Yamaha, Lorenzo rounds off Sepang test in forceful fashion
New Fiat Yamaha Team signing Jorge Lorenzo finished what was just his fourth test on a MotoGP bike in fine form today, rounding off testing in Malaysia in third place overall. The Spanish rookie posted his best lap from 63 on a Michelin qualifying tyre but also put in a string of consistently fast laps on race tyres, despite a fall cutting short his long run.The youngster set out for his race simulation in sweltering conditions this morning and was posting some consistently fast times when he crashed on lap 17. He was unhurt however and was able to continue with Michelin tyre testing for the rest of the day, rounding off with an impressive time of 2'00.766 on a qualifying tyre, just 0.440 seconds off fastest man of the day Nicky Hayden and only 0.161 seconds off the existing Sepang pole record.
Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 3rd Time: 2'00.766 Laps: 63, "Today was another positive day for me and it's been an encouraging three days overall: I'm pleased with what we've achieved. I had a little problem this morning because I felt like I had a bit less grip than usual, so we had to work on this. Then I started my race simulation and unfortunately I crashed about three-quarters of the way through; I was a bit out of the line and when I accelerated I lost control of the bike. Before that my pace was not so bad and we had time to gather a lot of information before it happened, so it wasn't the end of the world. I wasn't hurt and so after that we started again with Michelin tyre testing and at the end I tried a qualifying tyre which was very good; I improved my time quite a lot. I'm really happy with the team's work and now we're waiting for the next test so we can continue improving."
Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager, despite the crash in his long run we got some good information and his pace up to that time was good. Overall it's been a very good test and we've had some good improvement from the engine side. We've continued to progress with regards to the bike set-up and also with tyres, where we've found some good new material. Thanks to the rider and the team for their hard work and of course we're looking forward to coming back again in ten days to continue our preparation for the season ahead."
Rossi content with progress at close of first Sepang test, Valentino Rossi rounded off the third day of testing in Malaysia with another day's solid progress in Sepang today, the Fiat Yamaha Team rider finishing the test sixth overall out of 22 riders testing. Rossi had time to complete a full race simulation of 21 laps and recorded a general improvement compared to last year's race, despite slowing down for a lap in the middle in order to give himself a breather as temperatures topped 34 degrees.Rossi's best time after 48 laps, a lap of 2'01.425, was posted on a Bridgestone qualifier but the Italian admits there is more work to do in order to maximise bike set-up when using the softer qualifying tyres. Overall it was an extremely positive test for Rossi and his crew, who managed to complete everything on the schedule thanks to good weather throughout.
The Fiat Yamaha Team will now head to their respective homes for a week before returning to Sepang for another three-day test on 5th, 6th and 7th February.
