It was the final day of Pirelli Testing on the track in Kyalami. The sun and heat (an air temperature of 30 degrees while the asphalt measured 60 degrees) were king and the various teams took different approaches to their work: some opted to simulate race conditions, others the so-called “long run”, and others still continued to test out the line of tyres brought in by Pirelli.
Biaggi and Nakano dedicated themselves to the development of the RSV4's engine, trying out different configurations and many new components. Max Biaggi totalled 49 laps with a top time of 1:40.768, the 8th best on the day. Shinya Nakano completed 32 laps on the South African circuit and clocked in a 1:41.331, allowing him to finish 12th on the day.
“These three days were very useful – declared Biaggi – we worked hard and collected a lot of information. The vibration problem we encounter upon entering into curves still persists, so we'll have to work hard over the break to find a solution. These are typical problems of a new, 4-time motorcycle like this one, nothing too dramatic about but nevertheless enough to force us roll up our sleeves and get busy. I am, however, very confident in Aprilia's technical capacity”.
“I am very happy about how these three days of testing have gone – said Nakano – especially the second day when we clocked in a good time. These tests were very useful; we really studied the track, worked well, and my comfort level with the RSV4 really improved. It is just too bad that we had a few small technical problems today that held us up in the box for a while”.
