Day one of three days of the final pre-season MotoGP test of the year in Jerez de la Frontera, was conditioned by off-and-on rainfall limiting the amount of useful track time for the MotoGP teams and riders, here’s what some of the rest of riders had to say about the conditions, but as Andrea Dovizioso said ‘today’s times aren’t really a reference” as some got their best laps in when the asphalt was less wet.
Check out also our huge gallery after the jump.
Andrea Iannone – 4th“I think we did a good job today, I have been able to try a little things to understand the electronics with these weather conditions, and also the differences between MotoGP and my old category.
The bike and the tires have a lot of grip that I did not expect.
I have a great feeling with the team and I am very happy.
Today is just the first of three days and we hope in a dry track tomorrow in order to try more stuff on it.
”Nicky Hayden – 7th“Of course the rain was a big factor, especially this morning, but I was able to get on the track this afternoon.
I wanted to check a few things with the electronics and get some track time here on the bike that has the revised weight distribution.
I didn’t want to do many exits today because we only have four sets of rain tyres for the three days, and this track uses them up quickly.
We made a few small changes, and each time the feeling was a little better.
My wrist was a bit stiff when I first went out, but I had no numbness or pain, at least in the wet.
Hopefully we’ll get some dry track time over the next two days, because we’d also like to work on a setup for the race when we come back here in May.
” Cal Crutchlow – 8th “It’s a shame about the weather today and I didn’t decide to go out until the middle of the afternoon for a few laps.
I ended up only doing 19 laps because I wanted to use only one set of tyres to keep some back for tomorrow when it looks like it will be raining again.
The set I used today wore quite quickly but on the 800s we used a lot more lean angle and on the 1000 you have a lot more power going through the tyre and it is wearing faster.
A lot of those in front of me put in a second set of tyres to go faster and I am sure if I’d done the same I’d have been much higher up.
I was third after only five laps but I am not worried about the lap time.
I tried a new setting for the rain that didn’t work so we went back to last year’s setting and I had a good feeling again.
We will see what the weather brings for tomorrow but I am hoping we can get a bit of time in the dry before we pack up for the first race in Qatar.
” Stefan Bradl – 9th “Unfortunately it was raining the whole day but we tried to proceed with our job anyway.
We made 33 laps in total but, at the beginning of the day, we struggled a bit with the base set-up but we fixed after two runs.
I felt comfortable in the wet and, on new tyres, we made a 14-lap long run with acceptable lap times considering the slippery surface.
But, at the end of that long run, I touched the white line and had a big slide crashing in the gravel.
It was basically my mistake but on these conditions it can happen.
Luckily I am unhurt and hope to have track time in the dry tomorrow”.
Andrea Dovizioso – 10th“I went out this morning in order to get a better feeling in the rain, and there was really a lot of it at first.
I wasn’t worried about the lap times because it was my first time in the wet with the GP13.
We only have four sets of rain tyres to try in three days, so we couldn’t do all the testing we wanted or even try and go for a quick time.
Because I rode this morning, I only had one tyre for this afternoon, and when the conditions were faster, I did my best time with a used tyre.
Anyway, today’s times aren’t really a reference.
We also did some tests to improve with the electronics, but unfortunately today we couldn’t do a real evaluation because of the weather conditions.
”Ben Spies – 11th“First time for me on the bike in the rain and first time in the rain since I crashed but I just want to get back into it.
Today was the first of three days and we didn’t want to do anything too crazy, tomorrow more or less we will have rain again so I will have more time with these weather conditions and we do need it to get used to the bike.
I stopped a little early also because the track was starting to dry and it was kind of in between rain and dry.
I think we did a good job today and we will see what the weather does tomorrow.
Alvaro Bautista – 13th “Today has been a very strange day and we have hardly been able to get any work done.
The rain was heavy at times and at other times not so much and it didn’t help because the track conditions were not consistent.
We tried some thing with the aim of improving our feeling in the wet but it wasn’t easy and the tyre performance dropped off quite quickly.
We just have to wait now and hope that the conditions are better tomorrow so that we can complete the programme we have for this test.
”Bradley Smith – 16th“When you need as much dry track time as possible to build up experience, the last thing I wanted to see was conditions like today.
Of course it is still good to get some time in the rain because that is also good experience for me but I only did two runs this afternoon.
I was able to understand the bike quite quickly but the plan was always to use just one set of tyres today and keep the rest for tomorrow.
With the tyres we have kept back for tomorrow it will mean I can have a lot of time on track to understand more about riding in the wet.
I didn’t try and push too hard and I was quite cautious because the last thing I want to be doing is crashing.
But I could understand the maximum lean grip, even with so much horsepower, was incredible.
Tomorrow we will wait and see what happens with the weather but rain or sh ine I’ll be out on track trying to learn as much as possible because it is the experience on the bike that I am lacking.
”Bryan Staring – 21st“The conditions weren’t the best today but I am happy because the bike didn’t feel too different to the dry.
With every lap I was able to improve my braking and my overall feeling, so it has been a positive day for us because I have already said a few times we need laps on the bike in any condition.
Obviously there are some things we need to test in dry conditions so hopefully the weather will improve tomorrow.
”
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