Stoner pulls one out of the bag to top Jerez test by seven-tenths

The first competitive outing of the year, the Official Practice Session in Jerez today, saw Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo finish second and fourth after the 45-minute session was interrupted by a red flag before being cut short by rain. In the first ‘qualifying’ session since the single-tyre rule came into play the riders were keen to get a feel for the new system and were disappointed not to be able use the session to the full, but both are nonetheless satisfied with the work they’ve done this weekend and are now looking forward to the first race in two weeks time, under the Qatar floodlights.

Rossi was third in this morning’s free practice session, continuing to work on fine-tuning the setting of his M1 at this last test before the season. Lorenzo was even faster, finishing the morning second behind Stoner and the pair were looking forward to a competitive showing this afternoon. A crash from James Toseland with 15 minutes to go saw the red flags come out for five minutes and the delay meant the riders were only able to complete a couple of fast laps before the rain came down and spelled an end to the session, with Casey Stoner fastest after a lap of 1’38.646.

Valentino Rossi – Position: 2nd Time: 1’39.365 Laps: 16
“Really I was aiming for second place because I don’t think our sponsor Fiat wanted me to win the prize of a different car! Joking apart though, I am happy enough about this test because yesterday and this morning we worked very well, made some good progress and most importantly we were fast! We have a good setting for the race here and my race pace and speed is good. This afternoon I was quite unlucky because just before the red flag I was on a fast lap and was blocked, then we had the red flag and this meant there wasn’t much time before the rain came at the end. I am not sure I could have beaten Stoner today though; he was faster over one lap than me. It was strange not to have a qualifying tyre, the grip is not the same but Bridgestone have done a good job and you can still push so I think it will be possible to have some fun. Now we have finished testing and we’re waiting to go racing; I think we’re in good shape and it will be possible to push from the start.”

Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 4th Time: 1’39.829 Laps: 21
“Yesterday was good but today it was a lot colder and I found it harder to be as fast because the conditions were quite different. I think that the qualifying this year is going to be quite hard without the special tyres, which always suited my riding style quite well. I was quite a specialist with the qualifying tyres and now I don’t have that advantage, so I have to learn to adapt. My riding style is better with the harder Bridgestone tyre and so it will be quite difficult for me to be as good in the qualifying sessions this year I think! Today Stoner was so fast with the soft tyre and I didn’t have a chance to catch him. Anyway, the important thing is that I have felt really good on both days here, I have been consistently fast and I am definitely prepared to fight for the podium at the first race in Qatar.”

Rossi’s Team manager
“It’s been a positive test because we’ve pretty much got through everything we needed to and at the end of the day we’re in good shape and we’ve made further improvements to our bike. Most importantly, Valentino’s race pace is now very good. It was unfortunate not to win the ‘qualifying’ session today because it’s always nice to start the season off on that note but Casey was very strong, so congratulations to him. We’re leaving here happy and satisfied; we have a few small things to work on for Qatar but we’re basically ready to race.”

Lorenzo’s Team Manager
“After yesterday and this morning’s sessions we expected to be closer to the front, but we couldn’t get there today. We used the harder tyre that we selected yesterday, with which Jorge had his best performance, but unfortunately the weather was colder today and so the potential for a few fast laps was higher with the softer tyre today. Our race pace is good, but obviously we still need to keep working to keep up with Casey, because he is very fast. Next time it will be the real thing in Qatar, where we had a very good test, and we’re confident that Jorge can be at the top.”

—  Team Ducati

With an incredible lap in tricky conditions, Casey Stoner was the winner of a brand new BMW today, as the fastest rider in the Official MotoGP Test session at the Jerez circuit in Southern Spain. Rain clouds threatened to dampen the atmosphere at the first competitive action of the 2009 MotoGP season, but the Ducati Marlboro Team rider lit up the 45-minute shootout by registering a stunning 1’38.646 lap before the showers came and brought the practice to an abrupt end, smashing the existing circuit lap record by nearly 1.5 seconds.

Stoner’s Ducati Marlboro team-mate Nicky Hayden had a mixed session, as he set the eleventh fastest lap with a 1’40.401. The American continued his steady adaptation to the Ducati this weekend, with some positive steps forward during this morning’s first run out. However, he also had a brave escape as he ran off track towards the latter stages of the timed practice.

The Kentucky rider bravely steered his Desmosedici GP9 to safety through the gravel trap as he left the track at high speed, but returned to the garage without a scratch. Despite the small setback, enough progress has been made for Hayden to be in a positive mood once he and the rest of the Ducati Marlboro join up at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar in two weeks time, for the opening race of the 2009 season.

Factory test rider Vittoriano Guareschi also took part in the practice session, and was able to set his very own personal best on the Andalusian track in 1’41.485, confirming the progress made this weekend by the GP9.

CASEY STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) Fastest overall – 1’38.646
“I really don’t know where that fast lap came from, especially at this track where I’ve never even been on the podium before! It’s been something of a bogey track for myself and the Ducati. The last two races here were difficult, but we definitely found something yesterday afternoon and that made us feeling more confident about Jerez. This is a very, very good step for us. This morning we went out and changed something else and immediately had a good feeling with the bike but still it was not in the right direction: we hit another wall. We were consistent but we needed to go a little bit further. This afternoon we changed a little bit the setting in the rear of the bike to try to get a bit more traction but I came out in the qualifying session not really expecting too much. I thought the rest were going to really up the ante. They did that and got their lap times down, but I never expected to do the lap times that I did when I needed to pull them out. It’s a great start to the year, but the real work now begins in Qatar. Now I need these two weeks to come better physically, just fitness. The wrist is coming better and better all the time and the arm is getting stronger and it doesn’t effect me when I ride so now I can use these two weeks to train a lot more and try to get ready for the beginning of the season. We look forward to it”.

NICKY HAYDEN (Ducati Marlboro Team) 11th fastest – 1’40.401
“This morning we made some small improvements and I was able to go a bit quicker but the qualifying session was a bit of a disaster. We were making some changes beforehand but ran out of time to get the bike ready and I lost some time at the beginning of the session. Then when I went out we had a clutch problem and I had to change to my second bike, which I’ve hardly ridden this weekend, and it had a different setting. Casey has shown the package is good and to be honest I’d hoped to be closer to him by this stage but it’s time to go racing now so we’ll go out to Qatar, work hard and see what happens.”

—  HRC

Honda’s six MotoGP riders completed their offseason testing programmes at Jerez today, allowing them to look forward to next month’s long-awaited Qatar season opener, the first of 17 races for the 2009 World Championship.

Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso was once again the fastest Honda man, the Italian running seventh quickest on his factory RC212V during this afternoon’s 45-minute ‘qualifying’ session, televised around the world and topped by Casey Stoner (Ducati). The outing was briefly red flagged, after Briton James Toseland (Yamaha) fell heavily, suffering concussion. The track was then soaked by a rain shower with five minutes of the 45 minutes remaining, spoiling some riders’ plans to complete the session with their fastest run of the day. Conditions were cooler than yesterday, with ambient temperature at 13 degrees and track temperature at 19 degrees.

Still working to extract maximum performance from his RC212V, Dovizioso announced himself satisfied with these two days of testing and is now very much looking forward to making his race debut as a factory MotoGP rider. The Italian rode a lot of laps today, making important improvements to power delivery and stability, even though the rain cost him crucial dry track time. Dovizioso made the most of the rain anyway, venturing out on the wet track during the final two hours of the day. He recorded the fastest lap time during this period, clocking a 1m 51.488s on a drying track.

San Carlo Honda Gresini rider Elias ended the 45 minute ‘qualifying’ session less than a tenth of a second slower than Dovizioso, but the Spaniard wasn’t happy because he knows he can go faster. Elias and his crew have been working at adapting machine set-up to get more heat into the rear tyre, but have been unable to find a solution here, despite their best efforts. They are optimistic that they will be able to get on top of the problem at the very different Qatar track. Despite the difficulties, Elias’ RC212V recorded the fastest top speed at Jerez today.

De Puniet was happy with the work he did with his LCR Honda crew today. The Frenchman worked at getting the most out of his RC212V on used tyres to ensure that he can perform well in the all-important later stages of races. He was 13th during the 45-minute televised outing, but knows he would have been faster if he hadn’t made a minor error during his quickest lap. De Puniet had planned to do a race simulation during the final two hours of the day but the rain spoiled that plan, so he did a couple of runs on rain tyres instead.

MotoGP rookie Yuki Takahashi continued to improve on his Scot Racing Team RC212V, the young Japanese rider cutting a further half a second off his best Saturday lap time. After concentrating on front-end settings yesterday, Takahashi and his technicians worked mostly on the rear end of the machine, looking to further improve performance through corners and on corner exits. Takahashi spent his final day of preseason testing thinking more about improving machine set-up for the first race, rather than worrying too much about recording ultra-quick lap times.

De Angelis had hoped to run closer to the front this afternoon but the knock-on effects of yesterday’s tumble hampered his plans. The crash crucially used up one of the rear tyres in his tyre allocation, forcing him to run second-hand rubber this morning when he was aiming to push the limits in search of a better set-up. Like his San Carlo Honda Gresini team-mate, de Angelis wanted more heat in the rear tyre of his RC212V, today’s cooler conditions not helping matters.

Kousuke Akiyoshi, riding as substitute for the injured Dani Pedrosa, made a valuable contribution to Repsol Honda’s weekend, the Japanese rider focusing on making improvements to power delivery and chassis balance. Akiyoshi was looking forward to doing his very best during the televised 45 minutes but his hopes were dashed when he slid off his RC212V at the hairpin.

Pedrosa is currently working hard at recuperating from the left wrist and knee injuries he suffered when he crashed during testing at Qatar earlier this month. The Spaniard is aiming to be ready for action when the MotoGP World Championship returns to Qatar for the season-opening GP.

The night-time Qatar Grand Prix takes place under floodlights at the Losail racetrack outside the capital of Doha on April 10/11/12. MotoGP then heads further east for the Japanese GP at Motegi on April 24/25/26 before returning to Jerez for the first race of the European season on May 1/2/3.

Honda rider quotes and lap times

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda Team: 1m 40.168s, on lap 51 of 77 “During these two days of testing the machine has improved quite a lot, especially the stability and power delivery which were two important areas we were working on. My lap times on paper look reasonably good on their own, but if you compare them with Casey’s, the gap we need to close is still quite big. After the 45-minute shoot-out it started raining and this spoiled our programme for the afternoon, so we still have some things to try in dry conditions which might move us further forward. As far as the wet set-up, my feeling with the bike and tyres is good and I’m happy about this. Now I’m looking forward to getting to Qatar for the first race.”

Toni Elias, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 1m 40.266s, on lap 42 of 43 “It was more difficult today because of the cooler temperatures but it is the same for everybody and the fact is that even though the track was cold, Stoner was hot! We’re not happy to be 1.6 seconds behind but with the difficulties we’re having in setting the bike up at the moment, it is to be expected. The important thing is that we know what we have to work on, we’ve known it since Qatar, but it is clear that the solution wasn’t going to come to us at this circuit. We have to be patient because we know the bike is good, we have a great package and a great team – we just need a bit more time to work things out. We have good data from Qatar and I can’t wait to get there and go racing again!”

Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda MotoGP: 1m 40.646s, on lap 52 of 60 “Before the 45-minute session we worked especially on a used rear tyre to find better grip and we fixed some points on the chassis and suspension set-up. We found good solutions, because I set a good lap time on the used tyre, but I expected something better with a soft tyre in the qualifying session, maybe three or four tenths faster, but I made a small mistake in my last lap. Anyway we must continue our job because I am sure we can close the gap with the middle group. Honestly my intention is to qualify in the top ten and my squad is doing a very good job to adjust the machine for the first race in Qatar.”

Yuki Takahashi, Scot Racing Team Honda: 1m 40.814s, on lap 49 of 65 “I’m happy with the improvement we have made during the two days here. Today we worked particularly on the rear end of the machine. The rain during the afternoon gave me a chance to check how my Honda works in the rain, and I have to say that its character does not change on a wet track, which is a positive thing. Of course, I wish that we could have some more practice time, but now I am looking forward to my first race on the RC212V.”

Alex de Angelis, San Carlo Honda Gresini: 1m 40.869s, on lap 39 of 40 “Unfortunately after the crash yesterday I had to use a new tyre so that meant I had to run a used tyre this morning and that is obviously not the ideal way to test new technical solutions with the bike. We’ve been off the pace here today but we’re going to keep working hard to be in the mix in Qatar. Our problem has been getting heat into the tyre but hopefully the track conditions are going to be warmer once the season starts so we’re still optimistic and very determined about what lies ahead.”

Kousuke Akiyoshi, Repsol Honda Team: 1m 42.206s, on lap 34 of 40 “This was another positive day where we worked on both chassis balance to improve the handling and the engine balance for driveability. My pace on the first section of the lap was very good and actually nearly as fast as the quickest riders. We were losing some time however in the middle section of the lap. Towards the end of the timed session I had a fall at the hairpin which was a shame, but the overall results from this test, in spite of the rain today and yesterday, are quite good.”

—  Bridgestone

The last pre-season test before the first grand prix in Qatar on 12 April saw both Spanish sunshine and heavy rain showers on the two days of MotoGP action, giving teams the opportunity to test the two compounds of slick tyres that were selected for the test and the single compound of wet tyre in the 2009 specification’s first wet test.

Once Saturday’s rain subsided, the Spanish sun dried the track by midday. As per 2009 regulations, Bridgestone brought two slick tyre compounds to Jerez, plus a single wet compound. Front tyres were available in medium and hard compounds, and rear tyres offered in soft and medium compounds.

Each rider received four sets of slicks on Saturday, and three sets on Sunday. In addition, each rider received four sets of wet tyres over the two days.

Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo, who completed 25 wet laps, was fastest for Fiat Yamaha on the opening day, just over 0.3 seconds faster than the race lap record as set last year by Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who was replaced for this test by Kosuke Akiyoshi as he recovers from a knee injury.

Valentino Rossi arrived after the rain to complete a Fiat Yamaha one-two whilst Casey Stoner was third for Ducati, the top three separated by just 0.11 seconds. It was the Australian however who dominated proceedings during Sunday’s 45 minute official practice session.

Action was brought to a temporary halt with a short red flag period after James Toseland crashed in turn three, before another downpour cut the session short three minutes from the chequered flag. Stoner just beat the downpour to consolidate his control of the session, recording his fastest lap on number 12 of 13 to put himself 0.719 seconds clear of Rossi.

Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi completed the official test 0.39 seconds further adrift.

As free practice resumed, ten riders ventured on track to complete a handful of laps each as the rain lifted and the surface dried, before a final downpour at 1800hrs bode a final farewell to the pre-season testing period.

Hiroshi Yamada – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Sport Unit
“As the sole supplier our aim is to make each tyre suitable for a much wider range of conditions than last year, and I think we have seen over the last two days that we have achieved this so I am very pleased with the result of the test. Casey again looks impressive and it is good to see both Suzukis running well, but I am also pleased for Mika Kallio who was sixth fastest in official practice in his rookie season. Now we have finished winter testing and team feedback on our tyres has been good so we are looking forward to a good first race in Qatar in two weeks.”

Tohru Ubukata – Bridgestone Motorsport – Manager Motorcycle Race Tyre Development
“We have had all weather conditions this weekend, and it has been the first wet test for the 2009 specification wet tyre. The slick tyres have been run in cold to reasonably hot conditions this weekend, and both compounds worked well across the range. We have seen that with only two slick compounds and one wet compound offered to each rider our tyres can deal with these conditions with a good level of performance that I am very happy with. I’d also like to thank all the teams for their cooperation in our 2010 development programme, as we have now finalised our 2010 specification compounds.”

Note: Dani Pedrosa was replaced by Kosuke Akiyoshi whilst he recuperates from a knee injury

Weather: Sat: wet, dry; Sun: dry, wet, dry. Ambient Min 10°C, Peak 22°C; Track Min 11°C, Peak 37°C