Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden finished in third and ninth positions at the Ricardo Tormo circuit today as the first day of practice took place ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix of Valencia. Riding at the third event of the year on home soil, Pedrosa was quick in both sessions as he honed the settings of his RC212V for this tight and challenging track. The 22-year-old Spaniard finished the afternoon hour just 0.182s from pace-setter Casey Stoner having recorded a promising series of laps in the low 1m 33s bracket. Pedrosa was also fastest through the speed trap in the afternoon session.
Hayden set a time exactly 0.5s behind his team-mate this afternoon on a day when the top 12 riders were covered by a single second. This placed Hayden in ninth, a position the 26-year-old American was not entirely satisfied with having struggled to find enough grip in the cool conditions at the 4.005km (2.478-mile) circuit. With more Michelin tyre options to evaluate when practice continues tomorrow morning Hayden will look to climb the timesheets ahead of the afternoon’s qualifying session.
Dani Pedrosa – Combined Free Practice : 3rd – 1m 33.150s“Today was a solid start to the weekend and my fastest lap time was pretty good. I was able to run at a reasonably consistent pace in both sessions and when the temperature rose for the afternoon my lap time came down quite a lot. Nonetheless, we still have a few issues to solve with settings and tyre choice if we’re to be truly competitive – we need to find a little bit extra. The gap to the front is not big but everybody’s times are very close and a small gap counts for quite a lot at this circuit. Obviously this is an important race for me and for the team. It’s the last race of the year and our last chance to get a good result. Plus it’s a home race for me which adds an extra incentive. We want to win here so we’ve got to continue moving forward to make that possible.”
Nicky Hayden – Combined Free Practice : 9th – 1m 33.650s“Honestly it’s not the start to the weekend we wanted and we’d have liked to have come out of the gate a lot stronger. On the cooler track we’re having a hard time getting the tyres to work as I would like. However, we’ve made a bit of progress today and I definitely hope that tomorrow I can do a lot better personally, and that we can also make some changes to get the bike to work the tyres more effectively. We don’t seem to have the grip that I need at the moment so we’ll see what other options Michelin has available and work on the settings too. There’s still a long way to go this weekend and the two hours of practice tomorrow will be crucial. Qualifying is going to be really important too so we’ll be looking to come out a lot stronger tomorrow.”
Makoto Tanaka - Team Manager “It was cold for the morning session and the ground temperature was quite low which affected the grip quite a lot. With the sunshine in the afternoon the temperature rose significantly and the grip improved – but still we have some work to do to improve the settings for both riders. I hope for warmer temperatures over the weekend because I think our package is not favoured by the cooler conditions. Still, we didn’t use all the tyre options available to us from Michelin so we have the potential to improve things further.”
Combined Free Practice Times:
1. Casey Stoner - Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 32.968s
2. Sylvain Guintoli - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 1m 33.084s
3. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team 1m 33.150s
4. Marco Melandri - Honda Gresini 1m 33.319s
5. Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 33.501s
6. Randy de Puniet - Kawasaki Racing Team 1m 33.519s
7. Alex Barros - Pramac D’Antin 1m 33.541s
8. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 33.620s
9. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda Team 1m 33.650s
10. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1m 33.680s
11. Carlos Checa - Honda LCR 1m 33.831s
12. Makoto Tamada - Dunlop Yamaha Tech 3 1m 33.899s
13. Colin Edwards - Fiat Yamaha Team 1m 33.972s
14. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro Team 1m 34.000s
15. Toni Elias - Honda Gresini 1m 34.218s
16. Shinya Nakano - Konica Minolta Honda 1m 34.352s
17. Anthony West - Kawasaki Racing Team 1m 34.413s
18. Chaz Davies - Pramac D’Antin 1m 35.029s
Free Practice Conditions: Weather: Sunny
Temp: 22ºC
Track: Dry / 30ºC
Humidity: 42%
2006 Race Result:
1. Troy Bayliss - Ducati Marlboro Team 46m 55.415s
2. Loris Capirossi - Ducati Marlboro Team + 1.319s
3. Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda Team + 9.230s
4. Dani Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team + 12.065s
5. Marco Melandri - Fortuna Honda + 16.306s
6. Toni Elias - Fortuna Honda + 17.390s
7. Shinya Nakano - Kawasaki Racing Team + 19.329s
8. Kenny Roberts Jr. - Team Roberts + 23.174s
9. Colin Edwards - Camel Yamaha Team + 26.072s
10. Carlos Checa - Tech 3 Yamaha + 28.194s
11. John Hopkins - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 29.364s
12. Makoto Tamada - Konica Minolta Honda + 29.707s
13. Valentino Rossi - Camel Yamaha Team + 38.546s
14. James Ellison - Tech 3 Yamaha + 1m 20.013s
15. Garry McCoy - Ilmor SRT + 7 laps
Not Classified:Casey Stoner - Honda LCR + 7 laps
Chris Vermeulen - Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 17 laps
Jose L. Cardoso - Pramac d'Antin MotoGP + 18 laps
Alex Hofmann - Pramac d'Antin MotoGP + 21 laps
Randy De Puniet - Kawasaki Racing Team + 25 laps
Circuit length: 4.005km (2.487 miles)
Lap Record: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1m 32.924s – 2006
