San Carlo Gresini Honda rider Alex De Angelis was one of the quick to learn brigade. The young Sanmarinese had tested at the circuit in November and was impressed with the improvements made in the meantime. Once his night vision was dialed in De Angelis used the base set up the team have established for the MotoGP Rookie’s RC212V to test tyres for Bridgestone testing both soft and medium compounds.His San Carlo Honda team-mate, Japanese star Shinya Nakano took longer to adjust to the experience but after two hours he felt confident enough to test a variety of tyres in combination with suspension settings.
Alex De Angelis, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 1m 56.571s“I tested here in November so it was not a big surprise for me. They did a great job, it’s fun riding here. I also did some overtaking and I found no problem with the shadows. Maybe the problem could be the start when we are all together. We tested several tyres tonight and we found some interesting solutions. As for the bike we haven’t changed so much. It’s not good to make big changes from the base set up.”.
Shinya Nakano, San Carlo Gresini Honda: 1m 57.223s“it’s like driving a car in the highway in the night! The track is lighted but you have to get used to it. After a couple of hours I started to understand some things and to get used to the new situation and also lap times improved. We start with soft tyres and used the medium because the tyres are working well. We also worked on suspension setting, trying different solutions in order to find the right balance.”
Overall lap times on day one at Losail:1. Casey STONER (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1:55.330
2. Jorge LORENZO (Fiat Yamaha) 1:56.019
3. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda LCR) 1:56.062
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (JiR Honda Scot ) 1:56.121
5. James TOSELAND (Yamaha Tech3) 1:56.251
6. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda San Carlo) 1:56.571
7. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki) 1:56.614
8. Dani PEDROSA (Repsol Honda) 1:56.621
9. Valentino ROSSI (Fiat Yamaha) 1:56.749
10. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha Tech3) 1:56.762
11. Toni ELIAS (Alice Ducati) 1:57.007
12. Nicky HAYDEN (Repsol Honda) 1:57.010
13. Shinya NAKANO (Honda San Carlo) 1:57.223
14. Chris VERMEULEN (Rizla Suzuki) 1:57.522
15. Loris CAPIROSSI (Rizla Suzuki) 1:57.551
16. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati Marlboro Team) 1:57.593
17. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Alice Ducati) 1:57.644
18. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki) 1:57.787
