Dovisiozo fastest in Barcelona test
Added on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Dovisiozo fastest in Barcelona test
There was no rest for the MotoGP riders in Barcelona on Monday as teams followed up the weekend’s thrilling Grand Prix by taking advantage of some scarce testing time.
Only Tech 3 Yamaha were missing from the session in what was one of only two Monday test sessions permitted this season as part of Dorna’s cost cutting initiative, the other session being at Brno after round eleven.
Andrea Dovizioso, testing a new chassis on his Repsol Honda, posted a fastest time of 1:42.230 in the morning session, putting him marginally ahead of second-fastest Valentino Rossi who in turn was separated from Jorge Lorenzo by less than a hundredth of a second.
In a session which was more focused on mid-season tweaking rather than quick lap times, Mika Kallio on the Alice Ducati was fourth fastest ahead of Casey Stoner as all three Ducati outfits tried a combination of carbon and aluminium swing arms.
Rossi, fresh from that sensational win on Sunday, tried a new, longer life span engine in preparation for the restrictions that come in at Brno whilst Lorenzo opted to focus on electronics.
Current strugglers Rizla Suzuki were left frustrated as they were unable to test a new engine flown in from Japan.
There was one crash of the day as Niccolò Canepa fell at turn four in the latter stages of the afternoon session.
Aside from the Tech 3 pair of Colin Edwards and James Toseland, Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa and Scot Honda rider Yuki Takahashi both sat out the session through injury.
In addition to testing session, the teams have submitted their tyre preferences for the forthcoming round in Assen, as per the new tyre regulations.
