Post-season MotoGP testing stepped up a notch at Valencia today as the number of riders on track increased from fourteen yesterday to twenty. Perfect weather conditions allowed them to ride from ten this morning until five in the afternoon without interruption, other than by a red flag at 4pm due to a crash for Michael Laverty. The three fastest times of the day were unsurprisingly set by the three men who finished on the podium on Sunday, Marc Márquez clocking a 1'30.536 followed by Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.
After Hiroshi Aoyama tested the Aspar Team's new Honda Production Racer yesterday, today was the turn of his new team-mate Nicky Hayden. With poor weather forecast for tomorrow the American did not want to waste a minute of available track time and he threw his leg over the new machine no sooner had pit-lane opened. By around 2pm he had dropped his lap times to 1.32.582 but with his 76th and final lap of the day he went even faster with a 1.32.576.
Nicky Hayden
“It was exciting to get to work with a new team and a new bike. This is a new project and there is a long road ahead but that's what makes it so interesting. I really enjoyed my first contact with the bike. There is a lot to learn and I need to build a relationship with the mechanics but I am really happy with today for a first shakedown. The team has helped me a lot and I had a lot of engineers around me all day. We can see how much work there is to do but the base is solid. We couldn't have had better conditions to ride in today. It would have been nice to finish with some stronger lap times but overall we're happy.”
Hiroshi Aoyama
“I was very excited this morning, as it was my first day with the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar Team and with a new bike. The feeling with the bike was great and very familiar to me. I felt similar with the machine to how I did in 2011, during my previous Honda ride. I am very happy to be able to start this new adventure with a new bike and team. It is only the first day and we have a long journey ahead, but this bike has a lot of potential and we have plenty of room for improvement. I am excited and I enjoyed myself a lot riding today. I still haven’t memorized all the names of my crew, but they’ve looked after me very well and made me feel comfortable. Despite this only being the opening day, the times were positive too, so hopefully from this foundation we will evolve day-by-day.”
Power Electronics Aspar Prees Release
