Good Start For Toni Elias On The RC212V - November 16th 2006

Honda RC212V riders profit of the ideal track conditions at Sepang (Malaysia) to carry on the test programme spoiled yesterday by torrential rain.

The Spaniard Toni Elias of the Gresini Honda team completed in total 60 laps. Toni made some tyre testing together with Bridgestone technicians and lapped with the target to understand the bike before staring to work on the set up.

Toni Elias (2.03.903, 60 laps): ""We have to improve many things but today we didn't change too much on the bike, nothing big on chassis and suspension because we are trying to understand how the bike behaves on Bridgestone tyres. I am happy about the Bridgestone performance. Machine balance is not so bad and we can definitely improve with chassis and suspension changes. Basically this was my first full day of testing with the new generation RCV and I just need more laps on the machine to understand but its definitely easier to ride than the 990cc, its more like a 250 and has higher corner speed, you can get on the gas hard and very early with this bike."

Unofficial Lap Times;

1. John Hopkins, Suzuki: 2m 02.77s.
2. Chris Vermeulen, Suzuki: 2m 02.78s.
3. Colin Edwards, Yamaha: 2m 02.91s.
4. Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 2m 03.73s.
5. Toni Elias, Gresini Honda: 2m 03.903s.
6. Carlos Checa, LCR Honda: 2m 04.085s.
7. Olivier Jacque, 990cc Kawasaki: 2m 04.49s.
8. Makoto Tamada, 990cc Yamaha: 2m 04.69s.