Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama pleased after testing race settings - MotoGP Update
San Carlo Honda Gresini riders, Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama, were pleased after testing of their race settings, held after the bwin Grande Premio de Portugal.
The one day of official testing provided an important opportunity for the teams and riders. San Carlo Honda Gresini team also availed the time after a drastic end to their Sunday’s race, on May 1.
Simoncelli was once again back in full swing to put back the shame after his consecutive ‘Did Not Finish’ status. Previously, he has also proved his pace in the first pre-season test held at Sepang, during early February.
San Carlo Honda rider, Marco Simoncelli, was the man to lead the post-race test session held on Monday, May 2. Team riders gathered to test their respective machines once again, after the last pre-season test, in Qatar.
The Italian rider finished the test being the fastest on the time chart. The test was held in warm, dry conditions, which gave many riders a great chance to run and gather valuable data from their bikes. The test was also crucial because the riders experienced
the new tyre compound, provided by Bridgestone tyres manufacturer, the official tyre supplier to MotoGP. Each rider was given one front and two rear tyres, for the testing round.
Simoncelli’s best lap time was 1: 36.211 seconds, which was a tenth quicker than the present World Championship point leader, Jorge Lorenzo. The Italian worked on his new clutch settings throughout the test run and completed 70 laps, during the whole day.
Simoncelli, while speaking after the test run, said, “I'm obviously satisfied after this test but also angry because we showed one time more that yesterday we could have ridden with the first group. We tried something new that could definitely help us in
the future and the new Bridgestone tyre for 2012, and I'm quite happy with that too.”
The test also provided good results for his team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama, after an exhausting race held on Sunday.
Hiroshi Aoyama, said, “It hasn't been an easy day because I was particularly tired after the race but it was a positive test because we were able to try a lot of things that it is really difficult to do over a Grand Prix weekend.”
The Japanese rider was determined to get his hands on the change in his setup, for which he sustained his speed to a limit. The time was faster than his race best lap time, after the use of the new compound tyres.
The next round, where the grid will come together for action is the Le Mans circuit of France, on May 15.
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