The opening session of the final pre-season Test ended with Valentino Rossi at the top of the timesheets - as he has been throughout pre-season - followed by Casey Stoner and Ben Spies.
Continuing his pre-season form Fiat Yamaha Valentino Rossi was the fastest rider of the first day at Losail, as the World Champion set a best time of 1’55.402 on his factory M1. Setting his hot lap inside the final 10 minutes of the session, which ended at midnight local time, Rossi completed 64 turns and pushed Casey Stoner down to second position on the timesheet.
The Australian’s affinity with the track at which he has won the last three Grands Prix led him to within just over three-tenths of a second of Rossi, as the Ducati Marlboro rider maintained the same set-up on his Desmosedici GP10 that he used last time out at Sepang.
The fine progress that Ben Spies is making in the lead-up to his first full season shows no sign of slowing down, and at just over two-tenths off Stoner the American of the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team was third fastest. A crash at turn two suffered inside the final hour failed to take the shine off what was an impressive display, as he timed a fast lap of 1’55.954, the last under the 1’56” mark.
His team-mate Colin Edwards made it three Yamahas inside the top four times with a 1’56.540, and the Monster Tech 3 man will continue to test some new parts for the factory on Friday. He was just over half a second off Spies’ time, and both are set to ride a race simulation on Friday. MotoGP
“I am so happy today because this isn’t one of our best tracks and to come here and be fastest shows what a great job Yamaha has done with this new M1,” said Rossi.
“To start with the track was quite slippery but anyway we were still fast, and as the track started to improve I felt better and better.
“We are quite competitive and this gives me a good feeling, and I was happy to make this quick lap right at the end. We still have to decide the right tyre and the best setting for it, and we will keep working on the electronics but the most important thing is that we’re faster than last year!
“Tomorrow we will continue with our work and try to finalise everything before the race.” Yahoo! Eurosport
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