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Phillip Island
greeted the MotoGP paddock with a full spectrum of unstable
conditions today, as the weather switched back and forth
between heavy rain and bright sunshine. Temperatures
remained cool throughout the day thanks to a cold wind off
the Bass Straight and it was a delicate day of set-up work
for the Fiat Yamaha Team. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards,
both sporting a one-off red and white livery on their M1s
inspired by Fiat's famous 'Abarth' racing brand, finished
the day fourth and 15th in the combined standings.
After an extremely wet start to the day a dry line had begun
to appear by the start of MotoGP practice, although it began
to rain heavily again in the last twenty minutes of the
session. Rossi made a good start to the day and finished the
first session third, with Edwards in 11th. This afternoon’s
practice was a much brighter and more stable affair
weather-wise, save a few spots of rain mid-way through, and
the riders had the chance to start working towards an
effective race setting to suit the high-speed nature of the
track. Rossi continued to make good progress and finished
the day happy with an overall fourth position, 0.423 seconds
from Casey Stoner, who topped the time sheets. Edwards
meanwhile continued to struggle and was disappointed not to
find a clear way forward with the setting of his M1 around
what is one of his favourite tracks.
The special
Abarth livery,
which will be run throughout this weekend, uses all the
elements of the logo - the Scorpion, which is synonymous
with the brand, the white and red flag and the word
‘Abarth'. The famous racing and performance Abarth brand has
been re-launched by Fiat this year with several new models
being shown and this weekend's livery is designed to
celebrate that.
Valentino Rossi (Position: 4th; Time: 1'31.934; Laps: 45)
“The Weather today was unbelievable and the track went from
wet to dry four or five times, which made it very difficult
to understand. The conditions definitely weren’t the best,
especially because it was very, very cold. Despite this it
was not a bad day; we worked well, tried several different
settings and found some good tyre possibilities to keep
going with tomorrow. In fact we tried quite a lot of tyres,
wet and dry, and our level for the first day in this respect
is not so bad, although we will be in better shape if we
have a little bit more temperature. At the end we are fourth
but it’s okay, especially considering that we have a few
problems still to deal with, including not enough weight on
the front which means I’m not yet fast enough in the long
corners. We have some ideas about how to improve on things
for tomorrow. I love this track a lot and it’s always a
great feeling to ride here and with the 800 it is no
different. Of course today it wasn’t the best conditions to
be riding in or to fully enjoy the track, but hopefully
tomorrow will be better.”
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