On arrival at the Jerez circuit for the final day of the three-day MotoGP test at the 4.423 km track this morning the riders were greeted by cool overcast conditions following a rain shower but the temperature slowly increased to reach an ambient 19 degrees with the track top at 16. Despite a strong prevailing wind the change in warmer weather allowed the teams and riders to make up much of the time lost to rain and a cold track on the opening two days.
Randy De Puniet took his LCR Honda RC212V to fourth fastest time of the day. Like Dovizioso he has struggled to get the best out of qualifying tyres but over the three-days of testing the team technicians have worked steadily towards providing the Frenchman with the set up he needs for the ultra-important GP qualifying sessions. LCR Honda team owner-manager Lucio Cecchinello was pleased with the way his team has worked togive De Puniet a competitive motorcycle. “I am very happy that we have found the reasons why Randy couldn’t go fast on qualifying tyres. There were several small setting points we changed to arrive at this conclusion. We are very close now, competitive and ready for the Qatar test.” Said Cecchinello.
Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 1m 39.351s – on lap 68 of 68.“Today we focused our work mainly on tyres testing getting good results. Today’s conditions were not perfect so we started at 2 pm
and the wind was very strong. However we tested some rear tyres improving our pace and, at the end of the day, I came out on qualifiers improving my lap time as well thus I feel pretty satisfied. This track is too short to develop the new engine so we will work it out in Qatar”.
Ambient temperature: 19 degrees
Track temperature: 16 degrees
Humidity: 57%
Test Times: 1. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'38.848
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'39.252
3. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'39.313
4. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'39.351
5. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'39.568
6. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 1'39.727
7. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'39.845
8. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'39.932
9. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'40.333
10. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'40.442
11. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'40.576
12. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'41.026
13. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'41.177
14. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'41.292
15. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'41.311
16. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'41.699
17. Niccolò Canepa (ITA) Ducati Test 1'42.160
18. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1'42.970
19. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing 1'43.496
20. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1'45.597
