Moto GP 2007 Pre-Season Testing

[jhansen]

Well, in just a few days the sounds of Moto GP will be resonating at Sepang in Malaysia. The first test of the new year kicks off next week. Everyone will be there (including Team KR) with the exception of Ilmor. Lots of stories to follow. Testing schedule:

Sepang - January 22nd-24th
Phillip Island - January 30th-February 1st
Sepang - February 5th-7th
Qatar - February 13th-15th
Jerez - February 23rd-25th

Oh, and just to set the mood a bit, a short video from the post season Jerez 800cc test:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej0xPNGGxJE

And the 2006 season highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LP1Zt-7ffc


Roll on 2007 and the best racing series on the planet!

[Pro Racer]

can't wait, hopefully Suzuki and Ducati are the pace setters and that trend hopefully will continue throughout the year, no prize for guessing why i want these 2 teams to be pace setters .

[Gerben24]

Well, your wish has come true (half of it though). Suzuki is back on top, Hopper is kicking everybodies behind (incl. Vermeulens... AGAIN )

Times:
1 Hopkins 2’02.277
2 Vermeulen 2’03.049
3 Rossi 2’03.184
4 Edwards 2’03.337
5 Hayden 2’03.413
6 Capirossi 2’03.538
7 De Puniet 2’03.542
8 Pedrosa 2’03.620
9 Tamada 2’03.785
10 Stoner 2’03.944
11 Hofmann 2’04.003
12 Barros 2’04.011
13 Roberts JR 2’04.088
14 Checa 2’04.101
15 Nakano 2’04.138
16 Melandri 2’04.270
17 Shinichi Ito 2’04.641
18 Elias 2’04.710
19 Jacque 2’04.718
20 Guintoli 2’07.403

[jhansen]

Looks pretty good so far for Suzuki. I'm surprised to see Pedro-bot down that far, especially at this track. Rossi and Edwards sporting different colors:

http://www.crash.net/news_View~t~Ros...~id~142316.htm

[BootsOntheSide]

Suzuki might be doing low-fuel runs for the press and potential sponsors, but everything points to them having done well on the 800cc engine straight away. de Puniet being up there is interesting; Kawasaki were thought to be off the pace.

[jhansen]

I know that it's just testing, but one thing I noticed is that the customer Honda teams are all on the lower half of the time sheet. In fact, KR Jr. managed to outpace all four customer RC212V bikes.

Some pictures:

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image...ng-test-jan/1/

[chunder]

And Haydenw as the quickest of the Hondas as well if my memory serves me right!

And he doesnt really like that bike too much!

Suzuki still look very good but you have to think they are using qually tyres still I reckon.

[jhansen]

I also noted that Checa and Nakano both commented on lack of feel at the front with the RC212V. And interestingly enough, Stoner and Tamada both had the same complaints with the same teams on the RC211V. Seems odd that both teams would have the same issues on both generations of Honda.

[Pro Racer]

good to see the Suzuki, Hoppa and Chris up the top, even if they are on quali tyres/low fuel i am sure a few others would be doing the same I.E Roberts he would want sponsers as would LCR and maybe Kawasaki.

[Gerben24]

Second day at Sepang. Two Americans on top, but the biggest surprise to me is Barros. Well done Alex.

1 John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki 2’01.806
2 Colin Edwards Yamaha Racing 2’01.930
3 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki 2’02.275
4 Alex Barros Pramac d'Antin 2’02.538
5 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Racing 2’02.619
6 Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro 2’02.793
7 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki Racing 2’02.806
8 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda 2’02.948
9 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 2’03.098
10 Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro 2’03.190
11 Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 2’03.253
12 Shinya Nakano Konica Minolta Honda 2’03.633
13 Carlos Checa Honda LCR 2’03.681
14 Shinichi Ito Bridgestone MotoGP 2’03.700
15 Kenny Roberts Jr Team Roberts 2’03.800
16 Alex Hofmann Pramac d'Antin 2’03.895
17 Toni Elías Gresini Honda 2’04.124
18 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki Racing 2’04.171
19 Makoto Tamada Yamaha Tech 3 2’04.350
20 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha Tech 3 2’04.892

[Gerben24]

A very good line from a Crash.net article regarding the test session today:

Worryingly for HRC, the fact that both riders (Hayden and Pedrosa) are so evenly matched suggests that they are extracting the maximum from their Michelin shod factory machinery.

Hayden and Pedrosa where a full second of the pace ending up 8th and 9th.

I dont know if the others were using qualifying tyres and Honda didn't.

Tomorrow is the last day of testing in Sepang.

[djb]

anyone read italian properly and/or get the cultural joke here,

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/image...t-jan/1/99.htm

as far as I can tell going from my Spanish, its about a chicken store, and how Osvaldo knows everything about chickens....

there's some sort of in joke here, but I certainly don't get it (my closest guess is that with Spanish, eggs or "huevos" are slang for "balls", so I guess its something to do with that, big cajones etc)

ciao

as for testing, as always, its going to be very very interesting attempting to sort out the real from the spin, the qually's vs race tires, guys seemingly doing well but are struggling with stuff that goes unseen in written reports, sandbagging--the usual suspects.....

cheers

[jhansen]

It is tough to read the reality of testing. Eventually teams need to test how their bike fairs on qualies. But we usually wont know when this happens. I'm curious about the Honda teams though. Are they slugging it out on race tires, or are they short on pace. We know from the end of season test that the riders wanted a bit more power. Still lots of time though.

[jhansen]

Not a whole lot of positive comments from the Honda boys. Day 2 quotes:

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2007/Jan/070123b.htm

[Gerben24]

Last day of testing at Sepang (unofficial times):

1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Racing 2’00.936
2 John Hopkins Rizla Suzuki 2’01.026
3 Loris Capirossi Ducati Marlboro 2’01.274
4 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 2’01.664
5 Chris Vermeulen Rizla Suzuki 2’01.691
6 Randy De Puniet Kawasaki Racing 2’01.878
7 Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda 2’01.884
8 Colin Edwards Yamaha Racing 2’02.266
9 Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro 2’02.407
10 Marco Melandri Gresini Honda 2’02.489
11 Carlos Checa Honda LCR 2’02.583
12 Alex Barros Pramac d'Antin 2’02.630
13 Toni Elías Gresini Honda 2’02.927
14 Alex Hofmann Pramac d'Antin 2’03.040
15 Shinya Nakano Konica Minolta Honda 2’03.077
16 Makoto Tamada Yamaha Tech 3 2’03.308
17 Kenny Roberts Jr Team Roberts 2’03.330
18 Olivier Jacque Kawasaki Racing 2’03.592
19 Shinichi Ito Bridgestone MotoGP 2’03.973
20 Sylvain Guintoli Yamaha Tech 3 -

I can't wait for the season start. Four different manufacturers in the top four and five in the top six! Brilliant.

Checa and Roberts swapped bikes, I wonder if they found any usefull information.

Might I say that Olivier Jacque has been the biggest dissapointment during these 3 days of testing. He's not been higher than 18th, while his teammate is knocking on the door for a top 5 laptime.