The Spaniard was the only rider to set three consecutive laps in 1'42", whilst Melandri continued to surprise with his progress The Telefónica MoviStar Honda MotoGP team arrived at Catalunya with the clear objective of continuing to build the best possible Honda for the MotoGP World Championship.
Here they have been able to gather fresh references from a new circuit, which is hosting the first MotoGP Official Test of 2005. Their expectations are being met, so far, with excellent results. Sete Gibernau and Marco Melandri enjoyed quality test sessions in Malaysia, Australia and Qatar, and their level has continued to improve at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Once again the qualifying tyres remained packed away, with Sete Gibernau focusing all his efforts on testing the Honda RC211V 2005 for when the World Championship starts for real and Marco Melandri adapting his riding style to a machine he gets more and more comfortable with every day. Gibernau today added 72 laps to the 74 he completed yesterday and maintained an extremely high pace. His quickest lap was a 1'42"796 and he was the only rider in the field able to set three consecutive laps in the 1'42" mark. Marco Melandri held his place on what would be the 'second row', completing 74 laps today with a quickest time of 1'42"926.
The test reaches an exciting climax tomorrow with an official timed session from 14.05h to 14.45h. Both Sete and Marco expect to have completed their homework by then, allowing them to round off their work at Catalunya with a race simulation as they have done at other circuits.
SETE GIBERNAU (1'42"796, 72 laps):
"I am very satisfied with the level we are working at this preseason. They've been two very intense days with a lot of testing and they have confirmed that every small step we take is very important. I am very focused on my job, following my own line and I appreciate the interest being shown by Honda. We haven't used qualifying tyres at all today and we were consistently at the top. I want to do a race simulation tomorrow and get the bike as ready as possible for the first Grand Prix, which is only days away. The 'superpole' tomorrow would be good for all the people who have come here to support us but it's not the most important thing.
MARCO MELANDRI (1'42"926, 74 laps):
"Yesterday we started working on the base we found in Qatar and today we made a few changes to the setting to try and analyse the data from this circuit and get ready for a full race simulation tomorrow. I'm not interested in using qualifying tyres - I tried them once in Qatar but I wasn't at the level I am now and I'd prefer to get ready for the season. We'll keep working on that tomorrow but I'll do everything I can in the timed session to set a fast lap, which I haven't done up to now".
LAP TIMES
Max Biaggi (Ita/Honda) 1'42"260
Alex Barros (Bra/Honda) 1'42"506
Sete Gibernau (Esp/Honda) 1'42"796
Marco Melandri (Ita/Honda) 1'42"926
Nicky Hayden (USA/Honda) 1'42"953