We’ve got more exclusive pics from the final day of testing from Motoblog’s Lallai who was with the Fiat on the Web team in Sepang and all the riders quotes.
Valentino Rossi – 1st 2′00″925 (32 laps)“After yesterday this second day has been very good as well, even though we lost a few hours to the rain, and the end we were still able to finish all our work.
We worked on the new bike to find a better setting and I was happy to be the fastest overall – even though this is just testing this is important for me! At the next test we will have a few more new things but we’re already happy because we’re fast and strong.
There is room to improve of course; Sepang is always a good track for the Yamaha so we will have to wait until Qatar to get a better understanding of our level, but we have made a great start.
” Casey Stoner – 2nd 2′01″320 (44 laps)“We are quite happy with the test.
Today didn’t start really well because of the rain and the wet track, which set us back a few hours, but when it finally did dry out we were able to make some progress.
We have definitely improved the set-up of the bike, trying some different things with the swingarm.
The lap times are still not where we want them to be and we have to work on taking another couple of tenths off on hard tyres, but to be consistently doing 2′01.
9 or 2′02.
0 laps is a decent pace.
Considering that we are using a different engine to the one we’ve had for the last three years and some other new parts that we still need to get the best out of we certainly can’t be unhappy with where we’re at.
There is work to do but we have two more test sessions before the season starts for real.
In general I am really pleased with how it’s gone.
”Jorge Lorenzo – 3rd 2′01″320 (60 laps)“I felt much better today and I was able to be fast straight away.
It wasn’t a big problem yesterday, it’s just that after such a long break I forget how to ride a little bit! I need a bit of time, but it was much better today.
I’m happy about my performance and about my feeling with the new bike.
Yamaha have made good improvements without changing the best parts of the bike and this is the best way.
They have made some good modifications to the chassis and the engine and this has already improved our pace.
We don’t have many days on the bike until the start of the season so we will make the most of the time here next month to continue our good work.
” Dani Pedrosa – 4th 2′01.
822 (50 laps)“We got through a lot more testing today and Ican say that we improved significantly – and that’s important in terms of finding a gooddirection to follow.
We were working mainly on the rear suspension and we’ve managed to collect a lot of data that should help us for the nexttest here in two weeks’ time.
We were also testing swingingarms and at the end of the day Icould feel the improvements, and so I’m happyabout that.
Yesterday it took me longer to get into a rhythm on the machine because it was thefirst day back in the saddle, but today it was much better – though I’m not at 100 per cent yet.
To have the second test here in just two weekstime is really good for us.
I haven’t asked for new parts because me and the team think it’s better to analyse what we’ve found here and focus on that.
I’m going home satisfied.
”Ben Spies – 5th 2′02″266 (31 laps)“I rode as good and as hard as I could considering how I’ve been feeling.
I’m not wanting to make any excuses but I didn’t feel really good with the jetlag.
It was still a good test because I learned a lot about improving my riding and adapting my style to suit the Yamaha MotoGP bike.
It is hard to break some of my old superbike habits at the moment but I made some big improvements in a couple of places on the track where I was really struggling, particularly in the braking.
It started to feel more natural today and I got down to some decent times on race tyres.
I was a second faster than the first day, so we made some good progress but this is a really difficult track to learn.
This track is really long and really wide, but I got to a respectable pace.
I’ve said it a load of times but it’s a learning process and every lap I’m learning.
My guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 though have been brilliant again.
We’re all putting in a lot of effort and I’m pleased with the steps I’ve made.
”Andrea Dovizioso – 6th – 2′02″272 (52 laps)“I leave Sepang feeling positive and I’m confident for the next test because we have clear ideas about the direction we have to follow.
Today we worked on the suspension and tested some set-up options – with positive results.
I’m happy because, thanks to the electronics, the package has improved in all aspects – but there is still a job to do.
In particular we need to takeanother step forward regarding the balance.
I’m confident that we can work on this at next test session here in Sepang.
Today we were always running on hard tyres and we didn’t look for ultimate lap times.
I think the next Sepang test will be more indicative about our true pace.
”Colin Edwards -7th 2′02″479 (42 laps)“This has been a great test and I’m really happy.
The big bonus of the test has been the performance of the engine.
Putting it simply it seems they have made the engine with more power and more reliable.
Accelerating off the corner was a problem last season but with the new engine it is a strong point.
I tried a few things with the chassis and at this stage of the year it is all about crossing off pieces that work and those that don’t.
We found a couple of things that improved the bike and gave me more confidence and a couple of things we need to work on.
It’s been a great first test and hopefully we can carry this momentum on for the rest of the pre-season and into the serious business of the racing.
”Nicky Hayden – 8th 2′02″493 (64 laps)“I am satisfied but I could be happier.
These past two days have flown by and the weather hasn’t helped us to make the most of the track time available.
Anyway, this morning we got the chance to find a wet setting for the new forks and engine.
When we went out in the dry I could feel an instant improvement on yesterday and I set a decent pace but then we didn’t improve further.
I would have liked to post a better lap time but just when we put some new tyres in the rain came back.
However, it was a very positive test and I can’t wait to get back to work at the next one in a couple of weeks’ time.
”Aleix Espargarò – 9th 2′02″647 (33 laps)“Yesterday we have tried to find a constant pace while today we focused looking for the fast lap.
It wasn’t so bad; on the contrary, I am really pleased on how things have gone.
This is only my first winter test in MotoGP and I can only improve in the future.
The arm on which I had surgery on this past winter doesn’t hurt anymore and my physical condition, notwithstanding the heat of these days, seems to be in good conditions.
I look forward to come back on track at the end of the month here in Malaysia.
”Loris Capirossi – 10th 2′02″763 (48 laps)“I was quite happy with the lap-time and the consistent rhythm on the first day, because we know there is still a lot to come from the Factory for this year’s bike.
We were able to test two new chassis and we are now much clearer on our direction to improve more.
I go to the Suzuki Factory before the next test, so I will be able to give some more direct feedback to the engineering group.
I got quite frustrated today, because I always want to go quicker and the work today was really detailed stuff – but we have to improve the bike so I have to do it! I am excited for the next test to see what our guys can come up with, including the new engine spec, and I want to keep improving.
”Marco Melandri – 11th 2’02”810 (55 laps) “It’s been a very difficult day, continuing our work on the geometry of the bike and trying hard to find the right balance, the feeling in the front end and on corner entry.
We found both positive and negative solutions before discovering a setting later on which could serve as a base geometry from which to work in the future.
Then we also worked on the suspension, finding considerable improvements, however we still know there is still lots to do.
With everything we’ve found we will be able to prepare a good working plan for the next test, it was just a shame about the rain here which cut the test an hour short and stopped us from testing with new tyres.
The important thing however was to find the right direction and I think that in the end we’ve managed that so we now leave Sepang extremely confident.
” Héctor Barberá – 12th 2′03″032 (53 laps)“I am really happy because even though it rained so much at the start of the day and at the end we were able to work well.
I have set similar lap times to yesterday but the really pleasing thing is that we have been able to work on aspects of the set-up of my Ducati.
At the end of the day the session is for testing things and that is what we have done, just trying a bunch of different configurations.
It was a shame it rained again just when I had put some new slicks in and I was going to try and improve my time.
Anyway, I’m happy because the team has done an excellent job and I think that the whole package – the bike and the relationship with the Ducati engineers – is coming along nicely.
These two days felt short but I leave Sepang knowing that we have a lot of room for improvement and I’m excited about coming back here for the next test soon.
”Randy de Puniet, -13th – 2′03″043 (48 laps)“This morning we decide not to go out on wet conditions and we waited that the track dried.
We started with the configuration we finished with yesterday.
We worked on suspension, geometry and engine mapping.
We slowly improved.
I did a long run and I did my best lap times during the long run so this is very positive in preparation of the race.
Before the long run I tried a soft tyre but I couldn’t improve my lap times.
I’m confident that we can improve.
There is thepotential so I look forward to next test session.
”Hiro Aoyama 14th – 2′03″195 (56 laps)“Compared to yesterday we improved but I’m still not confident on the bike.
The machine has changed a lot compared to the one I tested in November and here in December, it feels like a complete new bike and there was not so much time to test.
This morning I only went out shortly on wet conditions.
In general I’m not happy.
”Marco Simoncelli – 15th 2’03”245 (56 laps) “The first half of the day was relatively difficult because we couldn’t get the bike to work properly and lost lots of time, then to top it off I had a crash.
I had gone out with new tyres and after half a lap I came back in because of the same problems.
I did a technical check and I went out once more.
In the first left-hander although I was really paying attention (maybe not enough) the bike catapulted me off.
I hit the asphalt hard and thinking about it now I was lucky just to get a few grazes, it could have been a lot worse.
Later we went back to work in the afternoon and things were much more positive as the bike felt much improved and I was able to ride it better than yesterday, the feeling was better and the time I did wasn’t by chance.
Now we need to organise our ideas and think about a plan of attack for the next tests so I’m going home with high morale.
” Álvaro Bautista – 16th 2′03″274 (37 laps)“It was a good test and I managed to learn a lot.
This was my first time here on the MotoGP bike after a long time without riding, and it was amazing how much faster everything seemed to happen compared to the 250! Day one just felt like starting all over again! I made steps with my speed and it was a shame we lost some practice this morning due to the rain, but even with this the team improved the feeling of the bike a lot and now I think I can start to push more .
I am now looking forward to the next test and we certainly have a good base, and I feel ready to work when we get back to Sepang later this month.
”Mika Kallio – 17th 2′03″359 (53 laps)“Likely this was just a winter test.
We tried many changes on the bike set up, but we had some difficulties to improve the situation and for this reason we lost a lot of time working on our bikes in the garage.
We will have to give our best in the next test so that things can change.
We are too far from the firsts and our goal is to remain consistently between top 10 riders in every single session.
”
