Marc VDS Racing Team riders Mika Kallio and Scott Redding enjoyed a productive opening day of practice for the penultimate round of the 2011 Moto2 World Championship at a scorching hot Sepang circuit in Malaysia today.
Kallio was able to set a hot pace right from the start and in the typically extreme conditions at the 5.548km track, he was an impressive fifth fastest this morning and less than 0.2s away from the top three.
Air temperatures soared to a physically punishing 32 degrees this afternoon and Kallio concentrated exclusively on evaluating grip levels with Dunlop’s range of front and rear tyres. The intense heat and humidity in Malaysia places even greater emphasis on the correct tyre choice, and after exhaustive work in assessing all the options available, Kallio is confident he’s found a combination that will help him battle for a top 10 finish in Sunday’s 19-lap race.
He was 0.6s faster this afternoon and his best lap of 2.08.970 secured him an encouraging eighth place on the combined timesheets.
Redding also enjoyed a positive start to the weekend and he finished less than 0.1s behind Kallio at the end of two gruelling 45-minute practice sessions.
The British rider clocked a fastest lap of 2.09.038 this afternoon to finish just 0.031s outside of the top 10. The 18-year-old is confident he can lap consistently in the mid 2.08 bracket tomorrow, as he seeks to make his Marc VDS machine more agile in the fast changes of direction at the Sepang track, which is the second longest on the World Championship schedule.
Mika Kallio
“This morning was a very good start and I was happy to be inside the top six. And this afternoon went well also because the goal was to be in the top eight and we achieved that. This afternoon we decided to work a lot on the tyres to find the best combination for the race. I think the best balance will be the hard front and the hard rear but concentrating so much on the tyres we missed out at the last exit. We didn’t have the best combination on and although I did make my best lap time at the end, I felt like I was close to the limit. I also need to improve my pace when the tyres are new. The times were coming quite easy on used tyres but on new tyres in the first three laps, my pace wasn’t much better and you normally you should be able to improve by some tenths. For qualifying we need to make sure I improve in this area because you need to be fast on new tyres to get a good grid position.”
Scott Redding
“It wasn’t a bad day but I can definitely do better. I’m struggling a little bit with the fast changes of direction and I’d like a bit more rear edge grip. When I’m at full lean angle I can’t pick the bike up as quick as I’d like, so we’ll come up with a plan tonight to see how we can make the bike more agile. Looking at the timesheets we need to find about 0.5s to be right in the hunt but that won’t be easy. My pace today felt like I was right at the limit and it didn’t seem to matter how hard I pushed the lap time was the same. It was typical Sepang weather today with really hot and humid conditions but all the training and work on my endurance seems to have worked. It was extremely hot but I had the strength and power, and that has given me a good boost.”
Michael Bartholemy - Team Manager
“Today was a decent start for Mika and Scott but it is clear that both of them have to be around 0.5s faster. We would like to be a little bit higher up but both of them are not far away from the top six and that is encouraging on the first day. I was impressed again with Mika and immediately he found a good feeling with the track this morning to finish very close to the top three. The heat and slippery track conditions make this race very tough, but Mika worked a lot on evaluating tyres and hopefully his efforts will pay off tomorrow and Sunday. Scott also did a good job and he is still learning how to get the best of the updated chassis we only starting using in Phillip Island. His team have got some ideas to help him feel more comfortable tomorrow and I’m sure he will be able to show the high potential of the Marc VDS Racing package.”
