rorlow
04-01-2004, 04:22 AM
Valentino Rossi: 1'42.656
"It was another good surprise to be fastest today, I am very happy. We arrived here and everything immediately went quite well with a set-up similar to Barcelona. The bike is easy to steer, very agile, and it's handling the braking well. We are still having some problems because after 8 or 9 laps the bike is a bit more difficult to control, but we will keep working to change that. Unfortunately today we weren't able to do a lot of testing; I hope the weather is better tomorrow and I can improve even more.
This run of tests has been really important because when you have tested at Sepang, Phillip Island, Barcelona and Jerez, you have tried the bike on all types of different corners and, overall, the bike seems in a good way."
Colin Edwards: 1m 42.771s
“I think we’ve pretty much got the chassis figured out, it didn’t take too long. The biggest thing is finding the balance between it all, but it seems to be working okay. We’re going good, and dare I say it I’m maybe not 100% with the motor now. I’m crawling trying to keep the front end down. The old one was so friendly in that area, so I think we’ll have to mess around with the electronics a bit to get it sorted, but all in all it was okay. We’ve changed stuff now compared to what Honda brought us at the beginning in Barcelona, and now it feels good.”
Alex Barros: 1m 42.974s
“We started with the aim of getting a good base set-up as I have never ridden the RC211V here. We tested two or three different compound Michelins here and worked hard on different suspension settings. When we were ready to push for some fast laps the rain came and it was impossible to make a good lap.”
Sete Gibernau: 1m 43.408s
“It’s not so bad, but I have a bit of a fever which meant I wasn’t sure whether I was going to go out today. It’s important to get some more information on the bike though here, so we decided to give it a go. Hopefully the fever will have gone by tomorrow because I feel confident. The new chassis, swing-arm, links and all that are feeling better, I’m getting more feedback than in Barcelona. There I wasn’t too confident, but it’s definitely coming now.”
Nicky Hayden: 1m 43.457s
“The day was really weather affected which after the interruptions of Catalunya was a real shame. The day started off real wet and the track took a long time to dry out. The team worked hard and we got the bike going pretty good. We were confident we were going in the right direction with regards the set-up then it started raining again mid afternoon and that was it really. Lets hope for a good day tomorrow. One more day of testing before the season starts!”
Makoto Tamada 1m 43.541
“I tried some tyres today which I was unable to test at Catalunya. Honestly though, I wanted to test the new machine more than the tyres. The weather was bad though, and I wasn’t able to do either properly! I went out in the wet this morning to show that I am motivated and to get some laps in under rain conditions, but apart from that we hope it’s dry tomorrow so I can test some more things.”
Max Biaggi: 1m 43.980s
“I didn’t find any solutions today, since Barcelona I just haven’t been able to go any faster. The problem is that the new chassis is difficult to find improvements in. We have a kind of rear chatter when you transfer to the front going into the turn. Then also we have more chatter coming out of the turn. This makes riding impossible because if you can’t go well both going in and coming out of the bend then you can’t go fast. We have to work this out and get the cornering right. I have to say I’m a little upset today and just need a little help to sort these problems.”
Carlos Checa: 1'42.927
"We did a good job today and stuck with the same set-up we used in Barcelona. There's obviously a clear improvement and I think it's coming from an increase in my turning speed, but we are still looking to do better.
The new engine spec is obviously making some difference too but apart from that we have made as few changes as possible to the bike. The target now for the rest of the test is to do several laps at a good pace; I already did seven or eight fast laps in a row this afternoon, but then the rain came and stopped me."
Shinya Nakano: 1'43.386
"We don't know what the weather is going to do tomorrow, so I tried to get as much track time in as I could today. Our main concern at this time is that the bike wants to wheelie and spin up the rear tyre when you get on the gas out of the turns, and solving this problem is our number one priority at the moment. Today we tried some changes to the chassis geometry and the engine but, while there was a slight improvement overall, we still need to do some more work in this area.
During the Barcelona test I struggled to find a tyre I was happy with, but Bridgestone have brought two new tyres to Jerez and I think my lap times today are a good indication of how well they work around this circuit. I am happy with the progress we've made in the short time we've had this afternoon and, if the weather holds for tomorrow, I am confident that we'll see further improvements to both the bike and the lap times."
Alex Hofmann: 1'44.009
"We've been a little bit lucky with the weather today, as it looked like we were going to have a repeat of the Barcelona test when we arrived to find a very wet circuit this morning. We eventually took to the track around lunchtime, which meant we were kept busy trying to complete the test schedule we had planned for today. Conditions weren't exactly perfect for the first couple of sessions this afternoon, but as the track dried out we were able to start increasing the pace and refining the set up of the bike to suit the circuit.
Overall I'm pretty satisfied with what we've achieved today; the bike works well around here and, after just 49 laps, we've already managed to improve on my best race time from last year by over 1.5 seconds. Hopefully the weather will be kind to us tomorrow, as this will be the last chance we get to test before we head off to Welkom for the first race of the season."
Jeremy Burgess - Valentino's crew chief
"We've changed the suspension a bit for Jerez, but overall the bike's not that different from Barcelona. There's much more feel from the tyres here because the temperature is higher than Barcelona. Each time we test we get a better picture and we are pleased with the way the bike is adapting to each circuit. It is not the case that the Yamaha has to have big changes each time you move. It's good to come to our fourth circuit and be fastest on the first day, although we are continuing to fix the problems we have, as always."