Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner completes second test day on 2012 Honda prototype – MotoGP news
Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner, who recently won the French GP, completed the second test day on the 2012 1000cc RCV prototype.
The test followed the successful results from the first day’s test ride. The prototype is being tested at Jerez, Spain.
A two-week break before the Grand Prix of Catalunya gives Honda Racing Corporation plenty of time to test the new breed of RCV.
The original schedule was to give the new 2012 prototype to Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa for one day each. Due to the recent incident of Pedrosa’s crash where he had his right collarbone fractured, his part of test session was terminated. The accident took
place at Le Mans during the recently held Monster Energy Grand Prix de France.
After gathering all the facts, HRC decided to have one more day with Casey Stoner and test rider Ito Shinichi for testing the 2012 machine.
With pleasant weather and blowing winds, the temperatures were lower than the first test day. Stoner completed 25 laps in the morning session without any problem. In the following afternoon session, the HRC test rider Ito Shinichi took hold of the new 1000cc
prototype. The HRC engineers were pleased after testing the machine for two days and gathering valuable data from the riders and the bike.
The inaugural test sessions were commenced by the test riders for HRC, Kousuke Akiyoshi and Ito Shinichi at the Suzuka Circuit of Japan. The first test was done in April 2011.
The morning session of the first test day was started by Ito Shinichi by doing some laps on the Jerez circuit. Stoner marked 50 laps in total covering 221kms during his session. On the first day, Stoner used standard 800cc Bridgestone tyres. Later he used
the new compound tyres being developed for the 2012 campaign.
The Repsol Honda rider Casey Stoner was optimistic after the first ride on the new prototype and he said, “Everything has gone very well, very positive. It's just nice to ride the 1000cc again, to feel the engine and the power. I had a lot of fun, I enjoyed
the first day because everything we've tried seems to be working, so no complaints.”
Stoner was not pleased with the fact that his teammate Pedrosa could not make it on the test day and hoped he gets well soon to make a comeback in Catalunya.
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