Gresini Racing Catalunya test summary

USEFUL TEST FOR TEAM SAN CARLO HONDA GRESINI IN BARCELONA

Following their disappointment in the Grand Prix of Catalunya, when Toni Elias crashed out of his home race and Alex De Angelis struggled to twelfth place, Team San Carlo Honda Gresini today completed an intense day of testing at the Montmelò circuit. Following a six-hour session in similar conditions to those experienced yesterday there were encouraging reports from both riders despite a difficult and complicated start.

Elias tried a variety of set-up solutions that were not initially to his liking before finding a compromise setting that has given him hope of future progress.

De Angelis worked mainly on weight distribution, experimenting with drastically opposite ends of the set-up spectrum in order to find the positives and negatives that will also help him find a compromise setting for Assen, ending the day both confident and satisfied.

Toni Elias (60 laps 1' 43" 708): "We have been working today on our biggest problem, which is rear grip, and to be honest we were struggling at the start of the day before making some positive progress towards the end. With nothing new to try here in terms of parts I owe the improvements to the team, who have worked hard to find the setting we were looking for. We're not getting over-excited and our feet are still firmly on the ground but I think it is fair to say we've found the right way forward."

Alex De Angelis (69 laps 1' 43" 360): "Basically we've turned the bike upside down to try and get opposite extremes of data and we did a lot of work without really getting our head around the problem at the start. As time went on and we moved the weight around the bike we started to get some feedback that should allow us to work more effectively in future. It is obviousy disappointing that the full potential of our bike is not being reached at the moment but we must still believe that we are not far off improving our level of performance."

Fausto Gresini - Team Manager: "I had to travel to Italy for an urgent business matter and I wasn't able to follow the test from trackside but I have been in constant contact with the two crew chiefs, Cecchini and Jimenez, who had me a little worried earlier! Then at the end of the day I was relieved to receive encouraging news from both of them, who assured me that we have made progress in helping our riders get maximum potential out of their machines, which it has to be said are not easy but definitely fast. I'm sure that when we work out the correct setting our performances will improve dramatically."

-credit: gresini