2009 Sachsenring MotoGP FP1 Result - Stoner Smashes Lap Record On Drying Track
A drying track turned the first session of free practice for the MotoGP riders into a confusing and thrilling chase for times, lap times tumbling throughout. On the damp track, it was the Ducatis of Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner that led the charts, with Marco Melandri and Andrea Dovizioso constantly close. Around the halfway mark the track began to dry properly, and the top spot started swapping hands at a pace almost too fast to follow. At one point even MotoGP rookie Gabor Talmacsi took over 2nd spot, before the rest of the field started catching up.
Once the track was fully dry - with the exception of a small stream running across the track around Turn 1 - it was Casey Stoner who set the fastest time, smashing the existing lap record in the process by over three tenths of a second. The 2nd spot went to Dani Pedrosa, who had been in and out of the top ten all day, but snatched 2nd in the dying seconds, forcing Valentino Rossi down into 3rd. All of the Yamaha men started the day off slowly, languishing in the bottom half of the timesheets, but as the track dried, all four Yamahas improved.
Randy de Puniet took 4th spot, ahead of a surprising Alex de Angelis, who has a history of good results here at the Sachsenring, while Colin Edwards was 6th fastest on the Tech 3 Yamaha. Toni Elias was 7th quickest, just ahead of Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso. But with just 0.2 seconds separating places 5 through 11, those positions were taken almost at random.
Hayden was unlucky to have been shuffled down into 8th, as the American put on a very strong show for most of the session, regularly topping the timesheets. Hayden has spoken of feeling more comfortable on the Ducati, and his results are starting to show it.
Results of the MotoGP FP1 session:
| Pos No. Rider Bike Time Diff Diff Previous 1 27 Casey STONER DUCATI 1'22.779 “If there are wet conditions over the next two days like it was earlier today it is perfect for us, because we can go further in the race and maybe have a chance to win in these conditions, if we find a good setting,” Stoner commented at the end of Free Practice 1. “At the moment we still need to work a lot with the bike.” The former World Champion went on to add, “The feeling is quite good also in the dry. But we need to work a lot more in the wet, so if it is wet on Saturday that will be a good situation for us. The team did a fantastic job last year and I was able to finish the race in a good condition, but I didn’t feel like this. Anyway everything is feeling quite good and the bike is working really well again. The last few races it has really been working fantastic so it’s a big ‘hats off’ to all my team and Ducati for their hard work. Now we just have to see if we can last the weekend and be competitive for the race.” MotoGP.com 2 3 Dani PEDROSA HONDA 1'23.034 0.255 0.255 “I have to say that at the beginning in the wet I took it easy after what happened last year, but actually, when I saw the rain before the session I thought, OK, we can pick up from where we left off and change the outcome,” said Dani, who crashed heavily out of the lead one year ago. “We rode with the new engine today although, because of these mixed conditions, it wasn't really possible to draw definite conclusions - but the feeling was positive. We need more laps to fully evaluate the engine, so we'll continue with that tomorrow,” he added. Crash.net 3 46 Valentino ROSSI YAMAHA 1'23.088 0.309 0.054 "This was quite a strange session because we had all sorts of track conditions and then at the end it was basically dry and I was quite fast. It was a good chance to work on the rain setting and I am pretty happy because the bike felt good and our times were also quick on the wet track. It seems we have a good setting immediately here for all conditions, because it continued to feel good as the track dried and the nature of the asphalt changed. We have some things to improve, especially the feeling and general balance in the faster parts of the track, so we will concentrate on this tomorrow. Right at the end we had a bit of traffic or we could have been faster, but anyway we're still third so I think we are in good shape. It seems Bridgestone have brought good tyres for this track, of course there is no intermediate tyre which is always going to be a bit difficult in these sorts of conditions, but I don't think it was a big problem today." www.yamaha-racing.com 4 14 Randy DE PUNIET HONDA 1'23.133 0.354 0.045 “It was a good first session and I am quite satisfied about our performance,” said the Frenchman. “After the storm we started in the wet as everybody but since the first laps I was very comfortable with the bike. Once the surface started to dry up I came out on soft tyre but I was very careful at the beginning; when my lap times became more consistent we decided to continue on soft tyres. I made a 23-lap run [Sunday's race is 30 laps] with a good pace at the end on used tyres so I am pretty confident for tomorrow's qualifying. Basically we found the correct overall package and we just have to fine-tune the chassis and the suspensions”. crash.net 5 15 Alex DE ANGELIS HONDA 1'23.282 0.503 0.149 “I waited until I saw a few other riders on slicks before changing because we didn't want to risk anything and when we went back out I was able to hold my position near the top,” said de Angelis. “We had a bit of a problem with the bike not turning in the tight corners, which is the thing you really need here, but we improved that. Now the main issue is the rear spinning up and we need to sort that because every tenth you lose around this circuit is crucial. “I was the fastest in T3, the same as last year I think. I have always said my strong point as a rider is in fast corners and this is one of the fastest and most technical sections on the calendar. It is helping me make up some time but to be honest we still don't have the package I need to be fast and consistent around the rest of the circuit.” crash.net 6 5 Colin EDWARDS YAMAHA 1'23.295 0.516 0.013 "Looking at last year's race I knew the Bridgestone rain tyre was awesome, so it gave me chance to sort some of the issues out I've had in the wet recently. Previously I've had too much weight on the rear but now we've got it more balanced and it felt really good. For the dry we went back to my old setting that I pretty much rolled out at the first race in Qatar with and it was like coming home. We'd gone off the right path and I've not had any feeling with the front in the last few races. The bike hasn't been turning but the changes we've made with the front forks have transformed the way I feel. Now the bike is doing what I want it to because before I couldn't get the front set-up, I couldn't get into the corner and I had too much weight on the front with no feeling and no confidence. Now there's more weight on the rear and I can control weight transfer more without it all pushing to the front. I tried some new electronics today too and they are fantastic. It used to be so much effort to manage the bike under acceleration, but now it is incredible. I want to say a massive thanks to Yamaha because what they have put on my bike is like gold dust. It's a lot less effort to control the bike when I'm accelerating and it is giving me some crucial tenths." www.yamaha-racing.com 7 24 Toni ELIAS HONDA 1'23.351 0.572 0.056 “I'm struggling a little bit here with a stomach problem and some 'flu symptoms – but don't worry, it's not swine 'flu!” said the San Carlo Honda Gresini rider. “It was quite a good session today because we were able to get a feel for the conditions in the wet and then work on the bike in the dry. “We were pretty good in both conditions and even though I finished up in seventh place the gap to the top is only 0.5 seconds and with the way I'm feeling today that is not much. I have to be happy with the way things have started here.” crash.net 8 69 Nicky HAYDEN DUCATI 1'23.367 0.588 0.016 “It is nice to be able to come to a track and not have to be trying something radical with the set-up on the first day and today we started out with pretty much the settings from Laguna, making a few changes as the session went on. Having said that we are trying a new handlebar here, which isn’t normally the kind of thing you do at this stage of the season, but we have changed a lot on the back of the bike so we just needed to compensate a little at the front. Up to now we’ve been using data from Casey or previous riders to find a base set-up on a Friday but now hopefully we can work from my own data on a consistent basis. My final position today isn’t too great but early in the session we were going really well, especially in the wet. We were on top for a long time and in this paddock if you’re P1 in the wet, dry or intermediate you have to be riding well and be comfortable with the bike. I think I was third up until the last lap, and it is a thing we need to improve – when I try to really dig in we don’t seem able to go faster and it’s an area we still need to address in order to improve qualifying in particular. Anyway, here we’ve started very well so we’ll see where we go from here.” motogp.com 9 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO HONDA 1'23.370 0.591 0.003 “Even though the track conditions were not ideal, we already felt some improvements from the new engine that Honda has brought for us this weekend,” stated Dovi. “The situation wasn't perfect for a comparison test because we started with a wet track and then it started to dry, so we began with the current version of the engine and then we did the last run with the new one. “The feeling was good both in wet and dry conditions and we did a lot of testing without focusing too hard on setting ultimate lap times, so I'm confident for tomorrow. We'll continue with the set-up and tyre testing work tomorrow, and continue to evaluate the new engine,” he added. crash.net 10 33 Marco MELANDRI KAWASAKI 1'23.466 0.687 0.096 11 99 Jorge LORENZO YAMAHA 1'23.496 0.717 0.030 "I am not at 100% and in fact my injuries don't feel as good as I had hoped on the bike, which is disappointing. I have decided for the first time to use the leathers with the airbag and I want to say that I feel much more safe! This isn't the best track for me, the slow corners don't really suit my style and when I am not at full fitness it makes it more difficult, but today was okay considering the conditions. During the early part when it was wet I was reminding myself of the track, and then when it was dry later on I didn't really have enough time to go fast because we had some things to check on the setting. But there are 12 riders all very close together, within seven tenths of a second and I am not worried because it was a strange day and not one for making conclusions. The forecast tomorrow looks similar tomorrow but let's hope it is wrong!" www.yamaha-racing.com 12 65 Loris CAPIROSSI SUZUKI 1'23.705 0.926 0.209 13 36 Mika KALLIO DUCATI 1'24.090 1.311 0.385 14 52 James TOSELAND YAMAHA 1'24.317 1.538 0.227 "It wasn't a bad session even though I'm down the timesheets because we've gathered a lot of information in the wet and dry. It was important to do a few laps in the wet and we found we didn't have a great setting. So that was good to discover because it looks like there's a big chance of rain for the rest of the weekend. I spent a bit too much time on the wet tyres basically, even when it was drying up while the other guys were already out on slicks. I wanted to check on the wet tyres and get a feel for them just in case it does dry up for the race like it did in Le Mans and Mugello. In the damp conditions I had a big moment too and really hit my right leg hard. I was out of the seat at Turn Eight and I smacked my foot on the rear brake lever so hard that it was all bent. It was painful but luckily it caught me on the protective part of my boot, otherwise I could have done myself some damage. By the time I put the slicks on and made a few changes to my set-up it was a little bit too late to get close to the speed of the others but I'm sure I could have got in the 1.23s. We had some new electronics from Yamaha and it is a big step. I've got to say a big thanks to Yamaha for helping me out. These bikes have got so much horsepower that with a bit more control under acceleration, it's amazing how much easier it feels. It has really helped me coming out of the corner and I can control the bike much better." www.yamaha-racing.com 15 88 Niccolo CANEPA DUCATI 1'24.908 2.129 0.591 16 7 Chris VERMEULEN SUZUKI 1'25.161 2.382 0.253 17 41 Gabor TALMACSI HONDA 1'25.416 2.637 0.255 | ||||
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