Marquez retains top spot at lunch on second day Day 2 at the Circuit of The Americas track in Austin, started as it left off yesterday, with Marc Marquez on top of the time sheets from his first exit. He completed 25 laps this morning before stopping for lunch with a fastest time of 2’04.363 on lap 15. His Repsol Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, was 4th fastest this morning, with a time of 2’04.686 recorded on lap 20 of 21. Both riders will resume action after the mandatory 30 minute lunch break. Marc Marquez 1st 2’04.363 “This morning we have continued in the same direction as we finished yesterday, we’ve been working on gearbox and electronic settings as well as setting the geometry for this track. At the beginning, the track was again quite slippery which surprised me as I thought it would be better after yesterday, but it’s gradually getting better and I think it will be better this afternoon. We now have a good base and this is good to be able to start to try new things” Dani Pedrosa 4th 2’04.686 “We’ve spent the morning doing more laps, the grip is pretty similar to yesterday so we’ve been making some changes with the gearbox to feel more comfortable with the gears through the corners. We also made a few changes with suspension, but as it is the first time here for us, it’s hard as we have nothing to compare it to as a reference” Testing Results 1 Marc Marquez 2’04.363 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 2 Stefan Bradl 2’04.640 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP 3 Jorge Lorenzo 2’04.664 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing 4 Dani Pedrosa 2’04.686 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 5 Valentino Rossi 2’05.518 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing More, from a press release issued by Yamaha MotoGP Team: Austin (Texas, USA), 13th March 2013 – Update at 3pm local time (-6GMT) Yamaha Factory Racing will complete their testing activities today at the Circuit of the Americas track in Texas. Originally planned for a three-day test, riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi managed to provide all the data required over the first two days so will not continue tomorrow. Both Lorenzo and Rossi used the two days to work with their crews on set up to find the optimum performance from their YZR-M1s’ for the long and technical track. The two made big improvements from the first morning, shaving several seconds off their first times but were still looking for more grip at full lean. The Yamaha Factory Team will now re-join the rest of the MotoGP paddock back in Europe for the next Official IRTA test at the Jerez de la Frontera Circuit in Spain on the 23rd March. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 3rd Time: 2.04.664 Laps: 17 “I feel better today, especially in the last run before the lunch break, we changed the set up of the bike and we improved some tenths so we are closer to the fastest riders, but not as much as we would like. We were too soft in the suspension to start with, we made it harder and in this track it works. These two days that we are here I think is enough to get a good idea of set up and riding style. The fans will like MotoGP here, it is going to be a great show. We have been trying different set ups of the bike, no new parts, just playing with the set up, changing the suspension and forks and in the last run I improved half a second with set up changes. We still don’t have enough grip on the rear so we can’t lean over with confidence which is why we are further behind than in Sepang. I am adapting my riding style every lap a little for the track. In the main straight we are at 340kmh/h which is an amazing speed; when you have to brake and put your helmet up the wind is very strong so it’s difficult to be stable.” Valentino Rossi Position: 5th Time: 2.05.518 Laps: 29 “The feeling with the track improved today, we started to work on the bike to improve the difficult points, especially in the three very hard braking areas where it is important to have good stability. It’s also very important to have grip on the edge through the hairpin to have speed along the straight. It looks like you can make a big difference in the slow parts here. The chicane part in turn two is very technical and difficult as it is blind; you have to go a bit with memory. Step by step we improved a lot from yesterday but have some disadvantage compared to the other guys so we need to put all the sections together. The target was to come here and try to understand the track and try to be ready for the race. Our competitors are able to accelerate faster than us from the hairpin and they have a bit more grip on the edge compared to us so these are the areas where we have to work, in the flowing parts we are not so bad. The track is good, a very classical ‘Tilke’ track, I like the fast parts, turn two and turn ten especially. There is lots of hard braking and it is very wide so good for overtaking. The long right before the last two lefts is also good. It’s fun and not too hot like it is in Sepang so it’s a good place to make a motorcycle race.” Massimo Meregalli Team Director “First of all I would like to remark that it has been a good idea to come here. Yesterday we were able to download a lot of data from both riders, that has permitted us to find a much better set up. Today the results we got are quite promising and we are leaving Austin with a lot of useful data. We are expecting different conditions for the race but the test has been successful. We are now looking forward to the Jerez test which is important as we will decide there how to start for the season. The test here was organized by Honda to cover three days but we knew from the beginning that two days would be enough for us. The target was to allow the rider to get used to the circuit and get as much data as possible for our Japanese engineers.” Test Times 1. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 2’04.363 2. Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda MotoGP 2’04.640 3. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 2’04.664 4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 2’04.686 5. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha Factory Racing 2’05.518 More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda: Austin, 13 March: on the second day of the private MotoGP test at the Circuit of the Americas (Texas), LCR Honda racer Stefan Bradl placed his Honda RC213V Factory Spec. fourth after completing 49 laps with a 2’04.640. After yesterday’s first taste of the anti-clockwise Texan track (the third-longest on the calendar after Silverstone and Sepang), Bradl enjoyed a very positive second day and continued to adapt to the new circuit that is proving to be quite technical. Bradl: “This morning we struggled a bit in the breaking areas which is unusual for my riding style and my bike set-up. After some adjustments we have found an improvement and I was able to go faster and faster. In my flying laps on new soft tyres I was not enough precise because we had low grip. However I was very consistent throughout the day and we have found two base set-ups to develop”. More, from another press release issued by Repsol Honda: Repsol Honda continue to improve in Austin Repsol Honda riders, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez, have had enjoyed strong day at the Circuit of The Americas track in Austin. The two Spanish riders were blessed with fantastic weather, 10ºC warmer than yesterday, and slowly improving track conditions. Once again, Marc topped the time sheets improving on yesterday’s time by eight tenths of a second with a lap time of 2’03.853 taken on lap 39 of 55. He spent the day testing some electronic settings and generally building his confidence with his RC213V machine. Dani remained second fastest, just one tenth off his teammate. He worked on gearing and with rear suspension settings and set his fastest lap of 2’03.976 on lap 57 of 58, improving on his time of yesterday by over a second (2’05.047). The team will be back on track tomorrow for the final day of testing. Marc Marquez 1st 2’03.853 “Although it looked like the track had a little less grip, it wasn’t long before I could ride at the same level as yesterday. I gradually improved with every stint. Having a good pace early was important, because it allowed me to start to try things out. For the rest of the day we kept dropping our times and keeping to our strategy: testing things and confirming the results to eliminate any doubt. We did a great job today and the team is really helping me a lot. I am learning so much during these days – most of all with the electronics. With this being a new track, we have no base to go on and we have to work a little harder on finding one” Dani Pedrosa 2nd 2’03.976 “Today we continued to put in laps and I was also able to improve my cornering on some turns; I found some details that allowed me to run a better line on them. We had good conditions and were able to try some different gearing, plus a couple of shock absorbers that allowed us to gain a little more grip. We made the most of the second part of the day, in the afternoon, as the track was much better than in the morning. We are happy with how the second day went and hope to continue with the good work tomorrow” Testing Results 1 Marc Marquez 2’03.853 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 2 Dani Pedrosa 2’03.976 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 3 Jorge Lorenzo 2’04.351 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing 4 Stefan Bradl 2’04.640 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP 5 Valentino Rossi 2’04.960 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing