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Shaking off any remaining pain in his
recovering hand in Jerez, Valentino Rossi
recorded the second fastest time of the day,
dipping well under the lap record he set on
the way to victory back in 2005. |
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Shaking off any remaining pain in his recovering hand in
Jerez yesterday, Valentino Rossi recorded the second fastest
time of the day, dipping well under the lap record he
set on the way to victory back in 2005. The Fiat Yamaha
rider, who also won the race here last March, set a best
lap of 1’40.134 on a qualifying tyre, after a total of
56 laps on the second day of the year-ending three-day
test.
Rossi’s second day on Bridgestone tyres was once again
focused almost entirely around adapting his M1 to the
different tyres and discovering as much as possible
about his new rubber. Rossi’s time was bettered only by
Dani Pedrosa with a lap of 1’39.993, whilst new 2008
Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo was tenth with a lap
of 1’40.883.
Valentino Rossi (2nd, 1’40.134, 56 laps):
“Today we made longer
runs than yesterday and our times were still consistent,
which means we are working in the right direction. We
still are still missing something in terms of
performance, but for sure we are making improvements in
terms of constancy. Bridgestone has brought quite soft
tyres here to Jerez, because they expected lower
temperatures, so I am sure that with some harder
material we could do even better. The pace is not bad at
all and it is similar to the one I had in the race here
at the beginning of the past season. I could probably
have done even better today with the material I had, but
I kept some “margin” to improve tomorrow. Tomorrow we
will test some more qualifying tyres and we will also
make a long run.
"Today we tested 2007 tyres, but
tomorrow I will have some brand new tyres in order to
find more grip. Of course we need to work on the bike,
too; the bike’s power delivery puts a lot of pressure on
the tyres, so we need to make it “sweeter”. Generally
speaking this is what I was waiting for: new motivation
and a lot of fun, and in fact I am having a lot of fun
with the new tyres. I am looking forward to starting the
next season because it will be exciting and interesting,
but before that I want to finish this test in the best
way and then start again in January in order to arrive
at Qatar in the best possible shape”.
Davide Brivio –Team Manager:
“Today was another
positive day for us. We are still working on
“discovering” the Bridgestone world, which is brand new
for us. We are testing several different solutions,
reviewing all possible material from Bridgestone to find
the best way to achieve our goal. Today we continued
from where we finished yesterday to see how to adapt the
bike to the new tyres and we also tested two different
qualifying tyres. The rider’s feeling was positive, so
we look forward to working in the same direction
tomorrow.”
New 2008 Yamaha signing Jorge Lorenzo continued to
impress as he carried on with his YZR-M1 testing
programme in Jerez today, despite a fall in the morning.
The 20-year-old was luckily unhurt and was able to
continue almost immediately, eventually improving nearly
0.4 seconds on his time from yesterday.
Meanwhile
Lorenzo and his new team carried on with set-up work,
looking to perfect his position on the bike in order to
make him as comfortable as possible. After 49 laps, the
Spaniard’s time of 1’40.883 put him tenth yesterday.
Jorge Lorenzo (10th, 1’40.883, 49 laps): “Today it went even
better than yesterday, despite my fall this morning,
which was due to the fact that I entered turn 11 too
fast and I slid out. Fortunately I did not hurt myself
at all and I immediately got back on the track. Today we
improved in the hard braking areas: now I feel that I am
braking later and riding more cleanly. Today we also
tested a new front tyre and I found it to be quite good,
so I think we will keep working in that direction
tomorrow. Today I only tested race tyres and I am quite
satisfied with the times, but I am sure we can improve
further tomorrow.”
Daniele Romagnoli – Team Manager: “Unfortunately today’s
fall slowed down our working schedule a little, but
despite this we used all the information we collected
yesterday in order to improve the bike set-up even more.
For sure we improved the bike stability in braking and
going into the turn, working on the overall set-up and
particularly on suspension and bike geometry. Day after
day Jorge is more and more the “owner” of his bike, he
gets more confidence and now we need to improve the
traction a little bit, but we have some good ideas and
information for tomorrow. We also found a good front
race tyre and we will keep on working on that tomorrow.
Generally speaking it was a positive day for us and we
look forward to making further improvements tomorrow.”
Lap Times - Wednesday
1. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 1’39.993
2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 1’40.134
3. Shinya Nakano (Honda) 1’40.251
4. Alex de Angelis (Honda) 1’40.332
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 1.40.650
6. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 1’40.692
7. Randy de Puniet (Honda) 1’40.820
8. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 1’40.833
9. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 1’40.838
10. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 1’40.883
11. John Hopkins (Kawasaki) 1’40.939
12. James Toseland (Yamaha) 1’41.278
13. Marco Melandri (Ducati) 1’41.424
14. Anthony West (Kawasaki) 1’41.729
15. Nicolo Canepa (Ducati) 1’42.188
16. Tadayuki Okada (Honda) 1’43.143
17. Vittoriano Guareschi (Ducati) 1’43.399
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