Using race tyres Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) was once more the fastest rider on track setting a 1’31.8 lap on the final day, which was filled with interruptions and red flags. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) ran him close when also using race rubber, with a 1’31.9 lap time. This was the hottest of all three days, which presented a new set of challenges, and it held back lap times in the middle of the afternoon.
Said Checa of his overall performance on the final day, “I am feeling a bit better today and there were many stop-and-go situations and crashes, so this afternoon we lost a little bit and when it got really hot we were struggling a little to get the lap time. Today we did some changes that we will see for the race weekend. We cannot compare today with yesterday in terms of track conditions. We are satisfied because we had a plan to make some changes and we made them. Of course you expect to improve every time but we are already quite close to our limit. We did not bring qualifying tyres. There were so many interruptions today and we even had a wallaby on the track – maybe the animals want to be protagonists. We do not have to go to the wildlife park, the wildlife park came here!”
Leon Haslam used a qualifying rear to do a 1’32.2, but his team-mate in the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team Marco Melandri found no improvements with qualifying tyres, and leaves the test with some work to do to regain front end feel and throttle connection. He fell early in the day, braking to avoid another rider entering the fast turn one.
Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing) went fourth fastest in the combined times over all three days of the test, with two riders, Jakub Smrz (Effenbert Liberty Racing Ducati) and Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki Racing Team) pushing hard and setting the same lap time of 1’32.4.
Eugene Laverty suffered a painful crash in the final afternoon session while on a race run, running off track at turn one. Initial examinations suggested a potential fracture to the left hand, behind the area of the third finger. He also slapped his right hand hard, and banged his head on the track, and after visiting hospital his injury was diagnosed as a fracture of the third metacarpal of the left hand. He is now heading back to Europe to have his hand looked at by his preferred specialist, but his team expect him to be back for race weekend. Track action was delayed for some time because one of the ambulances was tied up with Laverty’s incident. There were also many red flags due to rider crashes, and animals on the circuit, including a wallaby near the end of the test.
Josh Brookes replaced the injured John Hopkins in the Crescent Fixi Suzuki team, and despite a crash he set a 1’34.5.
Two days of official testing get underway on Monday 20 February.
Overall Times : 1. Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1’31.8; 2. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1’31.9; 3. Leon Haslam (BMW) 1’32.2 (Q); 4. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1’32.3; 5. Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) 1’32.4; 6. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) 1’32.4; 7. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia) 1’32.5; 8. Michel Fabrizio (BMW) 1’32.6 (Q); 9. Maxime Berger (Ducati) 1’32.9; 10. Leon Camier (Suzuki) 1’33.1; 11. Marco Melandri (BMW) 1’33.0; 12. David Giugliano (Ducati) 1’33.5; 13. Sylvain Guintoli (Ducati) 1’33.5; 14. Ayrton Badovini (BMW) 1’33.6; 15. David Johnson (BMW) 1’34.1 (stock engine after race engine developed problem); 16. Josh Brookes (Suzuki) 1’34.5; 17. Lorenzo Zanetti (Ducati) 1’34.7; 18. David Salom (Kawasaki) 1’34.9 (only a few laps Monday and Wednesday due to injured right wrist); 19. John Hopkins (Suzuki) no time (absent through injury).
Comparative Times
Circuit Lap Record: Troy Corser (Yamaha) 1’31.826 – 2007
Best Lap: Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1’30.882 – 2011
2011 Testing: Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1’30.578
Source: http://www.zimbio.com/MotoGP/articles/H7kkkFIIM6k/Checa+Sykes+fight+out+final+day
August Auinger Jean Aureal Josef Autengruber Stu Avant Rex Avery
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