During last month’s test at Sepang, Andrea Dovizioso was still recovering from his collarbone surgery in January and was unable to ride properly his Yamaha YZR-M1, but a month later and almost at complete fitness, the Italian is coming to grips with his Yamaha which he admits is different from the Honda machinery he’s had for the last three years and is still adapting.
During Day 2 and Day 3 Andrea Dovizioso finished third overall and today he was only 0.
329s behind reigning World Champion Casey Stoner and the fastest non-factory rider, also finishing ahead of factory rider Jorge Lorenzo, so his period of adaption seems complete especially since he decided to study Jorge Lorenzo use of the bike.
Andrea Dovizioso – 2.
00.
802:“Despite the rain disrupting the first two days, this has been a really positive test and I am very happy.
I did my first laps in the rain on the Yamaha and I had a very positive feeling.
The engine was very smooth and I could manage the sliding but one very important area was my physical condition.
My shoulder was much better than the first test here and this enabled me to understand the potential of the YZR-M1 machine much more.
I am much more confident on the bike and I am happy with the lap time and the position and we have done a very good job understanding many things here.
I like the new engine because it helps with the corner entry, and this was already a really strong point of the Yamaha.
I did a long run of 1 5-laps today and it was important to learn the characteristics of the bike over a longer distance.
It was really interesting to understand about tyre wear and we have some work to do but the potential of the bike is already at a very high level.
Now I am really looking forward to the next test in Jerez because it is a completely different track with different temperature and this will be good experience for me to understand the bike even more.
” Cal Crutchlow has held a low profile during this last test, but the British rider topped the timesheets in a strong fifth and less than six tenths of second from Stoner, which indicates that Yamaha has come up with a well balanced machine that goes well with all their riders, factory and satellite.
The Yamaha Tech3 rider had some technical problems earlier in the day that were solved and despite not liking the track he was also able to do a long run and just like Lorenzo mentioned that tire management will be important as the new tires drop off faster than last season’s.
Cal Crutchlow – 2.
00.
986:“I am really happy because the weather obviously played a big part the first two days but we were able to get some dry track time today and make some good progress with the bike.
I like the new engine from Yamaha and credit to them because they have been working hard and the improvement bodes well for the start of the season.
I’m happy with my lap time because this is not my favourite track at all and I am fifth fastest and very close to the top three.
A major positive too is that I am very consistent and this is something that I have improved from last year.
This gives me a lot of confidence and encouragement and I’m really enjoying riding the 1000cc bike.
I did a long run of 12-laps and the new tyres were sliding around quite a bit.
It made it very physical but quite good but i t looks like tyre management is going to be more important than ever.
The bike is working well at Sepang but now I’m curious to see how it performs in Jerez.
That’s a completely different track and the weather will be much cooler, so this will give us another indication of the potential of the bike.
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