MotoGP news

Nakano enjoyed productive first day

The Konica Minolta Honda Team and rider Shinya Nakano enjoyed a very productive wet test session at the Jerez circuit on Monday. With the majority of teams present from yesterday's Spanish Grand Prix, the rainy conditions allowed Nakano to try Michelin's wet-weather tyres for the first time. 

Coming back to use the French tyres in 2007, the team and its Japanese rider were glad to adjust the test schedule with the different weather conditions. Nakano was sitting near the top of the timesheets during most of the day when the track was completely flooded. The former 250cc championship runner up completed a total of 54 laps setting a best time of 1:52.212s. 

Nakano said: "It has been a very interesting and positive test in these wet conditions. Rain tyres of different brands can have a completely different character and feel, so after many seasons on Bridgestones, it was good to try the Michelins. Although I prefer to ride and race in the dry, I enjoyed riding today in the wet very much and could feel the grip from both the front and rear. As a result, I could get some really good lap times in, which has been very good for my confidence. The feeling I had from the bike and the tyres in the wet was very good and that's the sort of feeling we're after from the bike in dry conditions, too. Once I have found a setting to give me the same feeling then I know we will go much faster. Today we compared both the 2006 and 2007 Michelin wet tyres so that was a very useful exercise in itself. Obviously for the conditions our settings at both the front and rear are much softer for the wet, but we did try many different settings and combinations to analyse and give us some ideas of what we could try for the dry. We still have a small chattering problem from the front-end, but I'm more confident thanks to being near the top of the timing sheets for most of the day."

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