Sachsenring, 13 July: Honda LCR rider Carlos Checa made excellent use of an updated chassis specification to set the fifth fastest time overall in practice for the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring today. Checa used the two hours of free practice to run back-to-back comparisons with the new chassis and his standard Honda RC212V.

Checa’s best lap of 1’23.413 was just over half second off the fastest time posted by Australian rider, and world championship leader, Casey Stoner. Checa was boosted by the improved turning response of the revised chassis and is planning further evaluation of the new bike tomorrow. The Sachsenring circuit has been resurfaced for this race, although the work has not eliminated the bad bumps on the downhill entry to turn 12, according to Checa.

CHECA: Fifth overall - 1’23.413

CHECA: “I feel comfortable and competitive here, the updated chassis from Honda has better balance and improved turning although we still have to discover how it reacts to set-up changes. Tomorrow I will do further comparisons with new chassis against the standard RC212V, but so far it is a positive feeling. We still need to improve front tyre contact through the uphill turns, plus today the engine set-up was a little aggressive. Tyre performance was consistent and grip levels OK on the new surface, except for the bumps at turn 12.”

For the 250cc GP Irish rider Eugene Laverty was disappointed to qualify 26th on the provisional grid in his first visit to the Sachsenring.

LAVERTY: “I thought made a very good start to learning the track in the morning session, but in qualifying I had an engine problem and that cost me a lot of time, the bike just lacked power. I like the track but I still have some learning to do.”