Elias and de Angelis not enjoying Motegi cold

It may have been drier in Motegi on Friday than it had been at the postponed opening round in Qatar, but cold conditions created more problems in Japan for San Carlo Gresini Honda. Toni Elias was the second fastest Honda on track, although both he and teammate Alex de Angelis were displeased with their practice results.

Toni Elias -9th

“The conditions were probably even more difficult today than they were in Qatar because the cold was incredible. The problem we’ve been having all preseason getting heat into the tyres is exacerbated by the low track temperatures but Honda have brought us some new chassis parts here that have helped. We are still too far from where we need to be but I was the second fastest Honda today, only a tenth off the fastest one, and even though I am not satisfied with the position the important thing is we’re closing the gap.”

Alex De Angelis -15th

“The change in temperature from the heat we had here yesterday to the cold today certainly changed the cards on the table and for us it meant that when we rolled the bike out we ran into the same kind of problems we had in the Qatar test, when it was similarly cold. We have rear grip issues and even though the guys made some changes during the session that seemed to work, by moving the balance to the rear I had problems keeping the front end down in the hard acceleration zones and I had to close the throttle, which obviously loses time, so we need to look at the data tonight and try to find a better compromise.”