Donington, 22 June: Honda LCR riders endured treacherous conditions in constant rain during today’s opening free practice sessions at Donington Park for the British Grand Prix. Checa posted the sixteenth fastest time, 1’47.027s, on the rain-lashed and slippery 4.02 km track.

Checa set his fastest time in the morning session when the rain was less constant, while in the afternoon the rain increased with a track temperature of just 17 degrees. Checa suffered from a lack of side-grip and chassis balance in the low grip conditions with more rain forecast for the weekend. The fastest time overall today was set by Australian rider Casey Stoner.

CHECA: Sixteenth overall - 1’47.027

CHECA: “In the rain this track is very, very slippery, perhaps more so than any other circuit. It was a difficult day, I lacked chassis balance and rear side-grip and need to analyse all of the data to find a solution if the conditions are like this for the race. I concentrated on just one bike today but never really found a comfortable feeling to be closer to the front. The rain was softer in the morning, almost with a dry line late in the session.”

For the 250cc GP Irish rider Eugene Laverty qualified 14th on the provisional grid with an impressive performance in constant, at times heavy, rain in preparation for his race.

LAVERTY: “The conditions were unbelievable, it’s almost impossible to ride, it was all I could do to stay on the bike, there was no grip. It would be nice to have more grip, but it is so cold the tyres are not getting up to temperature but perhaps we can change the set-up to try and improve the grip.”