Sepang pre-season test 2011

Tom said:

HYPE HYPE HYPE. Bold statements based on one test. He has a long way to go from last year to get there.

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Not hype at all, and certainly not based on the tests.

Its obvious to anyone that this guy can ride and seems to be able to adapt very easily.

I predict he will go from strength to strength on the factory Yamaha and wont be too long before he's challenging for podiums on a regular basis.

SprogTheDog said:

Not hype at all, and certainly not based on the tests.

Its obvious to anyone that this guy can ride and seems to be able to adapt very easily.

I predict he will go from strength to strength on the factory Yamaha and wont be too long before he's challenging for podiums on a regular basis.

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We can all see he is going to be a front runner, he is world class and deserves factory kit. I think its fairly safe to say he will contend for wins, i think most of us expect him to win races. But to be sure that he will go much further is a relatively large leap of faith. Declaring him destined for greatness is just plain hype

I must say these 3 days have been fascinating, it's been great to have it back!!

michaelm said:

Rossi does not fail.

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He failed to pay his taxes!

Quickly combined in excel (likely to have mistakes)



1 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 2:00.757

2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 2:00.770

3 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 2:00.811

4 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing 2:00.845

5 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 2:00.945

6 Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 2:01.002

7 Hiroshi Aoyama San Carlo Honda Gresini 2:01.353

8 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 2:01.512

9 Nicky Hayden Ducati Marlboro Team 2:01.534

10 Colin Edwards Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:01.651

11 Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2:01.687

12 Valentino Rossi Ducati Marlboro Team 2:01.842

13 Hector Barbera Mapfre Aspar Team 2:02.030

14 Loris Capirossi Pramac Racing Team 2:02.057

15 Randy De Puniet Pramac Racing Team 2:02.159

16 Kousuke Akiyoshi HRC Test Team 2:02.619

17 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 2:02.645

18 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:02.717

19 Toni Elias LCR Honda MotoGP 2:02.916

20 T1 Yamaha Test Team 2:02.965

21 T2 Yamaha Test Team 2:03.621

22 Noburu Aoki Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 2:04.700

Has no one noticed sic quietly climbing then toping the test times?

All this chat of rossi spies hogay etc.



Personaly I think we could see a few races this season where honda pull

off a podium lockout & take all 3 top placings. Lets face it theyve got the tallent &

appear to have the machine to do just that.



Hopefully were gonna have one hell ov a season where the no:1 slot is swaped &

changed many times before the conclusion is reached in valencia.



Many thanks to those of you whom posted the times for all to read & indeed those

of you who made this thread a damn good read/giggle at times.

Ok, without seeing the riders post test quotes I'll go ahead and say that the Honda boys will be very pleased, the Yamaha guys are pleased but concerned about the power of those Honda's, and the Ducati guys are optimistic after three days and so many changes/items to test but feel in two weeks time they will be higher up the time sheets.

I figured Nick would have the best time of the Duc's, but to be honest I only thought he would be a 1/2 sec off, not 3/4 off the top time, still early days. I'm sure the engineers have tons of data to pour over, so lots of overtime for those guys if they expect to make a good showing at the next test!

lil red rocket pilot said:

Has no one noticed sic quietly climbing then toping the test times?

All this chat of rossi spies hogay etc.



Personaly I think we could see a few races this season where honda pull

off a podium lockout & take all 3 top placings. Lets face it theyve got the tallent &

appear to have the machine to do just that.Hopefully were gonna have one hell ov a season where the no:1 slot is swaped &

changed many times before the conclusion is reached in valencia.



Many thanks to those of you whom posted the times for all to read & indeed those

of you who made this thread a damn good read/giggle at times.

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I think this is very likely, and IMO only one team can stop that from happening and I'm sorry Spies/Lorentho fan's it's not the Yamaha squad. If the improvement Honda made to the motor improves tire wear during a race the Honda boys will just muscle away from Yamaha's. No, I think the only team with the horsepower to break up the Honda show will be Ducati. Ducati you say...well my statement is based on Ducati getting the bike sorted where it's rideable, if they do that, the Duc horsepower should be able to keep those Honda's honest. Again, this is just me speculating, and we can debate this for two weeks.

Tom said:

We can all see he is going to be a front runner, he is world class and deserves factory kit. I think its fairly safe to say he will contend for wins, i think most of us expect him to win races. But to be sure that he will go much further is a relatively large leap of faith. Declaring him destined for greatness is just plain hype

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Then we'll have to see who gets proved right.

To sum up:



All lapped significantly faster than last year when Rossi topped the sheet with 2.01.5, a time that now would have given him the 8th place.





Honda looking fastest, with all factory riders alternating at the top, + Aoyama; Stoner not as dominant as expected, Simoncelli the big surprise.



Yamaha as fast as Honda with both factory riders (Spies occasionally faster than the world champion). Probably more consistent than Hondas in the pace.



Ducati slowly adjusting to the after-Stoner era. Rossi progressing, getting gradually faster as he knows the bike better, finds his setup and forgets his old Yamaha (and as his shoulder gets stronger). Problem is, Ducati does not seem to have improved as much as Honda and Yamaha, althoug Hayden also lapped faster than last year (actually both Hayden and Rossi lapped faster than Stoner's 2.01.9 in last year's tests). They'll have to catch up but there is hope.



Suzuki looks improved. However they looked good in tests in the past, then deflated in the actual racing.



In 20 days we'll know more.

With so many Honda's at the top it is inevitable that team orders are going to need to be a factor come mid season if they are sharing the wins around too much. I don't think Honda will want to just go for the manufacturers title as the riders title is of high importance and if Sic Stoner and Pedro spread it around too much it could keep Spies, Lorenzo and Rossi in the game. None of the Honda guys can afford a bad race or a dnf as that will certainly result in a detuned bike to keep them out of the way.



Very impressed with Sic and Aoyama. Both are the real deal in my view as is Spies. I think we will see a mistake laden season from Lorenzo as the pressure will crush his ego resulting in probably just a top five.

SprogTheDog said:

Then we'll have to see who gets proved right.

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There is no proving right to be done. You are prepared to make a bold statement, i'm saying i'd rather not make a judgement of that nature until it can be done with reasonable grounding. Your guess may be correct but it doesn't change the fact that your decision was based on faith

Mental Anarchist said:

None of the Honda guys can afford a bad race or a dnf as that will certainly result in a detuned bike to keep them out of the way.



I think we will see a mistake laden season from Lorenzo as the pressure will crush his ego resulting in probably just a top five.

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There are some bold and unrealistically specific predictions coming out after 1 test!! Honda will sabotage their own riders, Lorenzo will have his ego crushed, i love it. And 'just' top 5?? Look at the other guys out there, top 5 is not to be sniffed at, we could easily see more than 4 'aliens' or a generally more open season this year.

Tom said:

There is no proving right to be done. You are prepared to make a bold statement, i'm saying i'd rather not make a judgement of that nature until it can be done with reasonable grounding. Your guess may be correct but it doesn't change the fact that your decision was based on faith

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Faith. Yes. Not hype.

What i would really like to see is some consecutive lap times, or a race simulation time.One thing that is obvious is the Honda is a well sorted machine and will only get better after the data is crunched from this test.5 of the top ten times is impressive, top 3 times is even more impressive, especially considering the top time is a satellite bike. Being down 1`second might not sound like the end of the world to Rossi fans, and i fully expect the Ducati will improve, but will they improve enough to make up the second they are down, plus the extra tenths, or even half second that Honda will find. What really should have them worried is the sheer number of bikes they have to catch. Its like a golf match heading into the last round. if your a couple shots off the lead in second or third place, thats a much easier task than being a couple of shots off the lead in 10th place. Many more competitors have to fall by the wayside for you to advance. Honda is going balls out for the title this year, and if need be, they will put 5 factory bikes on the grid to make it happen.That is something Ducati cannot do, is play a numbers game with Honda.Yamaha has to be worried also, no sponsor as of yet, will the factory throw 20-30 million at the team if a big sponsor does not materialize, probably not. They will develop very little this year and depend on the winning combo from last year and build towards 2012.

povol said:

especially considering the top time is a satellite bike. Being down 1`second might not sound like the end of the world to Rossi fans, and i fully expect the Ducati will improve, but will they improve enough to make up the second they are down, plus the extra tenths, or even half second that Honda will find. What really should have them worried is the sheer number of bikes they have to catch.

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Satellite team it is, satellite bike it is not. Also, i don't think Rossi/Ducati will be that worried about the number of bikes ahead of them, there might be a fair few of them but in a race weekend, limited practice time, high pressure situation the cream rises to the top and the difference between the good riders who can get those times and the riders who are actually racing for 25 points becomes more obvious.

At least Ducati went back to the 2010 fairings -- no more funny winglets. Hurray!

J4rn0 said:

To sum up:



All lapped significantly faster than last year when Rossi topped the sheet with 2.01.5, a time that now would have given him the 8th place.





Honda looking fastest, with all factory riders alternating at the top, + Aoyama; Stoner not as dominant as expected, Simoncelli the big surprise.



Yamaha as fast as Honda with both factory riders (Spies occasionally faster than the world champion). Probably more consistent than Hondas in the pace.



Ducati slowly adjusting to the after-Stoner era. Rossi progressing, getting gradually faster as he knows the bike better, finds his setup and forgets his old Yamaha (and as his shoulder gets stronger). Problem is, Ducati does not seem to have improved as much as Honda and Yamaha, althoug Hayden also lapped faster than last year (actually both Hayden and Rossi lapped faster than Stoner's 2.01.9 in last year's tests). They'll have to catch up but there is hope.



Suzuki looks improved. However they looked good in tests in the past, then deflated in the actual racing.



In 20 days we'll know more.

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Good recap J4rno.



I'll add, Honda have made good on their promise to provide 4 factory spec bikes it appears.

povol said:

Yamaha has to be worried also, no sponsor as of yet, will the factory throw 20-30 million at the team if a big sponsor does not materialize, probably not. They will develop very little this year and depend on the winning combo from last year and build towards 2012.

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Good point. And when they do, peeps will undoubtedly blame the lack of development on not having Rossi. In an indirect way they will be right, but not because of JB/VR's development but because of the skewed sponsorship picture in GP.

Guess who said this after the tests:



[font=Helvetica, Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, sans-serif]"Lorenzo was actually the fastest rider I think."[/font]

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Jumkie said:

Good recap J4rno.



I'll add, Honda have made good on their promise to provide 4 factory spec bikes it appears.

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It remains to be seen if Sic will get regular updates during the season. Especially if he becomes a real contender.