New set-up helps Valentino Rossi top test, Lorenzo works on suspensions

It’s been a long time since Valentino Rossi has topped any timesheets (in the first free practice at Silverstone last year) and after finishing ahead of the rest of field in today’s day 2, admitting he was happy with the result even if he’s keeping his feet firmly on the ground and laughingly said, “It’s not important, but it’s very important!, also adding that he’s going to do what tourists do when the see the Colosseum for the first time, take a picture of timesheet and hang it in his bedroom.

Rossi was satisfied with a new breakthrough set-up that they found that made the Yamaha M1 more easy to ride for his style and improved not only his braking (he uses the rear brake a lot) but also in corner entry.
The Italian was asked why he believed that the Yamaha suffered more at Austin and he said it’s because the Circuit of the Americas is very much a ’stop and go’ track, while the M1 performs better at ‘old style’ circuits like Jerez with its fast and flowing turns.

“Today’s test session was very positive for us.
I’m so happy, especially because we used a different style of setting.
It is very important for us to understand this setting, which can help and effect my riding style to ride the bike in a better way and stay more constant, especially with good lap times on old tyres.
To make the first position with a time of 39.
5 is good and also being as fast as Jorge.
Me and my team are very happy with the pace and I think we will try to continue to work on this way,” said Rossi.
Jorge Lorenzo was second on the second day of testing at the Spanish circuit (yesterday in the rain he was top dog) and just a mere 0.
015s from his team mate, and for the first time we believe in any of his pre-season tests he said that his M1 wasn’t very stable in corners, and not that the Yamaha is lacking some grunt.
Odd.
“The track was dry but not in perfect conditions today, there was not so much grip and we had some problems in some corners, where the bike was not very stable,” said Lorenzo.
“In general it was a very positive test.
We worked on suspension and electronics today and we saw that compared to Austin the Yamaha’s were much more competitive.
There are three Yamaha’s in the top three and that is good for the motivation of the brand.
The track is not in the best condition, it’s dry but it’s not perfect because of the rain.
I think we have to focus on getting more stability on acceleration and get more comfortable with the race pace.
”