MotoGP test day 2, Lorenzo makes steady progress in Sepang
The Fiat Yamaha Team completed an intense second day of testing in Malaysia with 2008 rider Jorge Lorezo today, despite a wet track first thing delaying the start of action until after midday. Heavy rain overnight and an overcast sky throughout the morning meant the Sepang track took a long time to dry out but, once the sun finally shone through the clouds, the temperature quickly rose into the low 30s, the asphalt dried and work got underway.Lorenzo continued to work on general set-up with his new team, concentrating specifically on improving his braking and also completing a few laps on the new 2008 prototype M1. He improved on his time from yesterday, completing 48 laps and setting the 10th fastest lap of the day in a time of 2'04.021, with the quickest lap of the day set by John Hopkins in a time of 2'02.200. Tomorrow will see the team complete one final day of testing before they head home to Europe.Jorge Lorenzo (10th, 2'04.021, 48 Laps), today was hard work and I am honestly quite tired after six hours of riding in this heat! We worked on a lot of new things with the setting and I feel like I am making progress in some areas. I'm still having trouble under braking though and I don't feel so comfortable with the front end; we made some improvements today in this area but I know we have more to do and I still have a lot to learn and some changes to make to my riding style. I was able to do a few laps on the new 2008 bike today, which I enjoyed and, even though it was only a few laps, my feeling about it is quite good. The most important thing at the moment though is to improve the feeling with the front end and so we will try again tomorrow! I hope that we have a completely dry day so we can use all of the testing time and have a good last day.
Daniele Romagnoli, Team Manager, when we finally got started early this afternoon Jorge was having some difficulties on the brakes and wasn't completely comfortable in the front end. We therefore adjusted some settings and worked on giving him a better feeling so he was able to do more laps at a time. He is improving but the major factor we need to work on still is the braking. Tonight we will check some data and analyze the situation together with the rider to work out how to improve things for him tomorrow. We are making progress but we have a lot of work to do still and we hope the weather will remain dry so we can take full advantage of our final day.
Masahiko Nakajima, Fiat Yamaha Team Director, today Jorge did almost six hours straight and this is a long time to be concentrating and riding in this heat, so I think he's a little bit tired tonight! We had the time to try many things today and it seems that we've found a good direction in which to work towards the right base setting for him, so this is something positive. He also completed a few laps on the new 2008 prototype bike, just to get his initial feeling, which is quite positive. We've continued to work with him specifically on stability under braking and acceleration and he's definitely making progress and improving in these important areas as he becomes more used to the bike, but there is still more work to do. The braking point is something quite progressive so we hope that tomorrow he can make the next step in this area.
