2004 MotoGP TESTING

2004 MotoGP - PRE SEASON TEST

FEBRUARY 2004 MOTOGP PRE SEASON TEST:

FEB 2004, PHILLIP ISLAND TEST: BIAGGI (Honda), QUICKEST

After 3 days of testing in Australia, Hondas fill the top 4 positions. Rossi was the quickest of the Yamaha riders (6th on final day).

COMBINED TESTING TIMES, PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA, FEB 17-19, 2004:

• 1 Max Biaggi, Honda 1m 30.27s (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 1m 30.06s)
• 2 Colin Edwards, Honda 1m 30.45 +0.18s
• =3 Sete Gibernau, Honda 1m 30.60 +0.33s
• =3 Hayden, Honda 1m 30.60 +0.33s
• 5 Capirossi Ducati 1m 30.71 +0.44s
• 6 Rossi, Yamaha 1m 30.75 +0.48s

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• FEB 19: Biaggi (Honda) quickest; Rossi 5th
• BIAGGI (HONDA): " .... I'm quite happy, we have a good rhythm, good lap time and things are working very well. A lot of confidence so at the moment I'm looking okay. The consistency today was very good today, and for sure much better than the race distance from last year. My bike is working good, and I ma, what can I say, the tyre performance is improving and it all looks good. The race is two months away but I can't wait for it to come .."
• ROSSI (YAMAHA) 5th: "... his test's been quite good and we have already improved a lot since we began testing. I still need more horsepower and it is more difficult to ride at the moment because I have to push much harder. Today I did more than 25 consecutive laps and already the bike seems to work quite well when the tyres are wearing down, which is very important to know. In an ideal world I will have more horsepower for the next test here in two weeks time ! Yamaha have worked so hard and so quickly so I am sure we can continue in this way."
  
• FEB 18: CAPIROSSI (Ducati) quickest; Rossi 2nd
• ROSSI, 2nd on Yamaha: "... the engine works very well here ..... We still need to find more horsepower as that's where we are losing out to the others at the moment. We tested some new Michelin tyres towards the end of the day which was quite helpful, and in general we're taking our time to find the ideal set-up rather than going flat out for hot laps .."
  
• FEB 17: EDWARDS (Honda), QUICKEST
• EDWARDS, 1st on Honda: "... I'm learning more about it every single day, and I get faster with everything I learn, I'm becoming competent with it now! The Aprilia I rode last year was a real handful here; but with all the information from previous years, advice from my crew chief Fabrizio, and the things gathered from Rossi and Gibernau here in the race last year, my Honda was set- up great when I showed up .."
• ROSSI, 3rd on Yamaha: "... This is a really important test for us because we are seeing how the bike responds at a new circuit, and so far we've only tested in Sepang ... The response of the bike here is good in general, and this is normally a very difficult track so I'm fairly happy .. We need to get as many kilometres as possible under our belt this week ..."

FEB 2004, SEPANG TEST: HAYDEN (Honda), QUICKEST

Feb 11-13, Sepang; Rossi was 5th, 5th, 3rd over three days of testing

• HAYDEN: "... It really helps to be comfortable with the team and I think it shows. We’ve done a good job over the last few days and I’m happy. We’ve had a few problems but we are more experienced about fixin’ them now. I’ve never been that good in testin’ – I’m usually best on Sunday so we’re feelin’ positive. The bike feels good – Honda have made a great bike even better over the winter. The 16.5 inch front feels real good – just like I’m used to with a superbike. I just feel I can be more focussed on ridin’ the bike this year than last. Last year I guess I had some excuses – I was learnin’. This year I wanna’ win races. I’m lookin’ forward to getting’ down to Phillip Island – a track I really like .."

ROSSI'S RIDE ON YAMAHA - Sepang, Malaysia

• FEB 13, ROSSI: there is much more work to do and there is not enough horsepower right now
  "... At this test the new engine spec has given us a great improvement because I can accelerate more easily and it gives me more torque from the bottom. This is only the first prototype so for sure there is much more work to do and there is not enough horsepower right now. I think if I had not had to finish a bit early then I could probably have gone faster. Phillip Island will be a very important test because we need to understand how much time the bike takes to set up at a new track; the Yamaha has a reputation for needing a lot of changes each time it moves to a new circuit. But then of course it's one story when you have three days at a test to work on set-up, and quite another when you have about three hours in a race weekend. For now we will go to Phillip Island with our current settings and see how we get on .."
• JAN 14, ROSSI, his first ride on Yamaha: "... We have a lot of work to do, but the bike is not bad at this early stage and after so much time off I need to get more distance covered to improve things. But for a first day on a new bike things were okay. We'll work our way through gradual changes to the chassis and engine tomorrow (Jan 25)."

FEB, 2004, PHILLIP ISLAND, AUSTRALIA: BIAGGI QUICKEST

• FEB 19, 2004 (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 1m 30.06s)
• 1 Max Biaggi, Honda 1m 30.27s
• 2 Colin Edwards, Honda +0.18s
• 3 Sete Gibernau, Honda +0.33s
• 4 Hayden, Honda
• 5 Rossi, Yamaha
• 6 Barros, Honda
• 7 Capirossi 8 Bayliss 9 Checa 10 Melandri 11 Byrne 12 Hodgson 13 Abe
• FEB 18, 2004 (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 1m 30.06s)
• 1 Loris Capirossi, Ducati 1m 30.71s
• 2 Valentino Rossi,Yamaha +0.04s
• 3 Sete Gibernau, Honda +0.1s
• 4 Edwards. Honda
• 5 Biaggi, Honda
• 6 Hayden, Honda
• 7 Tamada 8 Bayliss 9 Barros 10 Xaus *** crashed and taken to hospital ***
• FEB 17, 2004 (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 1m 30.06s)
• 1 Colin Edwards, Honda 1m 31.06s
• 2 Sete Gibernau, Honda
• 3 Valentino Rossi,Yamaha
• 4 Biaggi, Honda
• 5 Hayden, Honda
• 6 Barros, Honda
• 7 Tamada 8 Capirossi 9 Bayliss 10 Hodgson

FEB, 2004, SEPANG, MALAYSIA: HAYDEN QUICKEST

• FEB 13, 2004 (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 2m 2.48s)
• 1 Hayden , Honda, 2m 1.94s *** quicker than 2003 pole ***
• 2 Biaggi , Honda
• 3 Gibernau , Honda
• 4 Edwards , Honda
• 5 Rossi , Yamaha
• FEB 12, 2004 (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 2m 2.48s)
• 1 Biaggi , Honda 2m 2.70s
• 2 Edwards , Honda 2m 2.845
• 3 Hayden , Honda 2m 2.855
• 4 Gibernau , Honda
• 5 Rossi , Yamaha
• 6 Checa , Yamaha
• 7 Tamada , Honda 8 Bayliss , Ducati 9 Capirossi , Ducati 10 Itoh , Honda 11 Akiyoshi , Suzuki 12 Nakano , Kawasaki 13 Barros , Honda 14 Hofmann , Kawasaki 15 Abe , Yamaha 16 Melandri , Yamaha 17 Lavilla , Suzuki 18 Hodgson , Ducati 19 Xaus , Ducati 20 McWilliams , Aprilia 21 Byrne , Aprilia 22 Pitt , Moriwaki
• FEB 11, 2004 (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 2m 2.48s)
• 1 Biaggi , Honda, 2m 2.693s
• 2 Edwards , Honda, 2m 2.939
• 3 Rossi , Yamaha
• 4 Gibernau , Honda,
• 5 Capirossi , Ducati,
• 6 Hayden , Honda,
• 7 Tamada , Honda, 8 Bayliss , Ducati, 9 Roberts , Suzuki, 10 Checa , Yamaha

JAN, 2004, SEPANG, MALAYSIA: BIAGGI QUICKEST

• JAN 25, 2004 (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 2m 2.48s)
• Rossi, Yamaha, 2m 3.17s
  "... I had a good rhythm with the bike today and all the changes we made helped us towards consistent lap times. The suspension settings with the 16.5-inch Michelin front tyre are quite good now and although we need to do more work with the engine, I'm happy with what we've achieved at this stage .."
• Checa, Yamaha, 2m 3.57
• Melandri, Yamaha, 2m 4.9
• Abe, Yamaha, 2m 4.9
• JAN 24, 2004 (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 2m 2.48s)
• Rossi, Yamaha, 2m 3.8s *** his first outing on Yamaha
• Checa, Yamaha, 2m 4.1
• Melandri, Yamaha, 2m 5.4
• Abe, Yamaha 2m 5.84
• JAN 22, 2004 (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 2m 2.48s)
• Max Biaggi, Honda, 2m 2.585s
• Sete Gibernau, Honda, 2m 2.7s
• Nicky Hayden, Honda, 2m 3.2s
• Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 2m 3.2s - test rider
• Colin Edwards, Honda, 2m 3.3s
• Makoto Tamada, Honda, 2m 3.5s, Bridgestone
• Shinya Nakano, Kawasaki, 2m 4.84s
• Alex Hofmann, Kawasaki 2m 5.28s
• JAN 20, 2004 (vs 2003 pole: Rossi, Honda, 2m 2.48s)
• Max Biaggi, Honda, 2m 03.47s, 47 laps
• Sete Gibernau, Honda, 2m 03.51s, 58 laps
• Makoto Tamada, Honda, 2m 04s, 41 laps, Bridgestone
• Nicky Hayden, Honda, 2m 04.72s, 57 laps
• Colin Edwards, Honda, 2m 04.72s, 51 laps
• Shinichi Itoh, Honda, 2m 05.1s, 56 laps, Bridgestone - test rider
• Tohru Ukawa, Honda, 2m 05.66s, 62 laps - test rider
• Shinya Nakano, Kawasaki, 2m 06.5s, 44 laps
• Alex Hofmann, Kawasaki 2m 06.2s, 41 laps

PRE SEASON - RIDER QUOTES (JAN 20, 2004)

HONDA

• Max Biaggi: "... I had a good month's rest, which we need to recharge the batteries for this pan-continental test. I like the conditions here in Malaysia, hot and humid, when you haven't got too many things to test, it's certainly good physical preparation. We are working on a single bike here, waiting for the new machines, and we are testing mainly suspension and tyres. It's good, because it will make a good comparison when the 2004 bike arrives and we test it here next month .."
• Sete Gibernau: "......I've trained well so it wasn't really a problem riding today in the heat, although obviously you have to settle into things first. My morale is so high at the moment, and it's helped today by the fact that we have already made improvements on the race record time. We worked mainly on tyres today, and with Michelin's 17" front. For the rest of the test we'll probably move on to suspension and other such things, but I'm happy with our work today."
• Makoto Tamada: ".....We didn't really work on tyres today as I expected, and concentrated more on the machine set-up as a whole, which showed some good results. The conditions are difficult here, but today as a whole was good, I've done my training well, so it was no problem for me at all. The rest of this test we will dedicate now to the tyres above all."
• Colin Edwards: "...We were working a bit on the set-up, which isn't too different from that of Valencia to be honest, and also playing with a few different rims, working with Michelin. We've tried a lot of that before so not much new there. As for my adaptation to the new bike in these conditions, after having been in the mountains and with thin air for a month I thought I might come here a hero, but it's still too hot! As regards my adaptation, Hondas have a certain character, and whether it's Superbike or MotoGP, it's got those similar characteristics, so it's never a problem for me, just getting back into the swing.."
• Tohru Ukawa: "... this is the first time for me as a test rider, which is a strange situation. I'm happy with the direction that the development bike is going, with the new engine, frame and suspension spec all looking good to me. However I wasn't happy with my lap time. The bike feels comfortable and everything, and physically I am okay, I think that just as test rider it will take time to get used to .."
• Nicky Hayden: ".....that was great to get back on the bike and open the throttle after what has felt like quite a time. It's good to see all the team again - exactly the same as last year so it feels real comfortable. We had a little difficulty at the start of the session but quickly resolved it and started to have fun. I had hoped to carry on more but the rain came so we packed up mid-afternoon. We've still got two days here, which is good. My hand has held up well today; feels a lil' weak but that's not surprising. A pretty good and enjoyable first day back .."

KAWASAKI

• Shinya Nakano: "I was very excited about riding the Ninja ZX-RR for the first time today and, after just this short test session, my first impression of the Kawasaki is that it is a very compact, but very powerful machine. Now we need to work at finding a good chassis balance, as well as setting the bike up to be more stable on the brakes, but this is to be expected with a completely new chassis. We'll also be making a few changes to the gearbox tonight, ready to start testing again tomorrow morning. Overall, I'm very happy with how things have gone today."
• Alex Hofmann: "I started with the old bike today, as we had a couple of modifications we wanted to evaluate before switching to the new bike tomorrow, but I still managed to go quicker than my previous best lap time at this circuit. The consistency of the Bridgestone tyres is impressive; I did my fastest time today on a set of tyres with almost 20 laps on them. Now I can't wait to try them on the new bike tomorrow."