Phillip Island Testing, Day 2 Times

Ducati continued to dominate the second day of testing at Phillip Island. And once again, it's not the factory bikes of Loris Capirossi and Casey Stoner who are fastest, but the satellite Pramac d'Antin bike of Alex Barros. Honda have managed to close the gap left yesterday, with Dani Pedrosa being the fastest RC212V rider on Wednesday, setting the 4th fastest time, ahead of the slowest Ducati rider, Alex Hofmann.

Reigning world champion Nicky Hayden heads up a gaggle of Hondas, with Chris Vermeulen taking fastest Suzuki honors. Suzuki, the team to beat at previous tests, seem to have found some improvement from yesterday, having narrowed the gap a little. But they are still a surprisingly long way behind the field, having shown the way in Sepang, Jerez and Valencia.

Testing finishes up on Thursday.

01- Alex Barros - Ducati Desmosedici GP7 - 1:30.01
02- Loris Capirossi - Ducati Desmosedici GP7 - 1:30.34
03- Casey Stoner - Ducati Desmosedici GP7 - 1:30.39
04- Daniel Pedrosa - Honda RC212V - 1:30.45
05- Alex Hofmann - Ducati Desmosedici GP7 - 1:30.60
06- Nicky Hayden - Honda RC212V - 1:30.61
07- Marco Melandri - Honda RC212V - 1:30.74
08- Carlos Checa - Honda RC212V - 1:30.84
09- Chris Vermeulen - Suzuki GSV-R 800cc - 1:31.19
10- Shinya Nakano - Honda RC212V - 1:31.35
11- Toni Elias - Honda RC212V - 1:31.40
12- Kenny Roberts Jr - KR Honda KR212V - 1:31.55
13- John Hopkins - Suzuki GSV-R 800cc - 1:31.65

posted on Wednesday, January 31, 2007 1:12 PM

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# re: Phillip Island Testing, Day 2 Times
Rob
Posted @ 1/31/2007 2:18 PM
What's the difference between the Sepang and Phillip Island circuits that would pusht the Suzukis to the back of the pack? It looks like Sepang has longer straights, with Phillip Island being tighter. With the Suzukis good corner speed I thought they'd do pretty well there. Or is the different track surface (tires) making all the difference?
# re: Phillip Island Testing, Day 2 Times
Kropotkin
Posted @ 1/31/2007 2:55 PM
That's something I've been wondering about too. Sepang is a much more technical track than Phillip Island, and though it has longer straights, it also has a couple of tighter turns. The turns are also typical of a track designed on a computer, which basically means either decreasing or increasing radius. Phillip Island is a much more flowing track, where the focus is on maintaining your speed round the track. And though PI looks tighter, most of the corners are actually faster.

Suzuki have historically done worse at PI than at other tracks, a fact which is unlikely to disappear, despite the excellent times at those other circuits. A fairer comparison may be to the times set during practice at the Australian Grand Prix. The measure would be to compare how much Suzuki have improved at PI, to how much the other teams have improved. I'll try to find some time to look at the various times. It might be an interesting exercise.
# re: Phillip Island Testing, Day 2 Times
Beaufort
Posted @ 1/31/2007 8:41 PM
Yes, that is an interesting exercise.
I just had a quick look at the PI practice times from last year...

Hopkins
----------------
P1: 1'31.496
P2: 1'31.719
P3: 1'31.303

Vermulin
----------------
P1: 1'32.130
P2: 1'31.846
P3: 1'31.393

Doesn't look like Suzuki have it figured out yet.
I hope they find something.
# re: Phillip Island Testing, Day 2 Times
Beaufort
Posted @ 1/31/2007 8:54 PM
Woops, I forgot to do the comparison part. I'm too lazy to do everyone, so I'll just pick Hayden and Capirossi.

Hayden
----------------
P1: 1'31.460
P2: 1'30.471
p3: 1'30.272

Capirossi
----------------
P1: 1'30.653
P2: 1'30.310
P3: 1'30.273

Hmm, based on these numbers it doesn't seem like Suzuki have lost any ground compared to the other teams. Too bad that leaves them in the same poor standing as last year.
# re: Phillip Island Testing, Day 2 Times
Beaufort
Posted @ 1/31/2007 9:28 PM
LOL, it looks like I've used up my lunch hour thinking about the tests...

Bridgestone does better in hotter conditions, right? What was the temperature for today's test, about 24 degrees?

But the temps at last year's GP were about 18.5 degrees. That's significantly cooler, I think. (If I'm reading this chart correctly: http://www-cluster.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/200609/html/IDCJDW3064.200609.shtml)

So Suzuki and Bridgestone should have a temperature advantage at these tests, but the lap times don't show it. Does this mean Suzuki are losing ground compared to last year?

Too many variables for me. Just fun speculation. Like I said, I hope they figure out how to go faster.

By the way, this is a great website. I only recently discovered it, but I've enjoyed reading it very much.
# re: Phillip Island Testing, Day 2 Times
GV27
Posted @ 1/31/2007 9:49 PM
Well, we should consider that Marlboro Ducati and D'Antin Ducati use also Bridgestone, and if Suzuki has same times with 800cc and 990cc this means they have really improved, right? I mean that Hayden and Capirossi were slower with 800cc than 990cc and Suzuki's are quite the same.
# re: Phillip Island Testing, Day 2 Times
Kropotkin
Posted @ 1/31/2007 9:51 PM
Wow! Someone to do my job for me!

Thanks a lot for those times. That's pretty interesting. But I think I didn't explain myself clearly enough. Here's the comparison I wanted:

Hayden:
Race FP2: 1:30.471
Test day 2: 1:30.610

Capirossi:
Race FP2: 1:30.310
Test day 2: 1:30.340

Hopkins:
Race FP2: 1:31.719
Test day 2: 1:31.650

Vermeulen:
Race FP2: 1:31.846
Test day 2: 1:31.190

So, where it looks like the Honda and Ducati are fractionally slower at the test on the 800s than they were during FP2 of the race weekend in September, the Suzukis have actually picked up the pace. Hopkins is fractionally faster, but Vermeulen is actually half a second faster.

So, what does it mean? It means that Suzuki has actually improved on their times from last year, where others are very close behind. So Suzuki are still catching the rest, just not fast enough at Phillip Island.

At least, I think that's what it means ...
# re: Phillip Island Testing, Day 2 Times
Beaufort
Posted @ 2/1/2007 12:45 AM
I hope you and GV27 are correct that Suzuki is improving.
But the times are only about 1/2 a second better, and this could be due to the warmer temperatures compared to last September.

Come on, Suzuki!

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