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Rossi completes Malaysian test |
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Posted by Staff
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Thursday, 07 February 2008 |
Rossi Completes Malaysian Test with
Impressive Race Simulation
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Valentino Rossi rounded off a successful three days in Malaysia with
another impressive day's testing at the Sepang International Circuit today. The
high point of the Italian's day was his race simulation, when he lapped
consistently under lap record pace and improved on his time from the January
test, as well as on last year's race time.
Rossi was pleased both with
the performance of his 2008-spec M1 and with his Bridgestone tyres, today's
results indicating that he and his team are on target with their pre-season
development. His best time of 2'01.190 was set on a qualifying tyre on his 23rd
of 48 laps, putting him second in the standings behind team-mate Jorge Lorenzo.
The Fiat Yamaha Team will reconvene closer to home at Jerez in Spain on
Saturday, 16th February for the three-day Official MotoGP Test, the penultimate
test before the season kicks off in March.
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Valentino Rossi - Position: 2nd Time: 2'01.190 Laps: 48
"I'm
really happy about today's race simulation and about the overall balance of this
test. Everything has gone well and the race-simulation was an improvement on the
one from last time; this is the real test of where we are. We've worked on
various different items in many different areas but we've had positive feedback
throughout. It's given me the chance to better understand the tyres and today's
simulation has given me even more information about how they behave. We've
worked more at this test on the set-up of the bike to enable it to work as well
as possible with the new tyres and we've also continued to work on the new
engine, which will be the standard one for this season, and on the electronics.
We've still got a lot to do but so far everything is progressing well. Now we're
looking forward to Jerez and seeing where we are at a new track alongside all of
our competitors."
Davide Brivio - Team Manager
"This test has
been very positive; all the hard work that the Yamaha engineers have put in over
the winter is now showing in our good results so I would like to say a big thank
you to all of them. We've seen improvement in all the different areas in which
we've worked in this week and so we hope that these results will help us to
create a competitive package. Today's race simulation was good and an
improvement on January, plus the individual lap times within it were fast and
consistent. This is a very important indication of our level. We've only done
50% of our pre-season testing, we have two more to go before the first race but
we hope to continue improving like this and arrive at the first race in good
shape and ready to commence our challenge."
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Lorenzo on Top Despite Struggles on Final Day in Sepang
Jorge
Lorenzo finished his second test of the year in positive fashion today with an
impressive lap on qualifying tyres. The young Fiat Yamaha Team rider had a
somewhat difficult test overall and was unhappy not to improve in the way he had
expected to, but his performance on Michelin qualifying rubber at the end of the
day gave him some cause for cheer.
Like his team-mate Valentino Rossi,
Lorenzo had planned to complete a race simulation today but he abandoned it
after a few laps when he found he was lacking pace, deciding instead to spend
the remainder of the day working on set-up and tyre testing with Michelin. His
time of 2'00.705, set on the 72nd of 73 laps, was an improvement on his best
qualifying time from the January test and good enough to leave him at the top of
the day's time sheets, with Rossi in second after a best lap of 2'01.190.
Lorenzo and his team will now enjoy a short break before the Official
MotoGP Tests commence at Jerez in southern Spain on 16th February.
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Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1st Time: 2'00.705 Laps: 73
"This has
been a difficult test for us but not completely negative. The major problem is
still the front end going into the corners; the bike is not stable and we also
have a bit of vibration. We've tried many different settings but we haven't been
able to improve as much as we expected, so this means that I still need to adapt
my riding style in some areas. Today I started to do a race simulation but I
came in again because my pace was not good enough. At the end of the day we
tried some qualifying tyres and I was able to improve on my time from the last
test, so that's positive. I'm not worried about what's happened here; I've had
bad days before and I have confidence that we will find the right way forward. I
am looking forward to going to a different track now and seeing what happens
there."
Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
"After the January
test, when we had quite a good pace, we hoped to improve again this time but
unfortunately this hasn't been the case. We've tried many different things with
the chassis and the suspension settings but we still have some problems going
into the hard braking areas. It's been a useful test despite this however
because we've had the chance to refine some mapping, improve the cooling system
with the new fairing and to find some new tyres with Michelin. Jorge has worked
very hard this week; the hot weather makes his job more difficult and of course
he's not used to so much winter testing outside of Europe like this, so well
done to him. Now everyone has a short rest and hopefully we'll start in better
shape in Jerez."
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Test Results
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team
2'00.705
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 2'01.190
3.
Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda Gresini 2'02.135
4. Alex De Angelis (RSM) Honda
Gresini 2'02.194
5. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing 2'03.021
6.
Tamaki Serizawa (JPN) Kawasaki Racing 2'03.623
7. Yamaha Test Rider (-)
Yamaha Test Team 2'06.000
8. Yamaha Test Rider (-) Yamaha Test Team
2'06.040
Sepang: Lap Record
Casey Stoner (Ducati) 2007, 2'02.108
Sepang: Best Lap
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 2'00.605
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