Day 4- Wednesday 11th December
Another early rise and shine and off to the track for our first day of riding here at Zhuhai circuit. The first free practice was a 45min session that we planned to use for a shakedown, get used to the bike, give some feedback on the bike and learn the track. The way this championship is run is quite a bit different to anything I’ve experienced, all the bikes go to a parc ferme 30mins before the start of the session and they are fueled up, with the fuel being supplied by Petronas, the title sponsor. This caused a bit of a problem as the electricity wasn’t working in the parc ferme so everyone had cold tyres. Cold tyres on the old spec dunlops is not a good combination! They take many laps to get temperature in and my team mate found that out when he high sided and concussed himself. On my first lap out the petrol cap fell off, so I had to bring it back to the pits. The session got red flagged (not due to me!), then we headed back out. I tried to give myself some time to learn everything and gradually got faster and faster. There was a number of things that needed changing and adjusting, but still I ended up in 9th place with a 1min43.2 on my last lap. The leader had done a 1min40.9. Petronas being the title sponsor, also have three teams in the championship, 6 bikes in total. Petronas Yamaha Malaysia, Petronas Yamaha India and Petronas Yamaha Thailand. The top four riders in the session where all team Petronas. They have excellent bikes and a lot of experience at this circuit and in this championship. So I definitely have my work cut out… We made some changes to the bike and a few hours later headed out for Timed Practice 1 (qualifying). I went quicker straight away and continued to. I pulled in as we had things to try, the first thing being tyre pressure. Unfortunately, we changed it a bit too much and I had a small crash in a slow hairpin, just loosing the front. I was straight up to my feet, picked the bike up and continued on. I pulled in to fix the fairing and footpegs etc and made some other changes, I went faster again and done my quickest lap on the final lap, a 1min41.5 which left me in 8th. The position is not where I want to be, but for the first time at the circuit, new bike, tyres, etc we are heading in the right direction. We still have set up issues and also a small technical with the engine, so I hope we can sort this out for tomorrows sessions! Feels like im back at school writing essays!
Catch you tomorrow
G#4 - Click for full day diary
