
Konica Minolta rider Shinya Nakano shaved almost a second-and-a-half from his Friday lap-time in today's qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix. The former 250cc GP championship runner-up improved the set-up of his Honda RC212V around the 2.98mile Twin Ring Motegi circuit, but will make some further changes to the front-end of his 800cc machine in time for tomorrow's 24-lap race.
Shinya Nakano commented: "It's been tough today as the lap time around here has improved a lot! On the qualifying tyre I was making a good lap time in T1 and T2 sectors, but in T3 and the downhill T4 sector we've been having problems with braking stability. This makes it hard to enter the corner at high-speed and affects your overall lap-time. Tomorrow we will change some settings to the front of the bike to improve our braking performance. We need to make a good start as at Motegi it's very hard to pass around here."
| Japan 2007 news | |
|---|---|
| 24 Sep. '07 | Elias over the moon with podium finish |
| 24 Sep. '07 | Unfortunate race for Checa at Motegi |
| 23 Sep. '07 | The battle is over for Rossi |
| More Japan 2007 news, Photos | |
| Shinya Nakano news | |
| 19 Aug. '08 | Nakano wraps up positive test for Gresini |
| 09 Mar. '08 | Difficult qualifying run for Honda Gresini riders |
| 08 Mar. '08 | Nakano not pushing for the limits yet |
| More Shinya Nakano news, Photos | |
| Konica Minolta Honda news | |
| 17 Dec. '07 | FIM announces provisional entry list |
| 30 Nov. '07 | Dovizioso compltes successful winter test |
| 29 Nov. '07 | Dovizioso continues strong performance at Jerez |
| More Konica Minolta Honda news, Photos | |