Essais Sepang [22-23-24/01/07]

[mickey]

[nono_le_robot]

je kiff le vert KAWA

C'EST R'PARTI!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Psyduck]

Tellement, l'est trop beau ce vert kawa

[elbandito]

+1
Elle a l'air trop belle la Kawa. Sympa la Yam en noir et rouge aussi !
Vivement qu'on les voient un peu mieux

[Stoner27]

Ducati duo spot problems, praise tyres.



The opening day of 2007 testing, at Sepang in Malaysia, ended with Ducati Marlboro riders Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner sixth and tenth fastest as they identified areas of improvement.

Capirossi lapped 1.261secs behind fastest man John Hopkins of Rizla Suzuki, with new team-mate Stoner a further 0.4secs behind. As the endless quest for further performance continues, both riders spotted areas of current weakness but were delighted at the performance of their Bridgestone tyres.

"It was not bad for the first day of testing after a break of over six weeks," summed up triple 2006 race winner Capirossi. "We've still got a few problems in the general set-up of the bike but it's normal at this stage of the year. We are here for this reason and for sure we've got a lot of margin for improvement. Today we tested a few things that worked and we put aside some other solutions as we have organised the work for the next couple of days. We have opted to test a few more things tomorrow and I think we can improve a lot. I'm also very confident about the performance of the tyres because even though we haven't yet begun to test with the new ones, the ones we have used today already perform really well."

"I am very pleased with the way things have gone today," declared Stoner after testing his new Italian machine for the third time. "We have made a lot of progress since the Jerez test even though we still have to improve some of the characteristics of the engine. I am really pleased with the tyres: the front is already perfect, the rear is good and for sure we can improve. However my best time was set with a rear that had already done an entire race distance and that's a good sign!"

[Stoner27]

The first day of 2007 MotoGP track action has ended with John Hopkins leading a Rizla Suzuki one-two at the top of the testing timesheets at Sepang in Malaysia.

This week's outing is the second of three winter tests scheduled at the Malaysian circuit before the start of the new season, in Qatar on March 10, but marks the first time that all five major MotoGP manufacturers - Honda, Yamaha, Ducati, Suzuki and Kawasaki - have had their new 800cc machines on track together. Indeed, of the expected 2007 grid, only the new Ilmor SRT team is absent.

Hopkins had sensationally set the pace during the first Sepang test, held last November, and picked up where he'd left off on his first day back after the six week winter test ban - continuing a highly-promising winter display for Paul Denning's team.

Hopper led the field with a best lap of 2mins 2.277secs, enough to keep him over 0.7secs clear of team-mate Chris Vermeulen, but still some way off his own 800cc best at the first Sepang test. Nevertheless, lap times are expected to tumble over the three days.

On a day of otherwise close lap times, best of the rest was former five-times world champion Valentino Rossi, who lapped just 0.135secs behind Vermeulen, while the Italian's team-mate Colin Edwards completed a promising start for Yamaha by ending the day a fraction from The Doctor.

New world champion Nicky Hayden made his comeback from shoulder surgery with the fifth fastest time to lead the Honda challenge, while Ducati's first representation was from Loris Capirossi in sixth, with Randy de Puniet a surprising seventh for Kawasaki - and within 0.5secs of second fastest Vermeulen!

The top ten was completed by rookie of the year Dani Pedrosa, Tech 3 Yamaha's Makoto Tamada - who continued his bright start for the Dunlop shod satellite team – and new factory Ducati rider Casey Stoner.

Another promising performance came from Alex Hofmann, who just outpaced experienced Pramac d'Antin team-mate Alex Barros for twelfth on his 800cc Ducati debut, while Kenny Roberts claimed 13th - 1.8secs from Hopkins - during his first day on the new 800cc KRV.

Not having such a promising start was Carlos Checa, who fell on his way to 14th, with Shinya Nakano just 15th for Konica Minolta Honda - although ahead of 2006 race winners Marco Melandri and Toni Elias, who were just 16th and 18th but claimed to be satisfied with their tyre and base set-up work.

Kawasaki's Olivier Jacque and MotoGP rookie Sylvain Guintoli, of Tech 3 Yamaha, completed the 20 riders present.

Testing continues on Tuesday and concludes on Wednesday.

crash.net

[nono_le_robot]

Envoyé par elbandito

+1
Elle a l'air trop belle la Kawa. Sympa la Yam en noir et rouge aussi !
Vivement qu'on les voient un peu mieux

ouai +1 la yam en noir et rouge elle déchire sa race aussi! (je sais pas ce que j'ai je suis exité de la reprise moi un truc de dingue... )

[webamanu]

Ca y est, on peut dire que la saison est commençé. Ca sent bon tout ça, cela sent bon.

La Yam carbone et rouge, trop bonne !

[elbandito]

Sympa les Yam : Celle de Rossi est noir et jaune + combinaison jaune et celle de Edwards est noir et rouge + combinaison rouge. Au moins on risque pas de les confondre

Au passage, comment vous faites pour avoir les photos de crashnet en grande taille ?

Merci

[nenete37]

Un petit commentaire de Stoner:

L'Australien s'est dit satisfait de cette première journée, content des progrès réalisés. « Je suis très satisfait de la façon dont s'est passée la journée. Nous avons fait beaucoup de progrès depuis les essais de Jerez, même si nous devons encore progresser dans le domaine moteur. Je suis vraiment content des pneus, l'avant est parfait et l'arrière est bon. J'ai signé mon meilleur temps avec un arrière qui avait déjà bouclé la distance d'une course. C'est un bon signe ! », confiait Stoner.