Rain and cold disrupt the first IRTA tests

All the teams entered in the World Championship were gathered this weekend on the Circuit de Catalunya for the first official pre-season IRTA tests, disturbed by the rain and the cold.

Disrupted by rain and cold on Friday and Saturday, the first three days of IRTA testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo, near Barcelona, ​​ended in sunny Sunday.

Like last year at Jerez on Yamaha (read), Barros was the fastest from day one on his RCV (1’45.464) ahead of Rossi (Yamaha, 1’45.542), Gibernau (Honda, 1’45.803 ) and Roberts (Suzuki, 1’45.855).

"I am happy with this weather but the most important thing for me is that I felt comfortable on the bike with my injured shoulder", explains the Brazilian, who came out of convalescence this winter."On the other hand, from a technical point of view, we could not test much today because of the cold".

Neither the temperature of 15 ° on the ground nor the strong gusts of wind, however, prevented Capirossi, on the Ducati GP4 which was making its first laps in its new 2004 configuration, from posting a top speed never reached in MotoGP ( 338.1 km / h!), A record that he will shatter again on Sunday with a peak of 347.4 km / h !

"We weren’t looking for this record, but I think it illustrates the potential of this new machine.", rejoiced the boss of Ducati Corse, Claudio Domenicali, while Capirex preferred to focus on the validation of a new exhaust and new engine maps..

Second fastest Friday and undisputed star the day before during the official presentation of the Yamaha teams (read), Rossi regretted that the temperatures were "so different from those of the Catalan Grand Prix in summer"(which will take place this year on June 13, read) and Gibernau did"could not test all the new parts brought by Honda".

On Saturday, few pilots took the risk of going out in the rain and in the cold (9 ° on the ground). "We decided not to do tests today because of the cold", explained Gibernau’s chief mechanic, Juan Martinez:"running at these temperatures gives no indication of the correct settings, so it’s not worth taking the risks".

At Yamaha, Rossi and Checa also remained in the pits but the unruffled Norick Abe lined up 32 laps and finished the fastest of the day in 2’02.757, while his teammate at Tech 3, Marco Melandri, preferred to throw in the towel after four towers.

On Ducati, Bayliss and Capirossi held out for a few laps. "I’m too old to go out in such weather !", quipped the Australian who will celebrate his 35th birthday tomorrow…

On Sunday, with better weather, Valentino Rossi set the fastest lap in 1’44.571, winning the Z4 offered by BMW at the same time. In pure speed, Loris Capirossi broke his own record on Friday with a timed peak of … 347.4 km / h, before heading off to the heap in a fortunately non-serious collective fall involving his teammate Troy Bayliss, Jeremy McWilliams, Alex Barros and Carlos Checa.

"Our engine still delivers its power too aggressively compared to Rossi’s", concluded Herve Poncharal, manager of Tech 3."It is for this reason that Melandri is not far from the best time, without managing to reach it. But it’s good to see that Rossi’s new engine seems to have fixed these power delivery issues, because it’s good for all Yamaha riders. !"

Eric MICHEL

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