Marco Simoncelli leads the test after Portuguese Grand Prix – MotoGP news
San Carlo Honda rider Marco Simoncelli was the man to lead the test session after the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix held on Monday.
The official test was held after the third round on MotoGP, bwin Grande Premio de Portugal. The team riders gathered to test their respective machines once again after the last Qatar’s pre-season test.
The Italian, San Carlo rider finished the test being the fastest at 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 valuable because the riders
experienced the new tyre compound provided by Bridgestone. 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 new clutch settings throughout the test run and completed 70 laps in the whole day.
Marco Simoncelli 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 Spanish Grand Prix winner Lorenzo was focused to test the electronics of his M1 and also tested the suspension system for better traction. With 91 laps on the clock, the Spaniard was third with the most laps on the test day. He was the second fastest
rider of the day.
Casey Stoner of the Repsol Honda Team was the third fastest man on the time sheet on Monday. He worked to enhance his RCV’s race settings for 49 laps in total. His total laps were less than many of his World Championship title rivals.
Cal Crutchlow was fourth fastest with Monster Yamaha Tech3 M1 standing two places ahead of his teammate Colin Edwards. The Tech3 duo worked to upgrade their Sunday’s race setting. The Brit has appeared at the Portuguese circuit for the first time, where
he worked to get a better racing setup. Colin Edwards struggled to get more traction out of his modified chassis.
The Ducati rider Valentino Rossi was fifth fastest on the clock with his GP11 and teammate Nicky Hayden was ninth on time sheet. Both Ducati riders ran for comparing their new chassis settings with the original settings used at the Sunday race. They also
worked on the new electronics. Rossi ran 82 laps and Hayden completed 89 laps in the day. Rossi is more satisfied with his shoulder conditions, with less pain and free movement compared to the start of the season.
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