01r.jpgThe third and last day of the MotoGP saw Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa put in the fastest time overall for the test, the final MotoGP action of an amazing senior class season. Pedrosa, MotoGP ‘Rookie of the year’ in 2006 scorched around the 4.423km Jerez circuit, in Southern Spain at 1m 39.910s the only rider to break the 1m 40s barrier.

In bright sunny weather Pedrosa slowly worked his way through a range of chassis settings before switching to development work on the new 800cc engine, then tyre testing for Michelin. The former double 250cc world champion, who also won a 125cc title, put in an a gruelling 94 lap session culminating with a time attack on qualifying rubber that delivered him the fastest lap time of the three-day test.

The Gresini Honda squad were the busiest men at Jerez today. Crew chief Antonio Jiminez and the mechanics made several changes to the geometry of the RC212V eventually finding a base set up to work from. With the improved chassis suspension settings the team got down to serious tyre testing with Bridgestone. Melandri, a former 250cc world champion and five time MotoGP race winner ended the day in buoyant mood and looking forward to the next series of MotoGP tests which begin at Sepang, Malaysia on January 22.

Shinya Nakano took a big step towards finding the ideal base line set up for his Konica Minolta Honda. The Japanese rider completed 70 laps working on chassis and suspension before moving onto tyre testing for Michelin.

The winter testing ban which runs from December 1, 2006 until January 20, 2007 now comes into force. The Honda MotoGP teams will resume testing at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia on January 22, 2007.

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda: 1m 39.910s – 94 laps “Today we worked on just about everything again – chassis, engine, suspension and tyres. We began with chassis and engine testing in the morning and then concentrated on testing tyres for Michelin. I used a qualifying tyre to set my fastest lap time and this is good because it’s important to see how a new bike like the RC212V behaves on qualifiers too. Of course there’s still plenty of work to do before the season starts but this was a positive test for us. Now I will relax a little over the winter break, before getting ready for the January tests.”

Marco Melandri, Gresini Honda: 1m 40.530s – 76 laps. “The team did a great job today I think they made five changes to the geometry during the day - they hardly stopped to take a snack! For me it was very important to find the base geometry we will use this season once we found a setting I was comfortable with we moved on to suspension testing and then tyres. In the morning OI as not so happy but after lunch we really saw an improvement and we made a big step forward. This is not the bike I will use so I’m looking forward to riding my own RC212V at the Sepang test in January. The HRC engineer and the Bridgestone staff are very close to my team they make me feel important – they want to help me any way they can and this gives me great confidence for the season.”

Shinya Nakano, Konica Minolta Honda: 1m 41.142s – 75 laps. “I am much more confident on the bike today than I was yesterday. Today I spent time working with various gearbox ratio changes to find the best base to work from. When we found that we moved on to suspension work and tyre testing. We had a little front-end chatter early on but fixed that with suspension settings. Overall I must say this test has been very positive. I know we can improve and I have to improve myself. But I go back to Japan for a holiday with my family very pleased that we had a test within this year. The team now have time to work on the machine before we test at Sepang in January.”

Press release courtesy of Honda
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