The MotoGP riders didn’t have much to say about today’s test at Jerez as the rain hindered much of the riding, but Nicky Hayden was happy to have topped the timesheets for once, even though it was on his last flying lap when the track was practically dry.
Hayden mentioned that his GP12 seems to go better in the dry than in the wet, just the opposite of the GP11 and its multitude of versions, and on his 1000cc he’s having trouble in acceleration especially on the exit of the longer corners that doesn’t give him enough traction and stability.
“It’s a shame about the weather because I’d like to take advantage of as much time as possible to work on the bike, since I lost so much time in the past few months,” said Hayden.
“That’s how it was today though, and it does no good to complain, especially since I had the chance to try the GP12 in the rain for the first time, improving my feeling little by little.
We took a long break when the track started to dry out, and we put on the slicks at the end, even though there were still some wet patches out there.
I was able to do a couple exits to try the two little changes that we’d planned yesterday.
Considering that the conditions weren’t perfect, it’s positive that we quickly come close to my best time from yesterday.
Now we hope the weather will let us work well tomorrow, because we’d like to improve some details before Qatar, especially with traction in the fast corners.
”Valentino Rossi finished the finished the day in 19th and having rode all his 18 laps in the rain.
Today’s weather didn’t help the Ducati factory rider who seems to be exactly in the same position as last year even with a brand new bike – unable to sort out front end woes and and complaining of an uncomfortable riding position.
“I’m sorry too have lost practically the entire day of testing, even if we still did three exits with wet tyres and a wet setup, to confirm the feelings we had in similar conditions at the last test.
Otherwise, there’s not much to say.
We couldn’t work well today, but the forecast for tomorrow is better, so we hope to be able to continue working on the setup that we identified at the end of the day yesterday,” commented Valentino Rossi.
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