Jorge Lorenzo finished his final day of official testing at Valencia on top of the charts beating out Casey Stoner who was fastest on Day 1 with a lap time 1.
31.
939, more that three tenths faster that Casey Stoner’s Saturday’s pole position.
Bridgestone brought in a new tire spec that several riders tested and have approved.
Nicky Hayden had a little trouble with his Ducati late in the day when it suddenly stopped, but put in twice the number of laps compared to his team mate Casey Stoner, 84 to 44.
Andrea Dovizioso had a highside that left him with a hurting hip and Ben Spies, on his learning curve trying to adapt with the M1, continued to impress and finished the day just 0.
414s from Rossi and Colin Edwards picked up a virus and couldn’t test.
Comments from yesterday’s testing and test times after the jump.
Jorge Lorenzo 1st 1′31.
939 “I am happy that we are so competitive here with this new version of the bike.
I was able to do some very fast laps and it feels good to be the fastest on the last day of the season.
There is a long time now until the next test and it is good for me mentally to know that I was fast today.
We have worked on some electronics and the suspension, and we have compared the new chassis to the old one and taken a lot of important information for our engineers.
I am so happy about my season, I’ve won three races, taken many podiums and finished second in the championship.
I think this is a great achievement by us and now I would like to wish everyone a good holiday to recover so we all come back in February at the maximum ready to work again!”Casey Stoner 2nd 1′32.
195:“The new engine setting, which I am preferring so far, changes the performance of the bike in different ways, for example in corner exit, so we have to modify the set-up in order to get the most out of it.
I also have to get used to it and adapt my riding style accordingly.
It probably means I can’t get on the gas as hard and fast out of the corners but can keep it open more further in the corners.
”Valentino Rossi 3rd 1′32.
528 :“I am happy about what we have so far with the new evolution of the bike, because it’s already faster and already feels better than the old one.
The throttle is easier to open and I think that Yamaha has done a good job so far.
We were quite fast today and I’m happy about the work we have done over these two days.
I think that we have given our engineers plenty to work on over the winter and I am looking forward to the next updates in February.
It’s good to finally finish work and now we have some months to relax and recharge the batteries ahead of next year, which for sure is going to be a big, big fight!”Ben Spies 4th 1.
32.
942 :“I’m really happy with this test.
My performance in the race surpass e my expectations and so did the test.
I didn’t touch the set-up of the bike again and continued mainly working on adapting my style.
I feel like I made a lot of progress.
My data guy could see on the computer that I was riding with more of a MotoGP style and each day I’ve made steps and gained confidence with the tyres.
At the end I put on some tyres that had half race distance on them, but I was still able to lap half-a-second faster than yesterday.
And where I was running 34′1s in the race I could get into low 33s consistently today.
I’ve been making small steps but I’m a lot closer to the front than the back, so that is a good sign.
I’ve enjoyed working with my new guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3.
It has been a tough year but a great year for me and I’m looking forward to the winter, training hard and being ready to go again in February.
”Nicky Hayden 5th 1′32.
981: “Today we worked mainly on confirming our impressions from yesterday, running some more tests on the new forks and a bunch of other things on the bike set-up and with the new tyres.
We have improved a few tenths here and there – the gap to the really fast group is still there but it has been a positive day, we have done a lot of laps and gathered a lot of data.
We’ll do some more tests tomorrow on the engine settings and other set-up alterations.
We also need to push hard to get the lap times down and close that gap to the lead group.
” Dani Pedrosa 6th 1’33.
025:“We completed a useful day’s testing today, and although I didn’t do a huge number of laps, we covered quite a lot of ground.
Some of the adjustments we were making with the machine and suspension were quite big to allow us to fully understand the new chassis, and with these kind of changes you inevitably spend quite a lot of time in the pits.
Also, we weren’t going after ultimate lap times – just continuing to get familiar with the new parts and understand how settings changes affect the performance.
That’s normal, and now is the time to do this work, step-by-step.
Tomorrow we’ll come back here for the final session of the season.
”Randy De Puniet 7th 1’33.
111:“Yesterday we have tried to understand what happened on Sunday’s race when I struggled with rear grip issues and today we have found a good solution to that problem.
We worked on Öhlins suspension new link and on the chassis geometry to make the bike more stable in the corners.
I am pretty satisfied about the things we have fixed in the last two days as those data will be helpful for the 2010 machine which we are going to test in February.
In two weeks time I will remove the screws from my left ankle and will keep on training to be in a good form at Sepang.
”Mika Kallio 8th 1’33.
125: “We have tried aluminum swingarm and compared to yesterday we have improved by six tenths of a second.
Not too bad I would say.
Work with the team went ahead without any big complications, on the contrary, in addition to the swingarm we tried other small changes that lead me to feel more comfortable riding the bike.
I hope that tomorrow morning I can improve more to end positively my first year in MotoGP.
”Loris Capirossi 9th 1:33.
211:“It has been a positive day because we have continued to develop the bike and we tested many different things.
We tested a new engine specification and a couple of sets of pipes, as well as a different electronics system on the bike.
We have improved today and the whole team is quite happy and for sure the way to go quicker is now not so far away.
We have a couple more important things to try tomorrow, especially on the electronics side.
I think that the condition we had in the bike today was easily the best for the whole weekend and this is why we went much better.
We still need to concentrate really hard and tomorrow will be an important day as will the test next week in Portugal for Álvaro and Nobu, because we need to understand as much about the bike in these tests as possible.
”Marco Melandri 10th 1’33.
326:“I’m satisfied of today’s work even if we are still not so fast on the single lap time.
For me this is a complete new machine to the one I used in 2007 and it is important to understand it.
Today I could improve my pace and I did my best lap time with a tyre that had many laps, this makes me confident.
Today we tested some solutions to improve the traction and the feeling with the tyres.
We are working in the right direction.
Tomorrow we have in mind some solutions also to use better the soft tyre as today I used one but I kind of spoiled it because at that moment I didn’t have the best set up.
”Aleix Espargarò 11th 1′33.
345: “I do not know why but despite the time recorded today is good I feel I can do better.
I must be patience because I still have a lot to learn in this category.
Certainly my feeling with the bike is improving lap after lap and this is the most important thing.
Sincerely we are a little sad because I know this winter I will miss very much my bike, but we will return loads in February for the first test of the year.
”Andrea Dovizioso 12th 1’33.
546:“This morning we started well.
I went out with a soft tyre that I used from the day before and I did my best lap really early on – on lap eight – and I had a good feeling out there.
The track conditions and temperature were better than yesterday and allowed us to get through some useful work.
When we changed from soft to hard tyres, I was trying to bring them up to temperature by sliding a little bit when I highsided without warning.
I’ve injured my hip a little and it’s painful – but I carried on riding and fortunately the pain is not so bad when I’m on the bike.
Overall though, I was much more satisfied today – especially with the braking stability – and we’ll continue testing a few more things tomorrow, focusing on the chassis.
”Marco Simoncelli 14th 1’34.
230:“Today the confidence with the bike improved as yesterday everything was new for me and I was riding more carefully.
For sure we have a lot of work to do ahead us but today I could lap faster and things came easier.
Yesterday I struggled to feel the front while today I had more confidence thanks to the set up modifications and my improved confidence in the tyres.
Today I also tried a start without the launch control and my feeling that it was a good start, my feeling was good, I don’t know from outside.
”Hiroshi Aoyama 16th 1’35.
261:“Today I continue testing mainly without electronics control because the priority at the moment for me is to understand the character of the bike and to adapt my riding style to the bike.
I still have to get used to the carbon brakes but compared to yesterday my feeling improved.
Today the track conditions were better but and I also felt more comfortable.
”Colin Edwards:“I woke up this morn ing at 5am and felt horrendous.
I felt completely drained of all my energy.
I thought I’d got food poisoning and I knew then I wasn’t going to be able to ride today.
But the Clinica Mobile guys said I’d got a virus and I’ve just been lying in bed all day.
It obviously wasn’t the way I wanted to end the year but I’m looking forward to a long break now and coming back strong for 2010.
I’ve had another great season with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team and would like to thank all my guys again for their hard work.
They are an awesome bunch.
And looking at the times today, Ben has done a great job.
He’s not only showed what a fast learner he is, but how talented he is.
There should be a good bit of friendly Texan rivalry in 2010 and I can’t wait.
”Valencia Day 2 Test Times:01 Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha Team 1:31.
93902 Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro Team 1:32.
195 +0.
25603 Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha Team 1:32.
528 +0.
58904 Ben Spies Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:32.
942 +1.
00305 Nicky Hayden Ducati Marlboro Team 1:32.
981 +1.
04206 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 1:33.
025 +1.
08607 Randy De Puniet Lcr Honda MotoGP 1:33.
111 +1.
17208 Mika Kallio Pramac Racing 1:33.
125 +1.
18609 Loris Capirossi Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1:33.
211 +1.
27210 Marco Melandri San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:33.
326 +1.
38711 Aleix Espargaro Pramac Racing 1:33.
345 +1.
40612 Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda Team 1:33.
546 +1.
60713 Hector Barbera Aspar Team 1:34.
206 +2.
26714 Marco Simoncelli San Carlo Honda Gresini 1:34.
230 +2.
29115 Alvaro Bautista Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1:34.
540 +2.
60116 Hiroshi Aoyama Scot Racing Team 1:35.
261 +3.
322
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