Marco Simoncelli topped the timesheets during the testing session held at Estoril the day after the Portugal GP. Simoncelli was happy with his test results, but was a little disappointed that he couldn’t find that speed during the race.
“I'm obviously satisfied after this test, but I’m also angry because we showed again that yesterday we could have ridden with the first group,” said Simoncelli. “We tried something new that could definitely help us in the future and the new Bridgestone tire for 2012, and I'm quite happy with that too.”
Simoncelli completed 90 laps while working on his new settings, and eventually brought his lap time to 1’36.211, just over a tenth of a second faster than Jorge Lorenzo. Lorenzo was the second fastest rider today as he racked up more than 90 laps around the Estoril track.
Valentino Rossi also put a lot of work in today, doing 82 laps during the testing session. Rossi was fifth fastest for the day behind Casey Stoner and Cal Colin Edwards, but more importantly, the number of laps he rode shows that his shoulder is becoming less of a hindrance.
“We finally chose the new chassis and now we have a clear direction to follow,” said Rossi. “We also made some changes to the engine and now I'm more confident with the bike. Unfortunately the rivals also made great improvements and our gap is still too big to the front. The shoulder is good now, but of course after the first 50 laps I was a bit tired and I had no chance to try the new Bridgestone tyres in a good shape. Anyway the feeling with that is great.”
Dani Pedrosa, on the other hand, couldn’t handle the pain in his shoulder. Pedrosa, who won the Estoril race, only put in a handful of laps before calling it quits.
MotoGP Estoril Testing Session Results
- Simoncelli - San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:36.211
- Lorenzo - Yamaha Factory Racing +0.105
- Stoner - Repsol Honda Team +0.391
- Crutchlow - Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +0.639
- Rossi - Ducati Marlboro Team +1.171
- Edwards - Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +1.199
- Spies - Yamaha Factory Racing +1.210
- Dovizioso - Repsol Honda Team +1.249
- Hayden - Ducati Marlboro Team +1.252
- Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team +1.468
