MotoGP test in Australia hit by rain
Adverse conditions in Phillip Island limit day one work for MotoGP teams as second test of preseason gets underway
Two weeks after their first test of the 2016 preseason at Sepang, the MotoGP riders were back on track today at Phillip Island. An unusual destination for winter testing, the Australian circuit was selected this year and no doubt the riders were hoping for ideal conditions, with the popular tourist destination currently in the middle of its summer season. However, the conditions were more like those regularly seen during Grand Prix weekend at Phillip Island, with wind, rain and cool temperatures limiting the amount of work the teams were able to complete on track. The majority of riders completed just a handful of laps, with some choosing not to ride at all. Danilo Petrucci set the fastest lap of the day in a time of 1’31.764.
There was little activity in the Aspar Team’s MotoGP garage, with Yonny Hernández completing just six laps and his team-mate Eugene Laverty only ten. The Colombian and the Irishman preferred not to take any unnecessary risks today, especially as Laverty continues to recover from a hand injury suffered at the Sepang session. Hernández clocked his best lap on his final effort whilst Eugene’s best came on the fifth of his ten laps. Both riders are hoping for better conditions as the test continues tomorrow.
8th Yonny Hernández 1.33.841 (6 laps): “Today was a strange day because the weather was so bad. We were only really able to complete two good laps, the rest were in and out of the garage because of the rain. It has been a short day but at least we have some information to build on tomorrow. I thinktomorrow we will know more about how far we have come from the first test to this one. We had some setbacks in Malaysia but today we were able to check the bike and it was working well. Hopefully it responds as we are hoping tomorrow so that we can gather more data and continue to improve.”
14th Eugene Laverty 1.35.679 (10 laps): “There was so much rain today, every time we left the pits it started to rain so we only did a few laps and the conditions were never perfect. The hand is more or less okay, especially around this circuit because it is anti-clockwise with only a few right-handers where I feel the pain. At the moment there is not much to be gained for us by going out in the wet because it is clear I need dry track time, having missed so much at the other tests. We have a lot of work to do but first I need to get comfortable with this bike in the dry so hopefully the weather can be kinder to us for the rest of this test.”
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