After the rain upset the first night of testing yesterday, Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were finally able to make a proper start on their testing programme in Qatar tonight. Running under floodlights in preparation for the season-opener in a month’s time, the pair were able to put in a good night’s work despite a late-evening break when the track was red-flagged after two riders crashed.
With cool temperatures and a dirty track surface after high winds earlier, lap times were well off record pace but Rossi was able to put in some consistent times and finished the night second behind Casey Stoner. Lorenzo is still looking to find his confidence in the new Bridgestone tyres but he improved gradually throughout the evening to finish in seventh position.
Valentino Rossi - Position: 2nd Time: 1.57.747 Laps: 51 “Today was good because first of all we were able to test! I am quite happy because I was fast from the start and the bike is a lot better than this time last year. The setting is completely different after a year with Bridgestone and we seem to be in good shape. The lap times are quite slow compared to the race because it is cold and also the track conditions aren’t perfect, but hopefully in a month’s time it will be quite a bit warmer. We worked well today, testing some things for the engine and some electronics, and everything is helping us to improve our setting and to be faster. Now I hope that we have good weather between now and tomorrow night and no more wind so that the track is cleaner tomorrow and we can improve the times a bit more.”
Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 7th Time: 1’58.400 Laps: 63 “Today’s practice was quite hard, harder than I expected in fact! It was windy and the surface of the track was quite dusty and quite cold, so this has made our job of building confidence with the new Bridgestone tyres harder. To start with I was finding it quite hard to go fast in these conditions, and especially to brake later. I am still braking too early at the moment, which makes it difficult to be fast. We tried some new electronic systems tonight in order to reduce the wheelie, and this seems to be positive. Later on this evening we tried a new setting and I was able to improve my pace in the cold conditions. Hopefully we can continue to improve from the start tomorrow.”
Davide Brivio - Team Manager “I think we can be happy with this ‘delayed ‘first day!’ Valentino did many laps, and we’ve had positive feedback from what we’ve tested. Now we will try to use the final night as best we can and try to leave ourselves in good shape for the first race here.”
Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager “Today we had more problems at the start than we expected, and Jorge was struggling to find feeling going into the turns. Later on however the team tried some new settings that allowed him to obtain a decent pace in the cooler conditions, so we were able to end the night’s work on a good note.”
Test Times
1. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’57.139
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’57.747
3. Colin Edwards (USA) Tech 3 Yamaha 1’57.817
4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda 1’57.879
5. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’58.018
6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’58.264
7. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’58.400
8. Alex De Angelis (RSM) Team San Carlo 1’58.441
9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’58.577
10. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1’58.619
11. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1’58.936
12. Toni Elias (SPA) Team San Carlo 1’59.036
13. Yuki Takahashi (JPN) Scot Racing Team 1’59.153
14. Marco Melandri (ITA) Hayate Racing Team 1’59.195
15. Niccolo Canepa (ITA) Alice Team 1’59.266
16. Mika Kallio (FIN) Alice Team 1’59.764
17. James Toseland (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha 2’00.234
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