US GP: Interwetten Friday report

Difficult first practice for De Angelis in California

The first free practice of the U.S. Grand Prix in Laguna Seca came along with a lot of shaking and chattering of the Honda RC212V and Alex de Angelis and the mechanics of the Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team hat to use all their knowledge to quell the "beast" of a bike. The first free practice was not easy on the Californian track and there is a lot of work waiting for the team before the second free practice tomorrow. But there is a ray of hope as at the end of today's session De Angelis was able to go faster after some changes to the set up of the bike, so the direction is right!

Alex de Angelis, 14 -- 1'24.615:
"This was a difficult session for me here in Laguna Seca. First I was using complete hard tyres, which was not good. Then we tried two different settings and it didn't work out. The bike is very nervous, but I still rode better than at the Sachsenring circuit last week. I am happy, that I have a better position this time, but it is not enough for me. We found the right direction for the set up of the bike, as at the end it went faster. We just have to continue in this direction and I hope tomorrow will be better again."

Tom Jojic, Crew chief:
"It was difficult I have to say. We have a lot of work waiting for us. The bike is shaking Alex quite hard, but that seems to be a character of this bike. The positive thing is that we are not last this time and Alex is biting his teeth to get to grips with this machine. I hope we will find a solution for tomorrow."

-source: interwetten