Rain changes plans on Phillip Island day two

When the rain appears in a test day, it spoils all predetermined work and lap times become meaningless, and that was what happened in the second day of activity for the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix (MotoGP) held on the Phillip Island track, where Shinya Nakano set the fastest lap on a Kawasaki.

With the conditions, the Honda (Repsol and Fortuna) teams, Kawasaki and Ducati dedicated the day to testing their new bikes on a wet track for the first time, as getting good setup was the main target in the pits.

"I didn't complete so many laps today, but we did end the day with a wet set-up on the new bike that I'm happy with, so it was a worthwhile test for me", stated Nakano, who spent his day working on the reactions of the new Ninja ZX-RR.

The Japanese rider set a time of 1m42.6 after 27 laps around the Australian circuit.

Randy de Puniet was in charge of the second Kawasaki. The former 250cc rider, who will debut in MotoGP this season was focused on adding experience driving the Ninja ZX-RR for the first time in rainy conditions.

The Repsol Honda team with Nicky Hayden and 250cc World Champion, Dani Pedrosa, used the day to check the RC211V on the wet track and the results were positive.

"These laps in the wet are useful for sure, but it would be nice to get a dry day tomorrow because we have some work to do", was the honest comment of Hayden.

The American rider set a time of 1m42.62 and was the one who completed the most laps: 47. Pedrosa stayed cool in the rain and was two seconds slower than his teammate with 1m44.87 in 32 laps.

Fortuna Honda team worked with similar intentions to Repsol: they used the time to test the bike in the rain.

Marco Melandri completed just laps 19 and felt comfortable with the RC211V in wet tyres, while teammate Toni Elias used 45 laps to get an idea of the Honda in such conditions.

The Ducati Marlboro team took a light day with Loris Capirossi riding just 10 laps and Sete Gibernau staying in the pits, preferring not to takes any risks with the Desmosedici GP6.

All teams and riders will now wait to have a nicer sky tomorrow that will allow then to carry on with the shedule work in Phillip Island for their final test day at the circuit.