Rizla Suzuki will be looking to make big improvements during tomorrow’s final free practice session after a tough first hour on the track at Indianapolis today left both riders with work to do.
Álvaro Bautista (P14, 1’42.696, 26 laps) used today’s only session to get his bearings around the 4,216m Indianapolis Motor Speedway on a MotoGP bike. Having only previously visited the circuit on a 250cc machine, he needed time to get used to the track and find his braking and accelerating points. Bautista recorded his fastest lap right at the end of the session and is in a determined mood to make personal improvements for the rest of the weekend.
Loris Capirossi (P15, 1’42.790, 24 laps) had a torrid afternoon as his first bike had a small mechanical issue that couldn’t be rectified for him to continue to use it and his other machine didn’t give him the feel he was looking for around the American circuit. Capirossi and his crew will use all the data from today to hopefully make sure the settings are more to his liking and riding style for tomorrow’s two sessions.
Today’s practise was held in warm and sunny conditions with track temperatures reaching 51ºC. Casey Stoner on his factory Ducati recorded the fastest time of the day.
Rizla Suzuki has one more practice session tomorrow morning, followed by an hour of qualifying in the afternoon. Sunday’s 28 lap race gets underway at 15.00hrs local time (19.00hrs GMT).
Álvaro Bautista:
“This was my first time around here on a MotoGP bike and it was very different from the 250 – especially the first corner because you go in there very fast. I used this practice very much as a learning session and to get my reference points sorted for the rest of the weekend. I need to get more rear grip from the bike because when I put on the gas in the middle of the corner I feel that the bike is sliding too much. Also the entry to the corner is not what I want, because if I enter quick I am unable to turn the bike how I want to and I lose too much time. Tomorrow we will work on these things and although we know it will be hard work I think we can improve the bike and I also know I need to improve myself as well.”
Loris Capirossi:
“The best way to set-up our bike is to just keep running as long as we can and do as many laps as possible, but today on the second run on the first bike we had a bit of a problem and had to change to the other machine. Unfortunately it had quite a different setting and I just couldn’t get on with it. We will use the data we got from the runs though and it will help us to understand what we have to do tomorrow. Today has not been too good, but we are a lot more positive about things for the rest of the weekend.
Tom O’Kane – Álvaro Bautista’s Crew Chief:
“We used the new chassis in Álvaro’s bike today, but we didn’t make as big a step as we expected to when we swapped to the softer compound tyre. For tomorrow we will be working a lot on rear grip because Álvaro is struggling to get the feel he wants all the way through the turns and to get the best out of the soft tyre. We are really hoping to improve the bike on corner entry, because some of the corners tighten up a lot here and we really need to make the bike turn much better. Overall though we are pleased with Álvaro’s first day at Indianapolis and now he’s got this session under his belt I am sure he will be much stronger tomorrow and for the race on Sunday.”
Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix Free Practice Classification:
1. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1’40.884: 2. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) +0.225: 3. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) +0.521: 4. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) +0.537: 5. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) +0.739: 14. ÁLVARO BAUTISTA (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.812: 15. LORIS CAPIROSSI (RIZLA SUZUKI MOTOGP) +1.906:
