Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda: 2m 01.139s - 63 laps "Another good day for us, I ran with 16.5 inch tires today after trying the 16 inch tires yesterday. We tried different front end geometry and suspension but returned to the setting we had yesterday. I also did a race simulation run and was very happy because I ran consistent lap times under 2m02.5s. Tomorrow we will go back to testing 16-inch tires and would like to push harder in the morning session, if the conditions are good. I had a small crash at lunchtime, the front end just folded under me, nothing seriously damaged and I'm OK"
Andrea Dovizioso, JiR Scot Honda: 2m 02.006s - 55 laps "I'm not totally satisfied about today, but this is because I set high targets for myself and want to solve as many problems as possible and as quickly as I can! We still have some issues with the engine braking setting and we do have some rear-end chattering from the bike. This in turn makes it harder to set-up the chassis so we are working hard together to find the best setting, which will give us a solution. It's tiring riding a bike, which does this, so we will work hard to improve it. We are working hard with Michelin, as I know we can move forward together. Today I tried a qualifying tire to find out how much faster I could be and we went around three-tenths quicker, which shows we need to improve the general setting of the bike."
Shinya Nakano, Gresini Honda: 2m 02.095s 54 laps "Finally I set good lap times on race tires the bike felt good today, especially around noon but in the afternoon I could not set so fast times as the track temperature was too high, even for a qualifying tire. But I did find a very good rear tire with Bridgestone today. The chassis was the same as yesterday but we found some very good front fork settings. I lowered the ride height on the rear and that helped us improve the feeling a lot. We didn't try much on the electronics; we will do that at Phillip Island (Australia) next week. Tomorrow we will try some different chassis options and work on tire testing. Everything is going really well for us here."
Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 2m 02.102s - 66 laps "We used the standard engine in the morning. I set my fastest lap, and then we started using the pneumatic-valve engine after about 25 laps. With that engine the bike did feel more like the prototype I rode
last November, I guess because the bike was designed to have that engine, so maybe the extra weight makes it work a bit better. We did have a few little issues with the engine, it's got smoother power and more rpm but top speed is a bit down, plus I was coming in every 12 laps to check the system so it wasn't so easy to get into a rhythm. But I think the pneumatic valves are the way to go because that engine's got more potential. We also tested a clutch with the pneumatic-valve engine, plus some setting parts and fuel injection, more engine type of stuff. We stayed on race tires all day and made a little bit of progress, four tenths or so. We also tested a couple of tires, I tried a 16 rear but the balance of the bike wasn't right with that tire, so we need to look at the data and see what's happening. Now we're going to sit down, talk about it and see which engine we're going to use tomorrow."
Alex De Angelis, Gresini Honda: 2m 02.914s - 41 laps "This morning was very good because I improved my lap time; I was consistently faster than yesterday. We spent a lot of time working on the rear suspension settings and tried a lot of options, mainly spring rates, while running race tires. The bike now behaves a lot better and I am better off the corners than before. We played with the electronics a little to get the bike to spin up and slide off the corners, that's good for my riding style. I didn't try any qualifying tires today. "
Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda Did not test due an injured hand sustained at Sepang yesterday.
Wednesday Lap Times
1. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 2:01.139
2. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 2:01.327
3. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 2:01.437
4. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 2:01.583
5. Casey STONER (Ducati) 2:01.638
6. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki) 2:01.874
7. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 2:01.917
8. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 2:02.006
9. Shinya NAKANO (Honda) 2:02.095
10. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda) 2:02.102
11. James TOSELAND (Yamaha) 2:02.276
12. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki) 2:02.371
13. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki) 2:02.579
14. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 2:02.914
15. Toni ELIAS (Ducati) 2:03.311
16. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati) 2:03.380
17. Olivier JACQUE (Kawasaki) 2:03.462
18. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati) 2:04.217
19. Tamaki SERIZAWA (Kawasaki) 2:04.382
20. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati) 2:04.427
