Catalunya 2005 pre-season IRTA test - MotoGP
Barcelona - Friday March 18th 2005

Intense day of work for Camel Honda team at first IRTA test in Barcelona

MotoGP cranked up its engines today in Barcelona for the first official
appointment of the season, a three-day IRTA test session at the Catalunya
circuit, which on Sunday will host the climactic moment of a timed test between
14.05 and 14.45 (broadcast on live television). The two Camel Honda team riders,
Alex Barros and Troy Bayliss, had a challenging yet fruitful day, which allowed
them to set tomorrow's work up nicely. Alex had trouble all day with a small
problem in the forks, which was resolved towards the end of the day, and remains
optimistic for tomorrow. Troy continues to improve his feeling on board his
RC211V and at the end of the day he was seemingly satisfied.

Sito Pons - Camel Honda

"I'm happy to be here for the first official European tests of the season. This
is an important event because in these three days in Barcelona, along with the
three in Jerez next week, we will finish our preparations for the start of the
championship. This is also an important event for the fans, because on Sunday
there will be the timed session and I hope that it will be successful. The team
is working calmly and both riders are happy with the first day. The times still
aren't exceedingly quick, for everybody, so I think that we will see some big
improvements over the next two days."

Alex Barros - Camel Honda - 1'43.902 (59 laps) 7th fastest

"Today was a challenging day, which ended a few minutes early because we had
tested all the tyres we had been handed. The whole day we were struggling with
the forks; we did thousands of tests but none of them seemed to work, with none
of the tyres. At the end we changed them and everything was solved in an
instant. Now we have found out that there was a little technical problem with a
sensor, nothing serious, but enough to stop me from riding my best. As soon as
we made the change, using the same settings and the same tyres as before I rode
half a second quicker. It's a shame that it was just over an hour before the
end. That doesn't matter though, now I know we are ready and we can go well."

Troy Bayliss - Camel Honda - 1'44.403 (90 laps) 13th fastest

"I'm very satisfied because we are working well. Today I did so many laps and
there was some positive progression. We picked out the direction we will work in
and I fell confident now. I'm sure we will improve, we are just at the beginning
of this very important test and we have to make the most of it so we can be
ready for the first race."

Official Lap Times

 1. Biaggi (Honda)      1'43.159
 2. Gibernau (Honda)    1'43.254
 3. Tamada (Honda)      1'43.347
 4. Melandri (Honda)    1'43.433
 5. Rossi (Yamaha)      1'43.518
 6.Edwards (Honda)      1'43.882
 7. Barros (Honda)      1'43.902
 8 capirossi (Ducati)   1'43.974
 9. Checa (Ducati)      1'44.102
10. Roberts (Suzuki)    1'44.282
11. Hayden (Honda)      1'44.284
12. Nakano (Kawasaki)   1'44.325
13. Bayliss (Honda)     1'44.403
14. Hofmann (Kawasaki)  1'44.548
15. Elias (Yamaha)      1'44.550
16. Xaus (Yamaha)       1'44.787
17. Hopkins (Suzuki)    1'44.849
18. Itoh (Ducati)       1'45.043
19. Aoki (Suzuki)       1'45.727
20. Rolfo (Ducati)      1'46.331
21. Byrne (Proton)      1'47.152
22. Ellison (Blata)     1'47.663
23. Guareschi (Ducati)  1'48.217
24. Battaini (Blata)    1'49.115
25. Shimizu (Kawasaki)  1'56.136