Sunday Feb 25 2007
MotoGP Official Test - Jerez - Day 3

Ducati Marlboro Team men Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi completed their winter testing schedule at Jerez today, ending this final three-day session sixth and seventh quickest, separated by just 0.014 seconds.
Both riders rode their fastest laps on qualifying tyres during this afternoon's 40-minute session, watched by almost 30,000 fans who flocked to the Jerez circuit for a first glimpse of MotoGP's new 800cc machines.
During the rest of the day they focused on race set-up and race tyres. Stoner fell during the final few minutes, taking a knock on the head which left him with concussion and blurred vision in his left eye. Although MotoGP medic Dr Claudio Costa didn't believe the injuries to be serious he recommended the team take Stoner to Cadiz hospital for a precautionary CAT scan which showed no signs of any problems.




Casey Stoner, Laps 35- 6th fastest - 1m 39.873s

"The day started out pretty good, we were making the right choices with set-up. After the dash for the car we tried a race simulation and that didn't go too well, I had a little bit of a glitch in the engine so I had to pull in. After that we tried going out with a different rear tyre which we couldn't get to work and I had a crash at the end. I don't usually like to go out on the track after 5.30, but I wasn't pushing hard, unfortunately it broke away on me quite quickly. Now we need to regroup and go in a different direction for the race here. This has been our worst test for a long time now which isn't too bad because the past couple of days and this morning we had been going well. If this is the worst it's going to be then I'm quite happy with that. I was reasonably happy with the qualifying session, I wasn't aiming at the car. We were there to test some qualifying tyres and I had a really good feeling and sensation with them, so I think the more I ride on them and the better setting we get, the further we can push ourselves up the grid. Now I'm looking forward to going racing - we've been waiting for that for a long time."

Loris Capirossi, 41 laps - 7th fastest - 1m 39.887s

"The important thing is that this morning we found the right direction to solve the set-up problems we experienced yesterday. Now we are happy enough with our race pace - we can lap in the low one minute 41s and that's not so bad - so we have achieved a good target. We knew that the situation with qualifying tyres could be a bit more difficult and, even though we've made some progress, it's clear that we need to continue working with Bridgestone in this area to be fully competitive, because at the moment we suffer a lot at tracks without a lot of grip. Another thing that will be difficult at the start of the season is dealing with the new tyre regulations which give us a limited number of tyres at each race, but that's the same for everyone."


Jerez Official Record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha - 2005), 1'40.596
Jerez Pole Record: Loris Capirossi (Ducati - 2006), 1'39.064

Temperature: Air 19 - Ground 34

Official Session Sunday, 25th February:

1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1'38.394
2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1'38.527
3. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1'39.300
4. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1'39.556
5. Randy De Puniet (Kawasaki) 1'39.832
6. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1'39.873
7. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1'39.887
8. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) 1'40.043
9. Kenny Roberts ( KR - Honda) 1'40.083
10. Carlos Checa ( Honda) 1'40.100
11. Toni Elias ( Honda) 1'40.202
12. Shinya Nakano (Honda) 1'40.242
13. Makoto Tamada (Yamaha) 1'40.307
14. Marco Melandri (Honda) 1'40.396
15. Oliver Jacque (Kawasaki) 1'40.551
16. Alex Hofmann (Ducati) 1'40.681
17. Alex Barros ( Ducati) 1'41.038
18. Kousuke Akiyoshi (Suzuki) 1'41.805
19. Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha) 1'42.215
20. Vittoriano Guareschi (Ducati) 1.43.008
21. Andrew Pitt (Ilmor) 1'43.026
22. Shinichi Ito (Ducati) 1'43.073
23. Jeremy McWilliams (Ilmor) 1'43.202