Solid start for Repsol Honda

From Repsol Honda

Repsol Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden made a solid start to this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai, ending Friday’s two practice sessions third and sixth fastest.

In hot and humid conditions the pair both made good progress with their RC212Vs, fine-tuning settings for this unusual circuit which features MotoGP’s fastest straight and its heaviest braking demands, the penultimate corner requiring riders to decelerate from more than 320km/h to just 50km/h. On Friday afternoon Pedrosa’s RC212V was the second fastest motorcycle on that straight at 326.0km/h.

Spaniard Pedrosa, currently joint leader of the 2008 MotoGP World Championship, focused his efforts on his RC212V’s chassis and tire combination. His best time was a 2:00.361.

“Today’s two sessions were quite good for the first day, but we still need to improve our overall package here," he said. "During both sessions we concentrated mostly on chassis set-up and tire choice, working to improve overall performance. My pace was faster this afternoon but not quite what we had expected, so we need to keep on working.”

American Hayden made a big jump forward following the morning outing, after which his crew made crucial changes to rear-suspension set-up and other detail settings, allowing him to cut an impressive eight tenths of a second from his first session pace. He finished up with a time of 2:00.607.

“This afternoon was quite a lot better than this morning," he said. "Even though our position isn’t a lot better, our gap to the front has come down a lot. After the morning session we changed the spring and made quite a lot of other small changes. Straight away this afternoon the bike worked a lot better and I enjoyed riding it more.”

Free Practice 2 Results
1. CASEY STONER AUS Ducati Marlboro Team 2:00.163
2. VALENTINO ROSSI ITA Fiat Yamaha Team + 0.052
3. DANI PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team + 0.198
4. SHINYA NAKANO JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini + 0.390
5. JOHN HOPKINS USA Kawasaki Racing Team + 0.428
6. NICKY HAYDEN USA Repsol Honda Team + 0.444
7. ALEX DE ANGELIS RSM San Carlo Honda Gresini + 0.768
8. LORIS CAPIROSSI ITA Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 0.801
9. ANDREA DOVIZIOSO ITA JiR Team Scot MotoGP + 0.864
10. COLIN EDWARDS USA Tech 3 Yamaha + 0.901
11. TONI ELIAS SPA Alice Team + 1.163
12. CHRIS VERMEULEN AUS Rizla Suzuki MotoGP + 1.341
13. JAMES TOSELAND GBR Tech 3 Yamaha + 1.635
14. MARCO MELANDRI ITA Ducati Marlboro Team + 1.750
15. ANTHONY WEST AUS Kawasaki Racing Team + 1.839
16. SYLVAIN GUINTOLI FRA Alice Team + 2.185
17. RANDY DE PUNIET FRA LCR Honda MotoGP + 2.244