The second MotoGP round on US soil got underway today at the Indanapolis Motor Speedway. American Ben Spies lead the way during the first free practice session, but at the end of the day it was season leader Casey Stoner who topped the timesheets.
It was the first time for many of the MotoGP riders to be in the Brickyard since the track was repaved this Summer, and the entire grid agreed, the track surface at Indy is a little slick.
Here are what some of the MotoGP riders had to say after the first day of free practice.
Casey Stoner - 1st - 1'40.724 - "This afternoon the track was slightly better and of course the lap times improved with more bikes on track and cleaning it up, but I'm still not comfortable on this surface. It's incredibly slippery and the track is certainly my least favorite of the whole season.
"It's very tight, slippery and the new surface is pretty bad, it's not just the dirt on the surface but there seems to be something strange where the two surfaces join, some grease of some sort that creates more issues.
Ben Spies - 2nd - 1'40.918 - "I feel a lot better now, almost ok but when I'm off the bike I'm more in pain which is frustrating. It was a good start today, the first session I was waiting to see if the track was going to stay the same but in the end in the afternoon it improved a lot. We were able to be in the top three in both sessions which is great. The track is going to get even better for tomorrow so we're looking forward to making another step forward and seeing what we can do."
Dani Pedrosa - 3rd - 1'41.205 - "The track improved in the second session, at least on the racing line, but outside the line the surface is still very dirty and slippery. However, we made some better lap times; it's just about getting a good setup with the tyres and trying to take care of them. Let's hope that the conditions keep improving throughout the weekend and we can keep working step by step on the set up considering that the tyres will be the key point in this race.
"In general, I'm happier than this morning, we were able to improve by four seconds in just one session, but we have to keep focused and make another step forward tomorrow."
Jorge Lorenzo - 4th - 1'41.461 - "I started today struggling with the new asphalt. The morning was not good, but FP2 was much better and my feeling was really good. I've got grip on the rear now but I still have some problems with the front. I think we can still improve a lot in some parts. Ben is riding very, very well and it means I can be closer. I will try tomorrow to be at the same level as him."
Andrea Dovizioso - 5th - 1'41.536 - "The track improved a lot from the morning to the afternoon and in FP2 the lap times dropped by three seconds. With more rubber on track, the grip changed quickly and now the main issue is tyre wear. This is typical for new asphalt so we have to manage the tyres carefully, with special attention on the front tyre.
"The key point for the race will be managing the tyres. I hope that conditions will improve again tomorrow as with today's situation it's impossible to finish the race. I'm not worried with fifth position as when it was time to push, we weren't able to because we had to keep the tyres for tomorrow so I'm confident that we can be competitive here."
Colin Edwards - 6th - 1'41.699 - "This morning it felt like I was back at the Texas Tornado Boot Camp but just riding a more expensive bike because it was pretty slippery out there. To be honest I actually really enjoyed it even though the grip was a bit sketchy. We all knew that grip was going to be a little bit of an issue this morning but it was 100 per cent dirt track. As soon as you got your knee on the ground the front would go and the rear would come round, but I still had a lot of fun with the bike moving around so much.
"This afternoon with a lot more rubber down it was a lot better and hats off to the folks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They've done an amazing job because the bumps that have been really bad have mostly gone and with a bit more rubber down the surface is going to offer a lot more grip.
"We won't feel the benefit of the new tarmac this year but the changes are for the future and next year it is going to be a million times better. Being third this morning and sixth this afternoon has given me a lot of confidence for the rest of the weekend. I'm not fighting the bike this weekend and it feels awesome."
Marco Simoncelli - 7th - 1'41.742 - "It hasn't been a particularly happy first day here. The new track surface at Indianapolis has given us some grip issues – there wasn't any this morning and maybe a little too much this afternoon.
"After four or five laps of the opening session the left hand side of the front tyre at full lean was completely gone, so I couldn't ride the bike as I wanted to. Now along with my technicians and the guys from Bridgestone we will sit down and try to work the problem out. It could be partly to do with my riding style or maybe down to the set-up, in particular the weight distribution."
Nicky Hayden - 8th - 1'41.789 - It definitely took a few laps to feel out the new surface and get some rubber down this morning, but toward the end of the afternoon session, you could really start carrying some speed in a few corners. I have to remember that I probably need a little bit of time to understand the bike, and the team needs more time to understand which direction to work. Still, we're too far off the pace for my home track, and I certainly had hoped to be faster today.
"We'll just stay positive and keep working toward Sunday. The new bike definitely does some things better, but we've got to get some weight to transfer to the front so that I can get it to turn."
Alvaro Bautista - 9th - 1'42.231 - "This afternoon I was able to improve my lap time because the track conditions were better than they were this morning. We still have some problems with turning the bike - we didn't have good grip this morning because of the new surface, so this afternoon we tried to get more grip from the rear.
"We changed the setting of the bike, but because the track had improved and grip was better we lost a bit more turning in the corner. Now we know the track is much better, so for tomorrow we will try another setting and I'm sure that will improve things even further. We still have a lot of work to do, but I am happy with situation at the moment. We are in ninth position and I know we can still improve quite a lot. I hope to continue with the way we have been working today and in recent weeks in tomorrow's sessions and I think we can take the bike further forward ready for Sunday."
Randy De Puniet - 10th - 1'42.339 - "The best thing about today is that I don't have any more pain in my body. My back feels much better and I can now use my full body to move the bike. I am at 100% and very happy about it! At the moment the tenth position is quite a good result but I hope to improve during the weekend. The main problem we are fighting against is the front tyre: the new asphalt is a bit hard on the tyre and we have to figure out how to solve this problem, otherwise it might be difficult to finish the race."
Valentino Rossi - 11th - 1'42.405 - "This morning the track conditions were really critical. There was no grip, and it seemed like we were riding in the wet. Things improved a lot in the afternoon though, which is a sign that the asphalt is good and that it was just very dirty since it hadn't been ridden on yet. It's also a good sign for tomorrow because the conditions should continue to improve. Also, there are fewer bumps, so they did a good job. As for us, we didn't expect the grip to improve so much this afternoon and we had to chase a setup the whole session, as I really couldn't feel the bike. Tomorrow we'll completely change the balance. Nicky didn't go bad, so we'll try to improve as well: the step forward that we made at Brno is still there. We just tried a set up a little too strange since we didn't expect the conditions to change so much from one session to the next."
