Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V) and team-mate Dani Pedrosa picked up where they left off just a few weeks ago by sweeping the top two spots on the opening day of the second MotoGP test of the winter in Sepang, Malaysia.
When the previous three-day test here ended almost three weeks ago, Stoner finished with the third overall time, just behind Pedrosa, while Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V) finished best in class. But today, on another typically tropical day on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Stoner was back on top, as he'd been on the first day of the earlier test
The 2007 world champion spent the opening day comparing a stiffer 2011 chassis to the 2010 version. His quickest tour of the 5548m track was 2m, 0.987s on the 48th of 53 laps, a time which was just off his best from the prior test. It was also .373s faster than Pedrosa's best time, set on the 43rd of his 46 laps. Pedrosa, who'd finished the previous test with the second fastest time, worked on electronic mappings and improving stability under braking, one of the key improvements of the latest iteration of the RC212V.
Most important to Pedrosa was his physical condition. The more than two week gap since the last test has given his surgically repaired shoulder time to continue to heal, which has allowed him to increase his strength through training.
Andrea Dovizioso, the third member of the Repsol Honda team, finished the first day with the fifth fastest time of 2m, 1.747s. Dovizioso was encouraged by the improvement the electronics made in engine braking on the rear end, which was one of his areas of concern last season. The engineers not only improved stability on the rear, but also decreased the chattering.
The San Carlo Gresini Honda teammates finished together, with Hiroshi Aoyama in front of Simoncelli. Aoyama was the iron man today, picking up speed as he completed 73 laps in the heat. It was his 73rd and final lap that stood out as his personal best. Simoncelli's best of 49 laps came early, on lap 13, while he concentrated on the race set-up of his factory Honda RC212V.
Aoyama was comparing a number of new components to the more established pieces and found he was more comfortable with the original parts. Now the team is focused on finding a direction for the final two days of the test as the season fast approaches.
Simoncelli didn't find track conditions optimal and chose to work on a race set-up, rather than chasing a fast lap time. With well worn tires he was able to lap nearly a second quicker than he had during last year's race. Simoncelli will continue to work on development before fitting the softer rear rubber that many ahead of him put to such good use.
Toni Elias (LCR Honda RC212V), the 2010 Moto2 World Champion, continued to adapt to the MotoGP machinery by ending the day 13th overall. The Spaniard's confidence continued to grow as his pace increased throughout the day, with his best time coming on his 63rd and final lap.
HONDA MotoGP RIDER QUOTES
Casey Stoner (Repsol Honda RC212V): 1st, 2m, 0.987s
"We had a really good day today. From the beginning I felt more comfortable with the bike again, like I understood the bike a little better. We managed to work on set-up, but we are still doing a chassis comparison, finding strong points and weak points on both. It's difficult to choose one or the other. Whatever set-up we throw at them we seem to be able to run pretty similar lap times. We're very happy with the progress we made today and everything and everybody seems to be working well."
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC212V): 2nd, 2m, 1.360s
"We made the most of the test today, which is a good job, because it looks like tomorrow we will get some rain. In the morning, we focused on some different electronic mappings to improve the entering and exit of the corners and in the afternoon we did some set-up modifications on the chassis to improve the stability on braking. The track temperature was high at the middle of the day and the track was quite slippery, but we did a good test and tomorrow we will work on smaller details. Also, physically my shoulder felt better on the bike than in the first test. I had two more weeks and I've become stronger from training, so my condition is getting better."
Andrea Dovizioso (Repsol Honda RC212V): 5th, 2m, 1.747s
"I'm really happy about how we have started this second test. Honda engineers have made a very good job on the engine brake with the electronic system to improve the feeling on the rear and these are really good because, I have to say, that it was our main problem last year and we couldn't make such a big step forward as we did today. We have decreased the chattering compared to the first test and the stability on the rear, so I'm very satisfied. We were able to be fast from the beginning and, even though we were not looking for a lap time today, we tried three different tyre compounds and we had a good pace with all of them."
Hiroshi Aoyama (San Carlo Gresini Honda): 7th, 2m, 1.939s
"I did a lot of laps and a lot of work. I have done several comparative tests and found a different feeling, but in the end I was feeling much better with the technical parts that I already knew. Tomorrow I will continue to do the work, but it certainly is not easy to find a good condition with new solutions and, anyway, we will see. In any case, it was an interesting day to understand which direction to take to continue to work successfully for the season that is approaching."
Marco Simoncelli (San Carlo Gresini Honda): 8th, 2m, 1.996s
"We have resumed from the last test of twenty days ago always here at Sepang. Today the track conditions were not optimal and, in any case, I have not tried for a lap time, but we have engaged in many trials. We tested different set-ups and electronics and will continue to do so tomorrow. I'm pretty happy because the tyres had twenty laps and could make for interesting times of around 2 '02. Honestly, we're a little far from first because we have a gap of a second, but I am confident because I have not used the very soft rubber. I repeat, as a first step we are not far from the best and so I'm happy."
Toni Elias (LCR Honda): 13th, 2m, 2.779s
"Today I am really happy because we have found some directions and I could lap with more confidence. On these conditions it is not easy as the track surface reached 61 degrees today, but I wanted to take the most of the bike despite the heat. Basically, we have worked to develop the machine base set-up using the data we gathered before and my pace is getting better lap by lap. We didn't make an exciting lap-time today, but we aimed to improve the bike working on chassis geometry and suspension regulations. Of course there is still work to do, but I am more confident now because we took a first step forward."
