The afternoon session also went well. We made a couple of small alterations to the chassis and I was getting more and more confidant with the whole bike. The weather stayed dry (just) and I was never out of the top 15 and finished the session in that position, 15th. I was looking forward again to the next day because I felt that I didn’t do that good of a lap and it could be another 0.5-0.7secs faster. I was really happy with the way the bike was turning and I still thought that I could have sacrificed some of my front grip to get a bit in the rear.
For Saturday it just didn’t got right from the time I woke up until the time I went to sleep. I might as well have stayed in bed all day! The team put a new engine in my bike on Friday night and as I exited the pit lane for morning free practice I knew something was wrong. As soon as I revved the bike from about 11-12,000 it made a harsh rattling noise.
I stopped in the box after one lap and explained it to the mechanics but they were unsure of what it could be so they sent me back out to do another couple of laps to see if anything improved. I spent the complete session in and out of the box and I only did 8 laps in total and only two full laps where I crossed the start/finish line. After the session the mechanics decided to put the old engine back in because they were totally unsure of what the problem was with the new one. I thought that it could have been the crank because it felt and sounded like it was something pretty terminal, not just a small problem.
For the afternoon the old engine was back in and it was faultless and was running well. I spent half of the session trying different things with the setup, all of which was making very slight differences but was mainly focusing on trying different tyres so I had a better idea of what to use for the race rather than being undecided like I was in China. After trying a couple of different tyres I came in for some fresh, soft rubber for the last 10 minute blast.
