Sunday, October 26, 2008

Toseland hopes set-up changes succeed

Toseland hopes set-up changes succeed

James Toseland is optimistic that he knows how to fix the set-up issues that left him languishing in 16th place in Friday practice at Valencia, but admitted he needs a drastic improvement in performance if the wet conditions continue tomorrow.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider had high hopes for the Valencia event having twice won at the track in World Superbikes, but struggled throughout today's sessions.

"It was a tough day and we've got to find something to improve because the forecasts are for more rain tomorrow, and I need to find a bit more from the bike," said Toseland.

"I just didn't have a very good feeling and I'm not happy, but I've got some ideas. In those greasy conditions I just haven't got enough feel from the rear and we need to find a lot more contact with the rear tyre. It feels a bit like riding around on eggshells at the moment.

"I'm not too far away but I've definitely got to make a step with the direction I think will work. I just need more weight on the rear to give me more confidence.

"This wasn't the start I wanted with tenth place in the championship to battle for on Sunday, but I'm confident we can make some big improvements."

But his teammate Colin Edwards was more encouraged after taking sixth in the morning and 11th later on.

"We started with the rain setting I used to back at Donington Park and it felt fine, but it uses quite a lot of weight on the front," said the American.

"So we tweaked it to get some more weight on the rear tyre and I felt pretty good. I'm really happy with the soft rain tyre that Michelin has got. This track is pretty tough to judge in the rain but with the softer tyre I'm reasonably happy with my pace.

"I tried a couple of harder tyres and didn't have the same confidence, but the soft tyre we are not sure if it will have the endurance for 30 laps if it rains on Sunday. I'm going to try and make some more changes with the team overnight to get a bit more weight on the rear to see if we can just to get a bit more confidence."



  • Chivas hope to use win as springboard
  • Tweaked lineup probable for Wizards
  • Toseland devastated by crashes
  • No comments: