Sepang Tests
GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM GET BACK TO BUSINESS IN SEPANG
 Just
three weeks after rounding off Yamaha’s victorious 2005
season in Valencia, Gauloises Yamaha Team riders Valentino
Rossi and Colin Edwards were back in Malaysia at their most
frequently-visited testing venue today, as they commenced
their winter program at Sepang alongside Honda, Kawasaki,
Suzuki and Yamaha Tech 3. A short rain shower in the morning
slightly delayed proceedings, but the weather then stayed
dry and the team was able to continue working uninterrupted
through to the end of the day. Rossi concentrated mainly on
Michelin tyre testing, before getting on to the prototype
version of the new 2006-spec YZR-M1 towards the end of the
session. He completed a short run of the 5.548km circuit on
the new bike and will begin more in-depth work on it tomorrow.
Edwards spent the day focusing on the new riding style he
has been adapting to over the last part of the season, working
with settings and electronics on his M1 as well as testing
some new tyres for Michelin. According to the unofficial lap
times, the fastest man on the track today was Marco Melandri
(Honda) with a time of 2’02.95. He was followed by Nicky
Hayden, Carlos Checa and MotoGP rookie Dani Pedrosa (all Honda)
with Edwards (2’03.78) and Rossi (2’03.80) fifth
and sixth fastest.
COLIN EDWARDS – 5th, 2’03.78, 64 LAPS
“As usual it was hot and humid out there, but it feels
good to be back on the bike. We had a bit of a rain delay
in the morning and got started a bit late, but once we did
get going I instantly felt comfortable on the bike. I said
in Valencia that I needed to get out and do lap after lap
to really ingrain this new style in to my head, and this test
is offering me that chance. As soon as I started I felt that
it was coming much more easily than at the last two races;
I didn’t have to make such an effort to consciously
think about doing it and it felt more natural. We played around
with some new settings and electronics and found that we are
moving even more towards Valentino’s settings; it all
felt good. We tested a couple of tyres for Michelin, but mostly
today was about getting back into the swing of things and
getting comfortable with my new style.”
VALENTINO ROSSI – 6th, 2’03.80, 60 LAPS
“My first impressions of the new bike are very positive.
The engine seems a little bit faster and it feels more stable.
However I only did a short run; just a few laps, so it’s
really too early to make any detailed observations about it
at this stage. Tomorrow the real work will start and we will
take some time to try to understand the new bike and begin
to work on the set-up. Most of today we spent on the 2005
bike, testing tyres for Michelin and trying to understand
the problems that we had here during the race in September.
We made some investigations and tried to gather some information
to help us, and we made some good progress. We will continue
like this tomorrow as well as getting started working on the
new bike.”
DAVIDE BRIVIO – GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR
“This morning the track was a bit wet so we had a delay
to our starting time. It’s only the first day back but
it was a positive start for both riders. Valentino made some
laps on the new bike, just to get the initial feeling, and
tomorrow we will start to work properly on it, trying to gather
as much information as we can. Colin is continuing from where
he left off in Valencia, getting used to his new style of
riding and adapting his settings to match it. He will carry
on like this tomorrow and then on Wednesday he will try the
new bike also.”
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