MotoGP
Australian GP: Repsol Honda Friday notes
'Extremely Windy' The Phillip Island circuit lived right up to its reputation for fickle weather today as the first day of practice for the 2007 Australian Grand Prix took place in perpetually changing conditions. With bright sunshine at one ...
Edited: Oct 13, 2007, 3:20 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
'Extremely Windy'
The Phillip Island circuit lived right up to its reputation for fickle weather today as the first day of practice for the 2007 Australian Grand Prix took place in perpetually changing conditions. With bright sunshine at one moment giving way to rain showers the next, the Repsol Honda squad made the most of limited consistent track time to begin the process of setting up the RC212Vs of Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa ahead of Sunday's 27-lap race.
The morning session began with sunny skies and a wet but rapidly-drying track. For ten minutes the Repsol Honda riders circulated on treaded tyres before switching to intermediate Michelin rubber and then to slick tyres. However, with 20 minutes of the session to go it began raining again at the 4.448km (2.764-mile) circuit and the final portion of the session was completed in wet conditions.
The afternoon practice was even more disjointed, starting with bright sunshine and a dry track before the first shower after only four minutes saw the riders diving for the pits once again. With strong winds quickly drying the track after each light shower, Hayden and Pedrosa took every chance to continue working on their dry set-up. Pedrosa lay in second place behind Casey Stoner for much of the session before being nudged to third in the final moments by Marco Melandri's Honda Gresini. Hayden finished the day in ninth place with a lap time of 1m 32.316s, 1.184s back from Stoner. However the American, who has claimed pole position for the last two years here, felt that was not a true reflection of his potential pace here and remains confident of improvements tomorrow.
A further hour of practice on Saturday morning precedes qualifying in the afternoon. With the unsettled weather expected to continue over the weekend the 2007 Australian Grand Prix looks like being exciting and unpredictable.
Dani Pedrosa -- 3rd Fastest lap: 1m 31.802s
"The conditions for practice today were changing all the time, from wet to dry and back again so quickly. It was also extremely windy -- especially in the afternoon -- and this made it really difficult to get consistent lap times going. I hope it's more stable for the race on Sunday otherwise it could really be chaos out there. Today we mainly took the chance to test tyres and we were able to learn a certain amount for the conditions and temperatures we encountered. With the wind though it was very difficult to fully commit and it was always necessary to ride with something in reserve. Still the pace is not too bad and there's room for improvement ahead of qualifying tomorrow. We'll just have to see what the weather throws at us."
Nicky Hayden -- 9th -- Fastest lap: 1m 32.316s
"What a strange day. It was like the big man was up there having a bit of a chuckle. This morning we started on rain tyres, went to intermediates then did about two laps on slicks, then it was raining again. At the end of the session it was back to slicks again. It was just about the same in the afternoon -- we'd get in a few dry laps and then the rain would come. Conditions were quite tough and there was a lot of wind so it wasn't easy today, but Phillip Island at this time of year can be like that. I can't really say that we got a good direction with the set-up because every time we went out the track condition was a little bit different. Nonetheless I feel a little bit better than my position suggests and my ideal time put me in about 6th. We'll look at the data, make some changes tonight and see what the weather does tomorrow."
Makoto Tanaka - Team Manager
"Well the story of the day was the weather of course, and for working on machine set-up it was very difficult! As soon as we began to work on a particular set-up the rain would come and the conditions would change again. Nevertheless we must make some improvements to the settings in order to find some more pace because our top rivals still look strong in these conditions. We'll hope for better weather tomorrow."
-credit: repsol honda
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Australian GP: Friday combined times
Next article Australian GP: Pramac d'Antin Friday notes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Nicky Hayden
Nicky Hayden: Remembering motorsport's much-loved "one-off"
MotoGP
MotoGP
Nicky Hayden: Remembering motorsport's much-loved "one-off"
MotoGP retires Hayden’s famous #69 in Austin ceremony
MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP retires Hayden’s famous #69 in Austin ceremony
MotoGP to retire Hayden's number
MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP to retire Hayden's number
Latest news
Casey Mears makes milestone 500th NASCAR Cup start he never meant to reach
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
33 min
Casey Mears makes milestone 500th NASCAR Cup start he never meant to reach
MotoGP Qatar GP: Marco Bezzecchi wins as Marc Marquez has title triumph delayed
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
43 min
MotoGP Qatar GP: Marco Bezzecchi wins as Marc Marquez has title triumph delayed
LIVE: F1 Brazilian GP - Lando Norris leads after Kimi Antonelli spin, Ferrari struggling
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
1 h
LIVE: F1 Brazilian GP - Lando Norris leads after Kimi Antonelli spin, Ferrari struggling
WEC Monza: Cadillac wins chaotic finale, #8 Toyota seals drivers’ title
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
1 h
WEC Monza: Cadillac wins chaotic finale, #8 Toyota seals drivers’ title
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe