MotoGP FP1 racers speak Sepang

By
Ron Lieback
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Jorge Lorenzo Speaks… (1st, 2’02.180)

"I was riding quite aggressively today and I felt good on the bike right from the start, so I am very happy about this after what happened last weekend. It’s very hot and it’s really hard work to ride out there, but I feel okay. Unfortunately I have some pain in my finger where I hurt it on Sunday, it’s not too bad but the cut is right on the knuckle, so it’s a bit painful when I have to bend it to brake. Anyway, like I said on Sunday it could be a lot worse! I love riding at this track despite the heat and our bike is working well so I am hopeful for a good weekend."

Valentino Rossi Speaks… (4th, 2’02.864)

"I am quite happy about today, even if the time and the position isn’t perfect. We worked mainly with old tyres to understand the nature of the bike when it’s sliding, which is important here, but actually my pace was very consistent and I think we can make another step tomorrow. It seems that Bridgestone have brought good tyres here, they are working very well despite the very hot temperatures and the fact that the track is a little bit dirty today. We still need to find a little bit more grip so we will look to improve the setting of the bike for this in the morning – it’s going to be very important to be on the front row for Sunday. I think the race will be very hard and we will have to take care to prepare properly and drink a lot of water because it is very, very hot."

Casey Stoner Speaks…(2nd; 2’02.244)

"The lap times are surprisingly good considering the track conditions, which are definitely suffering from the heat and feel much less grippy than usual here. I’m happy with our pace and with my physical condition; even though it was hard work out there and I was tired by the end of the session, I don’t think I was any worse off than anybody else and it is a different world compared to the way I felt at hot races earlier in the year. Having said that I didn’t feel at all comfortable with the setting on either bike. Every time I went out there was a small problem holding us back – at first it was with the front chattering and folding, then we lost grip on the rear. There was no use staying out there on a bike that needed to be set up better so I had to keep coming in, which disrupted our rhythm and didn’t give me chance to establish any kind of feeling. We made progress step by step but we need a better base to start off with tomorrow in order to prepare properly for the race."

Nicky Hayden Speaks… (8th; 2’03.426)

"I know my position isn’t great but this is still the best Friday I’ve had in a while and we’re only just over a second off the front, which isn’t that much around this circuit, so I’m pleased. We made a change to the electronics today, which has improved my feeling for the bike, and I was able to lap consistently inside the top ten throughout the session, whereas usually I’m much further off in the first session. Obviously there are a lot of areas we need to improve, like every Friday, but in particular we need to look at why I am fourth from bottom on the top speed charts. That’s strange because we know we have a strong bike so we’ll try and fix that tonight because I’d certainly rather be fourth from the top! In general it’s a good start and I’m eager to see how much we can improve with ninety minutes on track tomorrow."

Colin Edwards Speaks… (9th, 2.03.739)

"I feel good on the bike and I’m riding as hard as I can but my bike felt pretty slow out there today if I’m being honest. I know this track like the back of my hand because we have come here so many times to race and test and we’ve got a particular gearbox setting where I know exactly what is going to happen on the track. But we’ve got to change the gearing tomorrow because I was braking so much later than normal because I just wasn’t carrying the speed down the straight. The problem it gave me was that to make up any time you’ve got to ride much faster in the corners. But that means you wear the side of the tyre really quick, and with these high ground temperatures it is wearing the tyre much faster than I want. I’ll sit down with my guys at Tech 3 tonight and see what we can come up with and I’m still confident of a positive weekend."

James Toseland Speaks… (15th, 2.05.218)

"It has been a tough start but I knew it would b e because I was running an old engine today and that had a big impact on our performance. For the rest of the weekend we’ll have a fresher motor in that should help because I was quite far down the speed charts. But I was struggling for side grip this afternoon. I’m running more corner speed to make up for the loss in acceleration and that is wearing the rear tyre quite quickly. And during that session we couldn’t find the side grip I needed to go faster. We’ve gained a lot of data though and I’m sure with a few ideas that my guys at Tech 3 have, I’ll be in better shape tomorrow."

Loris Capirossi Speaks… (6th, 2’03.253)

"We did struggle a bit at the beginning as we tried to modify the bike, but the times were still quite good so we knew we were going in the right direction. Towards the end of the session the bike became a bit better, but it is still not perfect so we have a bit of work to do. We used two completely different traction controls, we didn’t quite get the best feeling from either of them but we certainly have a direction to follow tomorrow with the data we have got from them. Overall it has not been too bad today and we know we can improve quite a bit tomorrow, we have a good plan and if it all goes well we should have a really good weekend."

Chris Vermeulen Speaks… (10th, 2’03.763)

"It is good to come to a track that the bike performs well at. Obviously we have tested a lot here and that meant we had a good set-up right out of the box. We ran-in some important components during the first part of the session and made sure we got a reasonable feel from the bike. At the end of the session we stuck the harder rear tyre in and got a bit faster. I am reasonably happy with the first session; we’ve still got some areas to fix, so we’ll try a few different things tomorrow to hopefully get it right."

Randy De Puniet Speaks… (14th)

"It has been a difficult start of the week end. We are facing the same problems we suffered in the winter test. From the first run I could not turn and brake as I would like. This is very frustrating! I like this track and lapped consistently fast in the past but now I do not feel comfortable".

Mika Kallio Speaks… (11th best lap time in 2’03.785)

"Like this it doesn’t work out. I miss a lot of grip and I can’t push as I would like to, but this has to be a positive sign because it means that I have a lot of space to be much faster. I like this track and with the characteristic of our bike and the right technical solutions we can be really competitive. This evening we will study what to do tomorrow and I expect to take a big step forward."

Aleix Espargarò Speaks… (17th best lap time in 2’05.336)

"Today it has been a day where I only needed to lose up my muscles and find back the feeling with the bike. In the firsts minutes I was a bit tense but in the last part of the session I was comfortable and lap times did improve. Tomorrow instead I will have to push a lot to conquer a good place on the starting grid. I miss the paddock and it is good to have this opportunity to be here before next season."

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