Valentino Rossi completed a third and final day of testing at
the Official MotoGP Tests in Jerez de la Frontera today, finishing fifth overall
on his YZR-M1. The Fiat Yamaha rider completed 79 laps today, despite not
starting until early afternoon due to a damp track in the morning.
Rossi
spent most of the day refining set-up and tyre testing with Bridgestone,
although the tricky track conditions hampered progress somewhat. Towards the end
of the day the Italian, like most of his competitors, tried a qualifying tyre
and it was with this that he completed his best lap of the three days, in time
of 1’39.568. His team-mate Jorge Lorenzo finished 2nd overall after a qualifying
lap of 1’39.252.
The next stop for the team will be Qatar in ten days
time, where they face two days of night testing in preparation for the season
opener and inaugural night race on 9th March.
Valentino Rossi:
“At the end of today it was quite cold which made things
difficult, and generally the conditions have made our job harder for the whole
three days. Despite this I think we’ve done some good work; I have a good rhythm
and I am having a lot of fun riding the bike. I’m quite excited now about the
start of the season! We have things to work on, especially our speed in the exit
of the corner, which was worse today because we had less grip on the damp track.
Overall though it’s been good, and I think we’ve learnt a lot both about the
bike and the Bridgestones, plus I have been quite fast both with the qualifier
and the race tyres. I didn’t use the qualifier I like best here, so I am
confident that when we use it in Qatar we can be faster. Now there’s just one
test left, which will be in the dark and therefore something quite strange! We
will focus on our final days of preparation and be ready for the first
race.”
from Fiat Yamaha Press
