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Tire testing for the Yamaha Team |
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Posted by Staff
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Monday, 24 September 2007 |
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Fiat Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards had
no time to dwell on the disappointment of yesterday’s Japanese Grand Prix,
getting back out on track today for another one-day test. With the championship
now decided, Rossi and Edwards are both focused on ending the season on a
high-note with three good races, and it was with this in mind that the riders
put in some valuable tyre work today with Michelin.
Rossi also had the chance to try two new prototype
chassis for the 2008 YZR-M1, although he continued to use the latest evolution
engine, the same as he ran in yesterday’s race. Sharing the track with just five
other riders, Edwards put in the second fastest time of 1’47.947 whilst Rossi
was fourth fastest with a lap of 1’48.213. There is now a two-week break for the
paddock before MotoGP heads to Phillip Island for th Australian Grand Prix.
Colin Edwards:
“Today was a pretty good day after what happened
yesterday. We tested a new front tyre that I am really happy with and a couple
of different rears. I think Michelin brought some good new material here and
it’s been encouraging to have the chance to try it out with the last three races
in mind. We were so focused on the tyres today that we didn’t touch the bike at
all. It seems that the stuff we tried was pretty good, so I am much more
confident for the next races. Now we go to Australia and the Yamaha seems to
always work good there, so I look forward to getting on board again at one of my
favourite tracks and getting some results.”
Valentino Rossi:
“Today we made the very first test with the first prototype of next year’s
M1. It is not a completely new bike, because the engine is the same as we used
yesterday in race, but we tested two different chassis. We used the same engine
of yesterday in order to be able to better judge any improvement. One chassis
was stiffer than the other and with the stiffer one I felt some vibration, but
with the intermediate one my feeling was really very good. Of course this is the
first step, but with that in mind it was a pretty good test. Now we must work on
the engine for next year. After the last race in Valencia we will test the
chassis again, and also a different engine, so I look forward to seeing it
there. Today we also tested some new material from Michelin and did some good
work, especially with a new front tyre, which gives me a very good
feeling.
"Finally, we were also able to understand the problem
we had yesterday with the front tyre. It seems that the problem was the
temperature; when I re-entered the track after the change the pit-lane was still
wet and the temperature of the front tyre dropped drastically. That’s why Colin
and I could not ride the bike in the very first laps; we both had the same
problem. Now we go to Australia and I am confident we will be competitive there
and that we can finish the championship in the best possible way.”
Davide Brivio:
“Today we have tried two different chassis, in order to
give indications to the engineers about which way must take the development of
the 2008 bike. One of them seems to work better than the current one and might
be a good option to use in the future. I think that today we were able to give a
lot of valuable information to our engineers. With both Valentino and Colin we
have also worked on the tyres with Michelin and in that area too we were able to
give interesting and important information to our partner. We also tested some
other new material and we found some interesting things which could help us in
the last few races. We are now ready to move on to Phillip Island in good shape,
put this result behind us and be competitive again.”
from Fiat Yamaha press
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