Aussie Casey Stoner has said his Repsol Honda RC212V was instantly fast at Qatar yesterday as he lapped second quickest behind teammate Dani Pedrosa.
This is a track that Stoner likes. The 25-year-old won the race three years on the trot, from 2007 through 2009. The streak was broken last year when he had a front end while easing away from the field. Otherwise his dominance might stretch over four years.
Having done most of the development testing in Sepang, Stoner is concentrating on confirming the work that was done there with the season about to kick off.
Like Pedrosa, he was focusing on race set-up, which is very different than in Sepang, as well as tyres. Stoner found more success with the softer compound, though his lap times varied little on the harder tyre.
“Everything has gone well with the bike and in general we don’t have a whole lot to test here – we’re just trying to get more out of the balance of the bike,” Stoner explained.
“Both bikes have the same chassis but we tried very different riding positions. It seems to be more difficult to get a decent lap time on the harder tyres, having made my fastest time on an older soft tyre, but our consistency seems to be very good also with the hardest compound.
“We’ve been trying to get a little bit more grip and turning out of the bike and work on set-up for this circuit, focusing on race set-up.
“It’s nice to be so close to the season and at the final test, I’m just pleased the team reached here safely and there were no casualties back in the HRC Headquarters in Saitama, my thoughts are with all the people in Japan.”
All three Repsol Honda riders wore black armbands as a mark of respect and to show solidarity with the victims and survivors of the devastating earthquake.
Teammate Dani Pedrosa was fastest on night one at Qatar and he has enjoyed a positive off-season working alongside Stoner.
Today it was clear that Pedrosa was ready to race. Pedrosa believes that times will begin to come down once the track cleans up, though he’s starting from a position of power.
The set-up here is much different than in Sepang, which gave the team the chance to test a number of new solutions, which clearly have been effective.
“It was a positive first day of practice. We didn’t test anything in special, because our priority today was checking that the bike was also working well here in Qatar, a very different circuit than Sepang, where we did the main winter testing,” the Spaniard said.
“We basically worked on the set-up of the bike, to adapt it for this layout and conditions, and tomorrow we will continue working on mappings and a front fork.
“It seems like the lap times are closer here than in Sepang, and I’m sure that the times will improve for all because at this track the surface is quite dirty at the beginning, so we will see tomorrow and I hope to make another step forward and close the winter test in a good shape.
“I’d also like to say I’m very sorry about what happened in Japan. My Japanese mechanics and engineers were explaining the situation there and it’s very moving.”