Just a year ago on Friday afternoon at the opening race of the MotoGP World Championship, at two in the afternoon, the green light came on for the first qualifying practices of the season. Today, in line with new regulations, the MotoGP riders instead had a second free practice session, with a single hour tomorrow afternoon deciding the starting grid for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit.
The two Camel Honda team riders therefore dedicated their time to setting up their bikes for the race, without using qualifying tyres. Alex Barros tried two different types of forks, as Troy Bayliss worked to improve his feeling on the front end, cutting half a second off his time from the morning.
Sito Pons – Camel Honda
"We are working to be ready for tomorrow afternoon's qualifying, when the qualifying tyres we chose not to use today will come into play. Tomorrow will be important to try and get good grid position, but also to get up to a higher rhythm, because in the race, to be able to fight with the front pack, you have to be riding constantly quicker than we were today."
Alex Barros – Camel Honda – 1’41.728 10th position
"Today we worked a lot on the bike, but obviously we are still not happy. I could have ridden two or three tenths quicker, but it still wouldn't have been enough because with conditions like today's, the proper pace is about half a second faster. We tried two different sets of forks, but even though the feeling changes, the times remain more or less the same. Evidently tomorrow we will try to find a compromise between the two. We also have to choose the rear tyre, with the front we chose in the test going pretty well. The track has a bit less grip than two weeks ago, so we need to improve adhesion both on the front and the rear."
Troy Bayliss – Camel Honda – 1.42.121 13th position
"I'm not at all satisfied with this first day, where we worked a lot on both bikes to find the right direction for the race. I used race tyres throughout, and I think that tomorrow we can improve considerably as we did since this morning. Above all I want to find a better feeling with the front of my RC211V."
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