After two testing sessions in the heat of Malaysia, firstly in January and then just four days ago, the MotoGP teams today began a three day session at Phillip Island, Australia, in much fresher temperatures of around 23ºC. The two Camel Honda riders were amongst the first out onto the track and immediately began working on the set-up of their bikes for this technical and demanding circuit. Alex improved on his best time from the Australian Grand Prix here last October whilst Troy felt much more comfortable in comparison with Malaysia.
Ramon Forcada - Camel Honda - (Chief Engineer for Alex Barros)
"Today we didn't work too much on the set-up because we're concentrating particularly on tyres. We started out with the same base set-up as Sepang and in order to be able to properly assess the difference between the tyres we decided not to play around too much with the settings. Tomorrow we'll work more on the forks and the engine, and then the electronics. We saw from the telemetry data that in a couple of corners Alex isn't as comfortable as last season so we know where we have to make the changes."
Alex Barros - Camel Honda - 1'30.61 (89 laps) 3rd fastest
"Today I was already able to do a 1'30.6, one tenth quicker than my best time from the GP here last year, but I am still not completely satisfied because my pace isn't that good. I need a bit more grip on the front and we also need to work on rear traction. Today we tried some different tyres but we've still got some more to try tomorrow on the front and the rear. I'm sure we'll also work to improve the set-up of the bike tomorrow, working on the suspension and electronics. There's definitely room for improvement as far as the set-up is concerned".
Santiago Mulero - Camel Honda (Chief Engineer for Troy Bayliss)
"Troy was the first rider out today, when the temperature of the track was still quite low. This is his circuit and he is determined to improve, which has given the whole team a lot of motivation. We're working a lot on the geometry of the bike, on the suspension and the electronics. We know we've still got a long way to go but we're working with maximum effort and concentration."
Troy Bayliss - Camel Honda - 1'31.8 (97 laps) 13th fastest
"It's nice to be back in Australia at my home circuit. I've got a lot of references here and I know my way around really well, so when I had the same feeling here as in Sepang I was sure that it is something we have to work on in the set-up of the bike. More than anything it means that if we can get things right here, we'll be okay at all of the other tracks. We have to work hard and we started to do that today without stopping. I did almost a hundred laps and we've already come up with a few modifications to try tomorrow."
Unofficial lap times;
- 1. Gibernau (Honda) - 1'30.32;
- 2. Rossi (Yamaha) - 1'30.57;
- 3. Barros (Camel Honda) - 1'30.60;
- 4. Hayden (Honda) - 1'30.61;
- 5. Biaggi (Honda) - 1'30.65;
- 6. Checa (Ducati) - 1'30.69;
- 7. Capirossi (Ducati) - 1'30.81;
- 8. Edwards (Yamaha) - 1'31.21;
- 9. Melandri (Honda) - 1'31.32;
- 10. Tamada (Honda) - 1'31.42;
- 11. Hopkins (Suzuki) - 1'31.32;
- 12. Roberts (Suzuki) - 1'31.61;
- 13. Bayliss (Camel Honda) - 1'31.80;
- 14. Xaus (Ducati) - 1'32.27;
- 15. Elias (Ducati) - 1'33.54
