Althea Ducati’s Carlos Checa left the Valencia test the fastest on track and on the first day of WSBK official testing at Phillip Island, the Spanish rider came out again on the top of the charts, with a best time of 1.
31.
959 and 90 laps on his Ducati.
Michel Fabrizio on the factory Ducati was second fastest of the day, 0.
390 seconds behind Checa while team mate Noriyuki Haga spent the afternoon testing Pirelli tires came out fourth overall and placed his best time in the morning session.
Leon Haslam was the fastest rider in the morning, but with higher track temperares in the afternoon couldn’t better himself, but was able to keep third place overall.
Jonathan Rea, shaved off more than a second from his morning times to finish in fifth overall and according to his Twitter page, it was tough going, especially the morning session.
After the jump rider quotes and overall testing results from day 1.
Carlos Checa:”It’s really surprising for me to score the best lap time here in Phillip Island in my first day of testing with my new bike and my new team.
I also reached first position in Valencia, but doing it here is more significant to me because I’m a bit tired due to jet lag.
In Portimao I wasn’t able to take advantage of the soft tire, but today I understood how to use my Ducati with a softer rear tire.
I want to thank all of my technical staff because they helped me immensely with their elevated experience and know-how with Ducati bikes.
Tomorrow I’ll be testing some new components and I’ll definitely try to improve my race pace.
”Noriyuki Haga:“It’s been a positive day.
We tried various things, making changes to the rear suspension setting and testing the different tyres on offer.
The problem is being able to identify a direction during these test days that will also work next Sunday, it’s difficult to predict how the conditions will be in a week’s time.
Anyway we’ve worked hard today and made some good progress.
” Michel Fabrizio: “It hasn’t gone badly today.
We’ve worked mainly on tyres, trying to find a good race pace.
We’re not quite there yet but we’ve made a good start and know what there is to do tomorrow.
It’s very hot but after our recent cold and wet tests in Portimao and Valencia we can’t complain!” Shane Byrne :”I think today was really a very good day.
At the beginning everything was fine while in the middle we struggled just a little bit, but in the end the team finished by doing a very good job.
Compliments to Carlos for his very impressive lap time.
In the last few minutes we tried a softer tire only on the rear wheel without changing the front tire, and I was not able to improve my best lap time as much as I hoped to do.
But overall, I’m really pleased because this morning I was in sixth position, but this afternoon I ended up in fourth position (the second session) and this means I’m close to the top positions.
Tomorrow I’ll continue working with my team to improve my bike’s set-up and performance.
” Cal Crutchlow: “Not the fastest day I’ve had, it doesn’t feel natural to be that low on the times, but I know we’ll improve on that tomorrow.
It’s only our first day on the new bike so we’re really working hard to get the set up right so we can hit the ground running.
” James Toseland: “A steady day for us today.
We’ve been focusing on getting the new chassis set-up right, so not been trying to break any lap records, just solid track time to fine tune the bike.
I’m looking forward to getting back out tomorrow and improving on today.
” Troy Corser: “For sure, I’m pretty happy with what we achieved today and of course I’m also happy to be back at Phillip Island.
It’s a fantastic circuit, though I do think it may be a bit more bumpy this year compared to last.
The grip level was good in the morning when it was cooler, but we did manage to find some good grip in the afternoon and that together with the higher track temperature affected the bike more and gave us a few things to think about.
The bike has improved in some places and not so much in others since we were last here, so we know we still have some work to do.
We did some work on the traction control and the gearing and will continue the work tomorrow.
The wind got a bit buffety in the afternoon, but it was consistent and the good news is that I didn’t hit any seabirds this time, though I did see a lot near the track.
Hopefully we will have a good day tomorrow and get the bike in good shape for the race next weekend.
”1 7 Checa C.
(ESP) Ducati 1098R 1′31.
9592 84 Fabrizio M.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 1′32.
3493 91 Haslam L.
(GBR) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′32.
4844 41 Haga N.
(JPN) Ducati 1098R 1′32.
5185 65 Rea J.
(GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 1′32.
5446 67 Byrne S.
(GBR) Ducati 1098R 1′32.
6717 76 Neukirchner M.
(GER) Honda CBR1000RR 1′32.
7358 3 Biaggi M.
(ITA) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.
1′32.
8329 96 Smrz J.
(CZE) Ducati 1098R 1′32.
91210 57 Lanzi L.
(ITA) Ducati 1098R 1′32.
97911 52 Toseland J.
(GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1′33.
13512 50 Guintoli S.
(FRA) Suzuki GSX-R1000 1′33.
19013 66 Sykes T.
(GBR) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′33.
22214 11 Corser T.
(AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1′33.
29915 35 Crutchlow C.
(GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 1′33.
44416 111 Xaus R.
(ESP) BMW S1000 RR 1′33.
49817 77 Vermeulen C.
(AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′33.
64818 88 Pitt A.
(AUS) BMW S1000 RR 1′33.
69919 25 Brookes J.
(AUS) Honda CBR1000RR 1′33.
71020 2 Camier L.
(GBR) Aprilia RSV4 1000 F.
1′33.
85221 123 Resch R.
(AUT) BMW S1000 RR 1′34.
36122 31 Iannuzzo V.
(ITA) Honda CBR1000RR 1′35.
26023 15 Baiocco M.
(ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′36.
08724 95 Hayden R.
(USA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1′36.
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