Britain’s Leon Camier sent shockwaves throug the MotoGP paddock at Indianapolis yesterday by outqualifying Drive M7 Honda team-mate Hiro Aoyama in his debut on the production RCV1000R and ending up 16th on the grid.
The Ashford man was only a little more than two seconds slower than pole-setter Marc Marquez after only four session on the bike as he stands in for Nicky Hayden and says there is still an awful lot to learn.
It is the first time Camier has used carbon brakes and Bridgestone tyres and says he was amazed by the phenomenal corner speed allowed by the Japanese hoops. He is still waiting to adapt the bike to his 6ft 3in frame but similarly-proportioned Scott Redding reckons Camier ‘is doing a good job’.
“The tyres and brakes were very different to what I am used to but as we got faster and faster, we kept adapting the bike and in the end it started to feel really good. You can’t understand how much further the front tyre can go, it’s phenomenal, you can go into a corner so fast,” said Camier, speaking at the track.
“With a Pirelli, you understand where the limit is but on this it is not so clear to understand what you need to do with the suspension to give you what you need. We have been going harder but it doesn’t feel like we necessarily need to. If it was down to me I would have gone in the wrong direction, so it’s good the team is experienced.
“It takes a lot of getting your head around, there are a lot of different characteristics you have to learn and for sure I have got a long way to go. I have got to be realistic, get a good race under my belt and try to mix in somewhere, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
