Motorcycles and news

Fastest rider on day one was Troy Bayliss, setting a 1′32.8 on his home circuit.

FONSI NIETO: 4th equal­ 1′33.4:

“Not too bad for the first day after some time off from riding. I worked a lot on my spare bike today, as in the previous tests at Doha I hardly rode it at all, and even in 2006 I did not use the spare bike that much. With the jet lag we are all suffering and two bikes to try and set-up it was not easy today, and we lost the way a little bit. I swapped back to my number one bike later on and we made things better.”

REGIS LACONI: 6th ­ 1′33.5:

“It was strange this morning because it was difficult to wake up enough to ride at the speed we needed to. Not only is the jet-lap affecting me but this track is particularly fast and you really have to be on top form to set good laps. The bike feels pretty good and we started off with the settings we worked on in Doha, which I was very happy with. We are still not quite there in terms of the bike feeling just how I want it but today was a good start and the lap time is pretty good.”

Pirelli Test laptimes:

SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Pirelli Diablo SBK - 16,5″ slick tyres
1. Bayliss (Aus-Ducati) 1′30″7; 2. Lanzi (Ita-Ducati) 1′31″2; 3. Toseland (UK-Honda) 1′31″7; 4. Corser (Aus-Yamaha) 1′32″2; 5. Laconi (Fra-Kawasaki) 1′32″2; 6. Kagayama (Jap-Suzuki) 1′32″3; 7. Nieto (Spa-Kawasaki) 1′32″3; 8. Biaggi (Ita-Suzuki) 1′32″4; 9. Haga (Jap-Yamaha) 1′32″8; 10. Rolfo (Ita-Honda) 1′33″2.