YAMAHA CONTINUE TO DOMINATE ON SECOND DAY AT CATALUNYA
Camel Yamaha Team rider Valentino Rossi clocked the fastest
time on the second day of MotoGP Official Test at the Catalunya
Circuit in Spain after another encouraging session for Yamaha.
With Rossi again setting the pace for much of the day, closely
followed by his team-mate Colin Edwards, the pair took advantage
of the warm afternoon conditions to plough through their preseason
testing programme at an impressive rate.
Edwards ended the day with the fourth fastest time after
briefly leading the time sheets in the closing stages, shaving
seven tenths of a second off his best time from yesterday
and making continued progress with the race set-up of his
YZR-M1 machine. Rossi lapped 1.2 seconds faster than he had
managed yesterday, closing in on lap record time as both riders
prepare an assault on tomorrow’s timed 40-minute session,
which will reward the fastest lap with the prize of a new
car.
Yamaha rider Carlos Checa (Yamaha Tech 3) continued his impressive
preseason form with the second fastest time of the day.
VALENTINO ROSSI (1’42.477, 72 laps)
"To go so fast soo early in the test yesterday was
the big surprise to us so today we have just built on that
and continued to make improvements. We completed some more
important tests and the base setting is good now - we had
a few problems with chatter earlier in the pre-season but
we seem to have solved those now and today the lap times became
faster and faster. I’m also really happy because, to
me, this bike feels like my daughter and now I can see it
is going well for other riders – Colin and Carlos both
love it. Looking at the time sheets this evening of course
I am in with a good chance for the new car, but tomorrow is
another day and we will have to see what happens. Hopefully
the weather will stay as it has done for the last couple of
days and we can complete the whole programme we had planned
for this test in a positive way.”
COLIN EDWARDS (1’43.388, 65 laps)
"We had a few things to test today and every step we
made seemed to take us in a positive direction so I couldn’t
be happier really. The bike is getting better and we just
keep improving so that is all I can ask for. The cool track
temperatures mean that we can’t do much for Michelin
here so we’re just focusing on the bike and refining
the setting as much as we can before Jerez. We played with
the suspension and the engine mapping a little today but we
had no major dramas and the 65 laps went by really quickly.
Right now I feel we’re ready to go racing so it’s
just a case of adding the finishing touches."
DAVIDE BRIVIO – CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
“Another good day for Yamaha! It is nice to see our
bikes at the top end of the time sheets – the riders
are doing a great job and the team are able to stick closely
to the testing programme. We had some items to test for Michelin
and Yamaha today – mainly with the chassis setting to
try and improve the variables of the bike. We got some good
information together and now we’re ready for the challenge
tomorrow. Really the car is not so important but it would
be nice to start the year in a positive way and both our riders
are ready to compete for it.”
Official lap times:
1.VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Yamaha 1.42.477; 2. Carlos Checa
(SPA) Yamaha
1.43.142; 3. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki 1.43.245; 4. COLIN
EDWARDS
(USA) Yamaha 1.43.388; 5. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati 1.43.784;
6. Randy
De Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 1.43.847; 7. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki
1.43.970; 8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1.44.029; 9. Makoto
Tamada (JPN)
Honda 1.44.246; 10. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 1.44.369; 11.
Kenny
Roberts (USA) KR-Honda 1.44.407; 12. Marco Melandri (ITA)
Honda
1.44.512; 13. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 1.44.581; 14. Chris
Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1.45.001; 15. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha
1.45.488; 16. Josè Cardoso (SPA) Pramac-Ducati
1.45.582; 17. Toni Elias
(SPA) Honda 1.45.782; 18. Alex Hofmann (GER) Pramac-Ducati
1.46.185;
19. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati 1.48.205
Catalunya Lap Record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)
2005 – 1’43.195 Catalunya Best Lap: Sete Gibernau
(Honda) 2005 – 1’42.337
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