Sepang 2007-11-16
Oofficiella tider.
1. John Hopkins (Kawasaki) 2’02.200
2. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) 2’02.344
3. Randy de Puniet (Honda) 2’02.550
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 2’02.591
5. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 2’02.698
6. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2’02.800
7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 2’02.831
8. Anthony West (Kawasaki) 2’03.093
9. Yamaha Test Team 2’03.706
10. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2’04.021
11. James Toseland (Yamaha) 2’04.278
12. Yamaha Test Team 2’06.157
13. Yamaha Test Team 2’06.464
Jorge Lorenzo 48 varv
“Today was hard work and I am honestly quite tired after six hours of riding in this heat! We worked on a lot of new things with the setting and I feel like I am making progress in some areas. I’m still having trouble under braking though and I don’t feel so comfortable with the front end; we made some improvements today in this area but I know we have more to do and I still have a lot to learn and some changes to make to my riding style. I was able to do a few laps on the new 2008 bike today, which I enjoyed and, even though it was only a few laps, my feeling about it is quite good. The most important thing at the moment though is to improve the feeling with the front end and so we will try again tomorrow! I hope that we have a completely dry day so we can use all of the testing time and have a good last day.”
Daniele Romagnoli – Team Manager
“When we finally got started early this afternoon Jorge was having some difficulties on the brakes and wasn’t completely comfortable in the front end. We therefore adjusted some settings and worked on giving him a better feeling so he was able to do more laps at a time. He is improving but the major factor we need to work on still is the braking. Tonight we will check some data and analyse the situation together with the rider to work out how to improve things for him tomorrow. We are making progress but we have a lot of work to do still and we hope the weather will remain dry so we can take full advantage of our final day.”
Masahiko Nakajima – Fiat Yamaha Team Director
“Today Jorge did almost six hours straight and this is a long time to be concentrating and riding in this heat, so I think he’s a little bit tired tonight! We had the time to try many things today and it seems that we’ve found a good direction in which to work towards the right base setting for him, so this is something positive. He also completed a few laps on the new 2008 prototype bike, just to get his initial feeling, which is quite positive. We’ve continued to work with him specifically on stability under braking and acceleration and he’s definitely making progress and improving in these important areas as he becomes more used to the bike, but there is still more work to do. The braking point is something quite progressive so we hope that tomorrow he can make the next step in this area.”
Nicky Hayden 65 varv
"Overall I'm really pleased with today, it's been very positive. We could have ended up with no track time today after getting to the circuit and having to wait three hours for the track to dry. In the end it was a good day. I went out on the 2007 machine first to confirm a few things and within a handful of laps I'd gone one second faster that yesterday so that was pretty encouraging. Then I devoted most of the afternoon to the 2008 machine. We played around with the engine mapping and tried some front tyre options from Michelin. We're still looking for a bit more power but it's not easy, the machine is brand new so all the team is learning. After the Valencia test last week we thought it might be a tough ask to come to Sepang and do as well as we have today – we thought we'd be further away, so to do the lap time this afternoon and match the 2007 machine lap time is very positive. And I smoked my first snake, the poor thing. I was just heading through turn 11 when the snake sat up and I saw it but I was committed on the apex of the corner. I picked the machine up and tried to avoid him but caught him with my knee. I'm pretty sure it was a cobra and I'm sorry for it."