Riders get first taste of new-look Indianapolis

“It’s been a positive morning and after the holidays it was good to get back on the bike. There were a few wet patches at the beginning of the session but it soon dried up. The new surface is quite similar to the one we had last year but it’s less bumpy and the grip will of course improve throughout the weekend. Maybe for our bike the old layout worked better and the new corners make the lap a little easier. There is certainly more corner speed, more banking in the exit of the corner and we stay on the throttle longer - It's not like before when we could stop the bike and pick it up and go.”

“The track was quite dirty and with the new surface the tyres suffered a little towards the end of the session. In general it looks like the track is flatter now with less bumps than before and we need to check which rear compound tyre we can use as the hard option might be possible, due to the new asphalt. The layout is quite different especially the last chicane where previously we had to brake but now there is almost no need to slow down! We need to go over the data to analyse how these changes affect us but for sure we have less wheelie than before. At the end of the session some riders put on a new rear tyre, hard and soft, but I decided to stay on the same one as I knew I couldn’t improve my lap time and I think this is a safer option for the weekend.”