More From IRTA Test At Catalunya, Where Tire Engineers From Michelin, Dunlop And Bridgestone Were All Working With No Apparent Ill Effect On Tire R&D

More From IRTA Test At Catalunya, Where Tire Engineers From Michelin, Dunlop And Bridgestone Were All Working With No Apparent Ill Effect On Tire R&D

© 2004, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

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From a press release issued by Fuchs Kawasaki:

MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2004
IRTA TEST – CIRCUIT DE CATALUNYA
28TH MARCH 2004

FUCHS KAWASAKI’S NAKANO CLOSES THE GAP ON THE LEADERS

Fuchs Kawasaki’s Shinya Nakano took maximum advantage of a break in the weather to post the 13th fastest time in today’s 40 minute timed practice session, during the final day of the IRTA test at the Circuit de Catalunya.

More important than his finishing position was the fact that the 26-year-old Japanese rider ended the session just over one second behind reigning World Champion, and today’s pole position finisher, Valentino Rossi. For Kawasaki, this was the closest they have been to a dry pole position time since returning to the MotoGP World Championship at the end of the 2002 season. And, while today may have been only a practice session, with a BMW car on offer to the fastest rider, competition was as intense as for any race.

Preferring to continue with his planned test programme, rather than abandoning it in favour of chasing a one-off flying lap, Alex Hofmann still managed to finish today’s timed session 15th fastest, just over three tenths of a second behind his more experienced teammate.

The 23-year-old German rider waited until the chequered flag came out to end the timed practice, before putting in his fastest lap with just seconds to spare. For the remainder of the day, Hofmann continued to work with his crew to refine the set-up of his Fuchs Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR, in preparation for the opening race of the season, which takes place on 18th April at Welkom in South Africa.

The Fuchs Kawasaki Racing Team head for Jerez in Southern Spain tomorrow, for a further two days of intensive testing.

Alex Hofmann: 15th (1:46.007)
“We concentrated today on completing our test programme, after losing so much time to bad weather during the first two days, rather than building up for a fast lap in the timed session. We used this afternoon’s session to test some softer compound tyres and it was these tyres on which I set my fastest lap. I’m pretty happy with how things went today, although we know we still have some work to do with the bike. The chassis and tyres look to be a lot closer to our rivals in terms of performance in the turns and on the brakes, but the difference in top speeds on the main straight today is a good indication of where we need to concentrate our development effort. We need to find some more power from the engine, but we also need to be able to control this power better if we are to stop the bike from spinning up and trying to lift the front wheel out of the turns.”

Shinya Nakano: 13th (1:45.654)
“After so much rain over the past two days I was glad to get in some dry laps on the bike today. My first run in the timed session felt good, and I was pretty confident that I’d be able to improve my lap time on my second run. Unfortunately, I had a problem with clutch slip on the main straight and, while the bike sounded real fast, I wasn’t able to get the power down and hit top speed on my flying lap. Even so, we ended the timed session just over a second off pole position, so I’m reasonably happy overall. But, although we are closing the gap I think there is still room for improvement, especially out of the turns where the bike still spins up the rear too easily. We will continue to work on solving this problem during the two day test at Jerez next week.”

Harald Eckl: Team Manager
“Today we closed the gap on the leading riders in the championship, which makes all the hard work during the winter months worthwhile. Of course, development work will continue, especially on the engine, and I am confident that there is still a lot more to come yet, both from the new bike and from Shinya and Alex.”


More, from a press release issued by Honda:

HONDA RACING INFORMATION

IRTA MotoGP tests Barcelona, third and final day, Sunday March 28 2004

Track temperature: 16 degrees C
Ambient temperature: 14 degrees C
Humidity: 45%

HONDA RIDERS RIGHT ON THE PACE ON FINAL DAY AT BARCELONA

The sun finally shone on the last day of this three-day test session at the Montmelo track near, Barcelona in Spain. Honda’s six full-time MotoGP riders made the most of the dry track time and spent a full day circulating the 4.427km circuit as it warmed up to a more accommodating 16 degrees C from a low of seven yesterday.

A sizeable crowd of 30,000 thronged the grandstands for the morning session and spectator interest peaked as a special 40-minute sprint, with a sports car as the prize for the fastest rider, began in the early afternoon. But after only ten minutes of action the session was red-flagged as Aprilia rider Jeremy McWilliams crashed and then four other riders went down on fluid lost from his machine.

The four riders, Alex Barros (Repsol Honda RC211V), Carlos Checa (Yamaha) and Ducati duo Loris Capirossi and Troy Bayliss, emerged relatively unscathed and continued testing. On the restart Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) rocketed himself into the reckoning and then headed the timesheet with a 1:45.224 lap.

The Texan then carved that time down to 1:45.167 with Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi 0.192 seconds shy of his time in second place with fifteen minutes of the session to go. In the final five minutes Capirossi catapulted himself to second spot with Rossi now heading the rankings with a 1:44.716 lap.

But Edwards was by no means done yet and bested Rossi’s time with a 1:44.653 lap in the final minute – but with other riders on their final ‘hot’ laps his slender advantage was always under threat and Rossi pulled out a 1:44.571 lap time on his final tour.

Among the top ten riders overall today were four Honda men: Barros in second, his team-mate Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) in third, Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) fourth and Sete Gibernau (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) fifth.

Alex Barros put in some steady work in the remaining hours of the day and thus climbed to second overall by mid-afternoon when the more serious business of prolonged testing resumed. His 1m 44.631s time reflecting the undoubted speed the experienced Brazilian will show this season on his return to the Honda fold after a troubled season with Yamaha.

Fastest laps:
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1:44.571
2. Alex Barros (Repsol Honda RC211V) 1:44.631
3. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda RC211V) 1:44.634
4. Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) 1:44.653
5. Sete Gibernau (Telefonica MoviStar Honda RC211V) 1:44.689
6. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1:44.871
7. Kenny Roberts (Suzuki) 1:45.046
8. Ruben Xaus (Ducati) 1:45.073
9. Carlos Checa (Yamaha) 1:45.171
10. Marco Melandri (Yamaha) 1:45.196

Riders quotes

Alex Barros: “A day of highs and lows,” said second fastest man Alex Barros. “We were looking good in the morning when we checked that everything was OK for the sprint for the car. But early on I went down on the oil from someone else’s crash. I was first to hit the spill and then the others. By the time any of us saw the flag it was already too late. I started again but then there was too much traffic and then the tyres went off. All the bad stuff happened at the same time! But we got going again in the afternoon and things are looking better now.”

Nicky Hayden: “We had a bit of trouble with a disc when we went to fit a qualifier in the sprint and that hampered us a bit. But overall we’ve got lots of resources and I’m confident we’re going to find the answers. But it’s not all about the bike. My expectations from last year have changed and I have to aim high, but I feel like I’ve really learned stuff today.”

Colin Edwards: “We didn’t get a lot of track time to test the new chassis. We only had two hours on Friday, we made some changes but you always need more time to get things right and we didn’t have it. Things are OK overall and I just concentrated on some tyre endurance tests towards the end of the day – and then it’s Jerez next week.”

Sete Gibernau: “We tested as much as we could under the circumstances and today was not a bad day for us. The new chassis and the Michelins we tried were working well even if the conditions weren’t great. The sprint was a little tough on everyone and I was on a fast lap right at the end before I hit traffic, but the main thing is the work we did overall.”

Makoto Tamada (Camel Honda RC211V) was 11th fastest: “We had many things to try – and not a lot of time to try them in. And the problems with the cold and the wind only went away on the last day. We have a big test programme to complete and we’re running out of time to complete it, but we have made a new plan to use at Jerez and we’ll take things from there.”

Max Biaggi: “These three days have not been positive for us. We are still very far away from our best set-up. The bike feels heavy during changes of direction and the weather has been a problem – but for everybody else too. At Sepang and Phillip Island we got close to our best set-ups quite quickly – but here we struggled. Let’s hope we can do better at Jerez.”


More, from a press release issued by Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team:

Catalunya IRTA Tests
Montmelo circuit, Catalunya
Sunday 28th March

ROSSI TOPS THE TIME SHEETS ON FINAL DAY AT BARCELONA IRTA TESTS

Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi recorded the fastest lap of the weekend as an intense fight saw the top 13 MotoGP riders, including Rossi’s team-mate Carlos Checa, finish the Barcelona IRTA Test with times inside one minute of each other. Today’s MotoGP riding agenda entailed three sessions, and with a prize of a BMW Z4 up for grabs during the 45-minute afternoon official practice, Italian Rossi prevailed at the last minute with a time good enough to keep him at the top of the combined standings throughout the final free practice later on. After an early fall along with five other riders due to oil on the track, Carlos Checa finally finished the test ninth fastest at his home circuit, pleased with his progress and feeling positive for Jerez next week. The incident interrupted the first half of the early afternoon session, as the red flags were put out whilst track officials cleaned up the oil.

The leader board was dominated in the early afternoon by American Colin Edwards, who put in a string of consistently fast laps on his Honda machine. With seven minutes left on the clock, Rossi took the lead with a flying lap, only to relinquish it again to Edwards a few minutes later. Returning to the pits for a brief tyre change, Rossi took the lead again on his last lap with a time of 1:44.571. This was enough for him to claim the BMW prize, despite last minute charges from Edwards again (1:44.653) and fellow Honda rider Sete Gibernau (1:44.669.) Checa, slightly shaken up from his earlier brush with the tarmac, was happy to post the eighth fastest time of 1:45.171.

Rossi stayed on top for the rest of the day but the final leader board altered slightly during the last session of the test, when Honda team-mates Alex Barros and Nicky Hayden put in hot laps of 1:44.631 and 1:44.634 respectively to take them second and third fastest of the test. Checa had another unfortunate fall at the same corner as earlier, caught off-guard by tyres which were slightly too hard. However he was not hurt and continued to work on the set-up of Yamaha’s latest engine spec, which he first tested on Friday.

Valentino Rossi (1:44.571)
“This is really satisfying! I am really sincerely very happy to win this car, to have got this time and to have put in more than one fast lap. The whole day has been a brilliant surprise and we’re all very happy. I think this year will be great for the Championship as a whole because it’s going to be very competitive. Everyone has put in so much hard work – the team and the Yamaha engineers – and we’ve done a great job so far. There is still a lot of work to do and a long way to go, but we’ve made a good performance. This year is going to be a great challenge; let’s see if we can continue as we have started today.”

Carlos Checa (1:45.171)
“The moment I went out on the track for the qualifying session I felt there was some oil on the track, and before I could do anything about it there were six bikes on the ground. The new engine spec I’m trying works quite well with this chassis but we need to alter the set-up a bit more; I still have a long way to go. Valentino did a great job today and it’s very motivating to have him as a team-mate; it’s a great challenge for me to see how close I can get.

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team Director
“We didn’t win a race and we didn’t get any points but it’s nice to win this first prize. I’m very happy that we can offer today’s results to everyone involved in the project. We are having a very busy winter and it’s very satisfying for everyone on days like today. This will give us more motivation to continue working hard with the target to be competitive in a race situation as soon as possible.”


The next MotoGP Official IRTA Tests take place in Jerez, Spain on Wednesday 31 March and Thursday 1 April.


More, from a press release issued by Proton Team KR:

THE FIRST PROTON TO TOP 200MPH

Montmelo, Spain – March 28, 2004: Proton Team KR rider Nobuatsu Aoki joined the 200mph club at the Catalunya GP circuit today, the third of three days of official group tests for the forthcoming GP season. It is thought to be the first time this speed has been attained by any Proton, on two or four wheels.

Riding the second-generation Proton KR V5, with a revised engine and an all-new high-tech chassis, Aoki clocked 204.12 mph in the final session, in what was virtually a shake-down test for the latest machine.

With the engine still not yet fully set up, the new chassis fitted with a brand-new swingarm for the first time, and the team still gaining familiarity with their new Dunlop tyres, it was a clear proof of progress for the machine, and an endorsement of the confidence in its ultimate potential.

The new Proton is the first to bear the stamp of ex-F1 engineering guru John Barnard. Novel and super-accurate chassis construction techniques, culled from aerospace and F1 technology but never before seen on a motorcycle, take the all-independent England-built racer a clear step forward in the fight against the factories.

“We know we need more engine power, and we’re working on that. But we also know these are very early days for the new bike, and that everything is getting better all the time,” said team principal Kenny Roberts, a former triple World Champion, and racing legend.

The three-day tests were hit with bad weather, with the first day cut short by rain and the second all but drowned out completely …only a handful of riders went out, with Aoki running just three laps. The third was cold, with fresh snow on the mountains surrounding the circuit outside Barcelona, but dry and sunny. Aoki completed 52 laps, to place 22nd in the session.

Team-mate Kurtis Roberts was not at the tests, after dislocating his shoulder at earlier tests a fortnight ago in Valencia. He is recuperating at home in the USA, and is expected to be fit in time for the first race, the South African GP on April 18.

NOBUATSU AOKI – best time 1:48.128
I am happy with the new chassis and swingarm. We worked very hard and adjusted many things … it was like a shakedown this weekend. Now the bike is getting to the point where we have good base settings and can concentrate on fine running the suspension and so on. The new engine is not working properly yet. The top-end power is the same as last year, but the mid-range is not good at all. It makes the engine very peaky. When you touch the throttle at 10,000 rpm it hesitates a lot, and is inconsistent. The engine shop has to work to make it easier to ride. It was our first official time on Dunlop tyres, and though the qualifying tyres are very good, there is a lot of work to do. We have to cooperate to improve things, and I hope I have given them a lot of ideas.

CHUCK AKSLAND – Team Manager
I believe that’s the first time any Proton has done more than 200 mph! All in it was a pretty positive end to the test. Nobu went faster than last year, and we still don’t have a lot of experience on the Dunlop tyres, or with the new bike. With the little bit of testing we’ve done, we know where we’re at. We need more engine performance, and to establish our relationship with Dunlop. And to keep moving forward.


More, from a press release issued by Camel Honda Racing Information:

Closing day of tests in Catalunya
IRTA sessions to continue in Jerez


This was the last of three days of IRTA tests on the Montmelò circuit before the second round gets underway in Jerez on Wednesday and Thursday next. The pale sun that came out in the early hours of the morning made it possible for the tests to carry on all day long, also making it possible to put in 40 minutes of “official” tests. This was the only good opportunity to gather data and information after the entire scheduled work programme had been put on hold.

Yellow-blue Camel Honda riders Max and Makoto were trying out the new frames on their
RC 211Vs, and work on achieving top performance was carried out during the official tests, when the tarmac temperature was slightly higher than during the rest of the day. Like this morning, the ground temperature was only 8°C (46.5°F) in the late afternoon.

A pity for Max for, just when he made his decisive sortie, at the end of the 40 “official” minutes, he had a loss of pressure in his rear tyre and was unable to make the best of this opportunity to move up towards the sharp end of the ratings.

Sito Pons – Camel Honda (Team Principal)
“The very difficult weather conditions of the past two days meant we could only really work well today. The riders had to try out the new frames and they didn’t have enough time to gather all the necessary information to ensure the best possible settings. So we had to make up for lost time, considering the potential that the other contestants showed today. So this week’s tests in Jerez will be really important for us to get ready for the first World Championship race.”

Max Biaggi – Camel Honda (Michelin tyres) – 12th – 1’45.519
“These three days in Catalunya have not been all that easy. We still haven’t found the perfect settings for my bike and I feel it’s very heavy when changing direction. So we’ve still got to discover the right way to get the very best out of this new frame. Then misfortune stepped in when it was time to go for the fast lap in the official tests. The others were faster than us, and this simply means they were better then we were. We’ve still got two days’ tests in Jerez and I’m confident that we’ll be able to improve.”

Gianluca Montiron – Camel Honda – (Makoto Tamada Team Manager)
“We had a number of different materials to try out, and very little time for the huge amount of work we had planned to do. The bad weather undoubtedly complicated matters, so we didn’t concentrate as much on going for top performance in the fast lap as finding out the right direction to work in so that we can get to Jerez with the right programme that will let us recoup the time we’ve lost during this first session of IRTA tests.”

Makoto Tamada – Camel Honda (Bridgestone tyres) – 11th – 1’45.226
“So many things to try out, and so many details to examine. I mean: new tyres, new frame and hardly any time available, because yesterday and the day before it really seemed it was midwinter. We’ve examined all the work we did today in order to get ready for Jerez with a work programme and ideal settings for those two very important dates, so we can prepare for Welkom.”


More, from a press release issued by Telefonica Movistar Honda/Gresini Racing:

Edwards and Gibernau second and third fastest respectively during the sprint on day three

Test Irta – Catalunya, day Three
Real action started around 12.00 on a cold but dry track at the Circuit of Catalunya.
Colin Edwards went out around 11.45 lapping with the new bike, while Sete Gibernau went out 30 minutes later for some laps with the new bike before the timed session of the day.
The sprint of 45 minutes to win the BMW Z4 offered by BMW was hard-fight until the end of the session when Sete and Colin missed the pole for a handful of thousandths: only 0.082 the gap between Colin and Valentino, the fastest of the session and 0.016 the gap between Sete and Colin.

Colin Edwards (1’44″653).: “we had not so much track times here because, during the previous days, rain spoiled the testing programme. I’m ok but I could do better.”

Sete Gibernau (1’44”.669): “with these temperatures it was hard for everyone, during the last lap I was doing very well but I found a bit of traffic and I missed the pole. All in all, I’m satisfied, my compliments to Valentino.”

Tested continued during the afternoon. Both Telefonica MoviStar riders lapped with the new bike. Work was mainly focused on developing the new chassis and the new fork, moreover some tyre testing for Michelin was carried out.

Sete Gibernau: “I’m satisfied with the work we did today, I did two small endurance tests and worked with Michelin testing some tyres.”

Colin Edwards: “we lapped with the new bike but these weather conditions are not good for finding the best setting. We need to do more laps. We also did some tyre testing with Michelin.”

Fausto Gresini, Team Manager: “Today’s practices have demonstrated that we are competitive. We missed the pole for a few thousandths. We aim at finding the best setting for the new bike. I hope to find better weather conditions next week in Jerez.”

At the end of the day Colin and Sete finished fourth and fifth respectively.
The team move onto Jerez for the second session of Irta Test schedul! ed for next Wednesday and Thursday

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