Watch out MotoGP world, Casey Stoner left the last pre-season test at Jerez on the top of the timesheets only after his last and final lap, but don’t be fooled by that lone flying lap because the reigning World Champion on mini-run of 11 laps (Stoner doesn’t do race simulations) was lapping constantly in the middle and high 1.
39s on worn tires and with some chatter that the Honda’s have suffered from with the weight increase and the new Bridgestone tires.
“Today we were really pleased with the lap times we’re running but I think we can still improve the bike quite a bit before the race here,” said Stoner.
“Anyway we feel like we’ve made some progress on a track like this for us.
We did a lot of laps and a longer run to get a little more understanding of fuel consumption and things like this and in general we’re satisfied with how the whole test has gone for us.
Now we can go racing which is what we really enjoy.
Towards the end of the day we had some chattering but we have an idea what caused this and it’s not the same as in Sepang.
”Team mate Dani Pedrosa instead did a full 27 lap race simulation as he has a little more trouble physically on the bigger and heavier 1000cc bike but he didn’t mention any chattering issues on his Honda, but needs to improve on braking and corner entry.
“We’ve been working a lot with the chassis in the morning to prepare the race simulation.
But by the time we were ready, we had to stop twice in the box for an issue with the rear brake.
Finally, on my third exit, I could make it.
I did the full race distance, 27 laps, and I’m quite satisfied with the result, the lap times were pretty good even though it was very windy in the afternoon, it’s also been also good physical training for me.
In general, I think we’ve done a good pre-season, we only need to improve a little more on braking and corner entry… It would help us for the first race of the season”.
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