointed, starting with bright sunshine and a dry track before the first shower after only four minutes saw the riders diving for the pits once again. With strong winds quickly drying the track after each light shower, Hayden and Pedrosa took every chance to continue working on their dry set-up. Pedrosa lay in second place behind Casey Stoner for much of the session before being nudged to third in the final moments by Marco Melandri’s Honda Gresini. Hayden finished the day in ninth place with a lap time of 1m 32.316s, 1.184s back from Stoner. However the American, who has claimed pole position for the last two years here, felt that was not a true reflection of his potential pace here and remains confident of improvements tomorrow.

A further hour of practice on Saturday morning precedes qualifying in the afternoon. With the unsettled weather expected to continue over the weekend the 2007 Australian Grand Prix looks like being exciting and unpredictable.

Dani Pedrosa – 3rd Fastest lap: 1m 31.802s
“The conditions for practice today were changing all the time, from wet to dry and back again so quickly. It was also extremely windy – especially in the afternoon – and this made it really difficult to get consistent lap times going. I hope it’s more stable for the race on Sunday otherwise it could really be chaos out there. Today we mainly took the chance to test tyres and we were able to learn a certain amount for the conditions and temperatures we encountered. With the wind though it was very difficult to fully commit and it was always necessary to ride with something in reserve. Still the pace is not too bad and there’s room for improvement ahead of qualifying tomorrow. We’ll just have to see what the weather throws at us.”

Nicky Hayden – 9th – Fastest lap: 1m 32.316s
“What a strange day. It was like the big man was up there having a bit of a chuckle. This morning we started on rain tyres, went to intermediates then did about two laps on slicks, then it was raining again. At the end of the session it was back to slicks again. It was just about the same in the afternoon – we’d get in a few dry laps and then the rain would come. Conditions were quite tough and there was a lot of wind so it wasn’t easy today, but Phillip Island at this time of year can be like that. I can’t really say that we got a good direction with the set-up because every time we went out the track condition was a little bit different. Nonetheless I feel a little bit better than my position suggests and my ideal time put me in about 6th. We’ll look at the data, make some changes tonight and see what the weather does tomorrow.”

Makoto Tanaka - Team Manager
“Well the story of the day was the weather of course, and for working on machine set-up it was very difficult! As soon as we began to work on a particular set-up the rain would come and the conditions would change again. Nevertheless we must make some improvements to the settings in order to find some more pace because our top rivals still look strong in these conditions. We’ll hope for better weather tomorrow.”

Konica Minolta Honda

Changeable weather conditions have once more been the hallmark of the first practice sessions for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. Shinya Nakano and his KONICA MINOLTA Honda Team spent today’s two sessions adapting to the conditions and testing both slick and wet Michelin rubber. The mixture of wet and then dry weather in both hour-long sessions made for tricky track conditions around the undulating 2.764-mile circuit and the wind in the afternoon also made the going difficult around this exposed Island track. Tomorrow the Team will work on improving the turning capability of their Honda RC212V machine and test a number of Michelin tyres to find the best combination of set-up and suitable rubber for Sunday’s 27-lap race, whatever the weather conditions.

Gianluca Montiron – Team Manager KONICA MINOLTA Honda
“I think today wasn’t very exciting as we had these changeable weather conditions once more. I expected a better result here, but the weather conditions haven’t helped us. It’s the same for everybody, but this low temperature will not help Shinya be aggressive on the bike, so the result of our first practice day is that we’re in the same position that we’ve been in most of the season – 12th. I think every team and rider is hoping that the weather will be more stable for the rest of the weekend so that we can work on the set-up of the machine in either wet or dry conditions and make some progress.”

Shinya Nakano – Rider, KONICA MINOLTA Honda (47 laps – 1’ 33.838”)
“Today we have experienced some very difficult conditions as it’s been both raining and windy today. It was dry at first this morning but then down came the rain again – you really never know what the weather is going to do here! The forecast for the weekend is not so good so I tried to make many laps today to find a good feeling from the bike in all conditions. We are still far from the top, but we will improve and we do now have some data for tomorrow with which we can make some changes. The wind makes it difficult here, as on some fast corners you have to take care in case you get blown off line.”

Giulio Bernardelle – Technical Director, KONICA MINOLTA Honda
“We have enjoyed some typical Australian weather here for the time of year here as this is just about the worst time of the season to be at Phillip Island! Today our major problem was that the temperature was very low as it barely touched 24 degrees on the ground. With the conditions continuously changing between wet and dry in the second free practice session, this meant that it was not possible to do a lot of work today. This morning we found a good front wet tyre but we haven’t made a choice on the rear, so if it does rain tomorrow we need to test some more tyres from Michelin. Our dry set-up is not so bad, but we need to improve the turn-in of the RC212V, so that it falls into the corners quicker. Tomorrow we will make some changes so we are confident we can improve this. The slick tyres we were able to use today were the softest choice available, thanks to the low temperature, but this choice will not be practical for Sunday’s race, so if the conditions are dry tomorrow we will need to choose again.” 

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