The three days of testing at Jerez circuit have been very productive for the factory Repsol Honda riders, with Casey Stoner finishing on top again today (Sunday) with a best lap time of 1'38.780 and Dani Pedrosa, in third position with 1'39.157.
Both riders spent this morning preparing their bikes for a longer run. Dani made a race simulation, with 27 laps in low 1'40"s, finishing reasonably happy with his performance and the bike behaviour. Casey also took positive information from a long run of 12 laps, of which eight were in the 1'39"s.
The next time that Repsol Honda riders will go on track will be April 5th at Losail circuit, for the first practice of the Grand Prix of Qatar, the first race of the 2012 season.
Casey Stoner:
"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. Anyway we feel like we've made some progress on a track like this for us. 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. 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."
Dani Pedrosa:
"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."
Repsol Honda press release
