Cal Crutchlow set the third fastest time in today’s MotoGP test session at Jerez and was just 0.
049s adrift from both Yamaha factory riders, and despite grumblings over his dated version of the M1 he was able to keep almost the same pace as Rossi and Lorenzo.
Andrea Dovizioso was the fastest Ducati rider on day 2 and he was just a little less than eight tenths from the top of the timesheets and two tenths faster than Nicky Hayden’s qualifying lap at Jerez last year but the Italian rider is still having problems about curving the bike on corners.
Day 2 also say several crashes like Alvaro Bautista who suffered two small finger fractures, Andrea Iannone who partially destroyed his GP13 (the one with the different weight distribution) Stefan Bradl binned his RC213V Honda for the second straight day and Randy de Puniet also crashed his ART bike.
Check out what these riders and some of the others had to say regarding today’s test.
Cal Crutchlow – 3rd “I am very happy with how today went and it was good to get in some laps in the dry.
We had a few things to try with the bike and the weather meant we could assess what was positive and negative.
It wasn’t easy at the start because the track was really dirty and then later on it got quite cold and slippery, but we got some important work completed on the set-up.
My Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team did a great job and I am sure with some small adjustments tomorrow we can be faster.
The pleasing aspect of today was I was very consistent and that makes me confident for when we come back for the race here.
The fact that the top three was filled by Yamaha also bodes well for the race in a few weeks.
I am right in the mix with the factory bikes again and this is very satisfying for me.
” Andrea Dovizioso – 5th“Looking at the result, you could certainly say the gap of seven tenths isn’t bad, but you can’t really refer to the times because it will probably be dry tomorrow and the track will be faster.
Today we did a number of tests with the setup, and I’m curious to see what we can do tomorrow.
Anyway, there are a number of aspects we have to work on because we’re still behind.
”Alvaro Bautista – 6th “We didn’t need the crash because we were having a good day and getting a lot of work done together with Showa.
The latest updates were working well but we didn’t get to finish the programme we had planned.
It’s a shame but the only consolation is that we would have had to stop shortly afterwards anyway because of the rain.
Unfortunately I ended up with fractures to two of my fingers and a knee strain which has put the final day of the test in doubt.
We will let the Clinica Mobile doctors assess my condition in the morning and take it from there.
”Stefan Bradl – 8th “Today it was not the perfect day for us but, at least, we had some dry conditions.
However, with poor grip conditions after yesterday’s washout, we have struggled with the front going into the corners in the braking areas.
It took us some time to analyze the problem and to find a solution and I also crashed because of this lack of confidence with the front.
When we adjusted the problem I could lap with more confidence increasing my feeling but I know we still have to fine-tune the package to go faster”.
Andrea Iannone – 9th“It was a positive day despite the crash that forced me to stop.
I was able to have a good feeling with the bike and get some good impressions.
I’m sorry for the fall but I was trying to improve my pace and unfortunately these things can happen.
I am very positive and I hope to be fast as soon as possible.
”Nicky Hayden – 10th“We finally got a couple of good hours of track time.
It was a bit windy, but the track dried up and grip was okay.
I was struggling with the wind in the fast corners, and those are important at Jerez.
We tried the different fairing, and it helped a little in the wind, but in the fast corners I didn’t have as good a feeling in the front.
Things didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, though my hand was a little better in the dry than I had expected.
It was a little weak, but I was able to ride 35 laps with no drama.
”Bradley Smith – 12th“Today was positive because I really need dry track time and also to get some data of riding the bike on a track other than Sepang.
I felt much happier than in Malaysia because it is a track I definitely like and we can see from the top three that it suits the Yamaha very well too.
Immediately from the first exit I felt comfortable and knew my reference points quicker.
It was easier for me to pick up the pace and we made some really good improvements and progress during the first four exits.
We tried some set-up modifications to get an idea about my feedback and at that point we realized that we were going in the wrong direction and just as we came back to what I liked it started raining and that was a shame.
I still need to improve a lot but the gap to the firs t six is not as big as Sepang and that is a positive.
I followed Valentino for a short time today and it was a very interesting experience.
I could pick up some things about riding technique and I could understand that I need to be a little smoother.
”Aleix Espargaró – 13th “We finally had some dry track time today and we had a lot of work to do on the bike, so luckily every lap we did was productive.
We still need to make some comparisons between last year’s bike and this year’s so we dialled them both in with similar set-ups and did some back-to-back tests.
I love the new bike but I don’t know it as well as the 2012 version so we’re working on it.
We tried a bunch of different set-up options on both bikes to try to find a more comfortable setting.
If the weather is good tomorrow we will work on getting the lap time down.
”Randy De Puniet – 16th“Even though the weather was better today we had to wait until lunchtime before we could ride because the track was quite damp.
At the start we had a few problems under braking, I didn’t feel comfortable with the bike and I was struggling to stop it so we had to work on that all day, adjusting the engine braking.
We had it sorted for the afternoon but it started raining.
We wanted to do one last run at the end of the day just to test a few things but I crashed at turn eight.
I was lucky I wasn’t hurt because we don’t know why it happened so we have work to do tomorrow.
”Ben Spies – 18th“We didn’t have a great day, but now we know a little more about the bike and we improved quite a bit even with my shoulder problem.
I am happy because it feels better and better.
We know we are a bit slower than where we wanted to be, but I had some good laps, we worked hard and we have got some changes to do tomorrow to get more confidence with the bike.
”Karel Abraham – 19th“The morning was very wet for a long time so we didn´t ride out and waited for improvement.
The overall result is quite good, mainly because we´re achieving comparable times with some of the factory team riders.
And today´s gap to the winner wasn´t that big either.
We had some troubles with tyres, but nothing really serious.
In one moment during the test, just when everyone around me started speeding up, I was slower on the corner exit and that´s why we decided to try a brand new engine.
Unfortunately it started to rain at that moment so we managed to finish the test session for today.
“ Bryan Staring – 21st “I am really happy because we have been able to make a lot of progress compared to yesterday and, with the help of the team, set some fast and consistent lap times.
I have to say that I really love Jerez, I reckon it is one of the nicest tracks in the world and that has given me another push.
Now we need to confirm our pace tomorrow and try to show everybody and myself what my true potential is.
”Photo source @andreaiannonetwitter.
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