The traditional season curtain-raiser in Jerez looked in danger of being declared a washout this morning, but the sun eventually came out and allowed Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi to put in a brilliant afternoon’s work, finishing first and second respectively. The day’s results bode well for tomorrow’s ‘qualifying’ shoot-out, which will see the fastest rider take home a new car. With all riders now on Bridgestone tyres and qualifying tyres resigned to history, the session will have a slightly different feel to previous years and promises to be an entertaining show.

Lorenzo began work quite early, braving a damp track to get some laps in before lunch. Once the track came dry this afternoon he immediately found his rhythm and went on to clock consistently fast laps throughout, finishing well under lap record with a time of 1’39.791.

2008 World Champion Rossi took it easy this morning, preferring to wait until the track had dried out before getting started. He finished the day just 0.070 behind his team-mate and a tenth of a second ahead of Stoner in third, and is confident of putting up a good fight in tomorrow’s qualifying competition with a few small refinements planned for tomorrow morning.

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 1st Time: 1'39.791 Laps: 99
“I am very satisfied because I have improved through every hour of the day today. In the beginning it was quite difficult because there was rain this morning and the track was wet, but after lunch I was able to improve and was fastest for most of the afternoon and able to put in a great performance. I rode many laps – the same amount as my new number in fact – and I was able to confirm the good feeling that I had on the last day in Qatar, when I was second. We still need to keep working, this is just the beginning, but I think we’re going in the right way. Tomorrow I want to make one more step, but I am not thinking about winning the car. With regards to the Bridgestone tyres, I think the front is very different and you are able to go faster into the corners. I hope the sun shines again tomorrow!”

Valentino Rossi - Position: 2nd Time: 1'39.861 Laps: 65
“It’s been a good day. Unfortunately this morning it rained but in the end it didn’t matter so much because the grip was good this afternoon with the new asphalt and we were able to do some important work. I had a good feeling with my M1 in November and it was the same today and I was able to do a lot of laps in a good rhythm. In the end we used the softer of the two Bridgestone tyres to try to improve the time and I was able to do a 39, but I was fast with the harder tyre as well. We tried a lot of different things on the bike and I am feeling confident and happy; already today we’ve got through half our workload so hopefully tomorrow morning the weather can be good so we can get through the other half and then be free to focus on winning the car in the afternoon. There are one or two places on the track where I’m not at 100%, but we will try to fix that in the morning.”

Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
“We had a good test here in November and also Malaysia and Qatar were good, so today it seemed that the trend is continuing. We are now at a very important stage because this is the last test of the season, because of the new rules, so tomorrow is going to be crucial! Today the team did a great job to refine the set-up and give Jorge the confidence he needed to be fast. Tomorrow will be an exciting day because it is almost like a qualifying session, with a prize, and we hope to finish in the same way as today! Of course at the same time we will continue to work on our bike to ensure that we’re completely ready for the first race.”

Davide Brivio - Team manager
“A good day, especially since it rained this morning. Luckily the circuit came dry and we were able to get through all the jobs we had scheduled. All the Yamahas seems to be going very well and this is a sign

The Fiat Yamaha Team finished the Qatar night test in good spirits this evening, with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi second and third respectively in the standings.

Lorenzo made a huge improvement as he continued to adapt to the new Bridgestone tyres and his new-found confidence led to a promising long run, in which he set a string of consistent laps. His best time of 1’56.733 left him second behind Casey Stoner and last year’s leading rookie is now confident of being on the pace at the first race in one months time.

After a strong showing yesterday, Rossi ran into a few problems later on this evening when the cold meant the grip level of the track went down significantly. He is confident however that in the warmer temperatures expected at the race in a months time he will be in better shape. He posted the third best time tonight, with a fastest lap of 1’56.972.

The team now returns to Europe for the final test of the year, the Official MotoGP Test in Jerez, Spain on 28th and 29th March.

Valentino Rossi - Position: 3rd Time: 1'56.972 Laps: 75
“In the early part of the evening we were fast enough but later on, when it became much colder and the grip went down, we suffered quite a bit. I started a long run but in fact I was getting slower and slower, so we didn’t finish and concentrated on trying some different things with the setting instead. Our position is not so bad; we’re third, close to Lorenzo. Stoner is very fast but I am not too worried because we have a good idea about our path for the race and I think that in one month, when it is hopefully a few degrees warmer, we will be okay. This is not a great track for me or for the bike and the target for the race will be to be to be better than last year! Next we go to Jerez for the final test and I am expecting to be strong there.”

Jorge Lorenzo


Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 2nd Time: 1'56.733 Laps: 82
“I am so happy tonight because this session has been much, much better for us. The long run was especially good but in fact the whole evening has been an improvement, so I am very pleased about the job we have done. We’ve tried some different settings, which have helped, but mainly I have adapted and found a way to be comfortable, which means I can ride faster. I have a much better feeling with the Bridgestone tyres and I was able to be very consistent throughout the long run and keep a good rhythm. Everyone has worked really hard to make this step and I am happy to finish this test on a good note. Now I am looking forward to the race!”

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“Overall we’re satisfied with this test because we’ve found some good new things in the electronics and to improve the acceleration and in general we’ve been quite fast. Tonight we suffered later on when it was colder and there was less grip, but we’ve spent a lot of time working on a solution and we have gathered a lot of information which we will now study carefully. This is very important because this season we will have one practice session less at each race and we need to be ready!”

Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
“This has been quite a positive day for us. We found a good setting that enabled Jorge to find the confidence to be faster into the corners and at the same time day by day he has improved his riding style on the Bridgestone tyres. I think the job we’ve done here will help us a lot when we come here for the first race in April.”


Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team wrap up successful Qatar test


Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Colin Edwards continued his impressive winter testing form after a successful night test session in Qatar.

A best time of 1.57.515 left Edwards ninth on the final timesheets, though he was consistently in the top three for the majority of the test as he continued an impressive switch to Bridgestone tyres. After a short rain shower severely disrupted the first night and windy conditions made lap times s

After the rain upset the first night of testing yesterday, Fiat Yamaha riders Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo were finally able to make a proper start on their testing programme in Qatar tonight. Running under floodlights in preparation for the season-opener in a month’s time, the pair were able to put in a good night’s work despite a late-evening break when the track was red-flagged after two riders crashed.

With cool temperatures and a dirty track surface after high winds earlier, lap times were well off record pace but Rossi was able to put in some consistent times and finished the night second behind Casey Stoner. Lorenzo is still looking to find his confidence in the new Bridgestone tyres but he improved gradually throughout the evening to finish in seventh position.

Valentino Rossi - Position: 2nd Time: 1.57.747 Laps: 51
“Today was good because first of all we were able to test! I am quite happy because I was fast from the start and the bike is a lot better than this time last year. The setting is completely different after a year with Bridgestone and we seem to be in good shape. The lap times are quite slow compared to the race because it is cold and also the track conditions aren’t perfect, but hopefully in a month’s time it will be quite a bit warmer. We worked well today, testing some things for the engine and some electronics, and everything is helping us to improve our setting and to be faster. Now I hope that we have good weather between now and tomorrow night and no more wind so that the track is cleaner tomorrow and we can improve the times a bit more.”

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 7th Time: 1'58.400 Laps: 63
“Today’s practice was quite hard, harder than I expected in fact! It was windy and the surface of the track was quite dusty and quite cold, so this has made our job of building confidence with the new Bridgestone tyres harder. To start with I was finding it quite hard to go fast in these conditions, and especially to brake later. I am still braking too early at the moment, which makes it difficult to be fast. We tried some new electronic systems tonight in order to reduce the wheelie, and this seems to be positive. Later on this evening we tried a new setting and I was able to improve my pace in the cold conditions. Hopefully we can continue to improve from the start tomorrow.”

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“I think we can be happy with this ‘delayed ‘first day!’ Valentino did many laps, and we’ve had positive feedback from what we’ve tested. Now we will try to use the final night as best we can and try to leave ourselves in good shape for the first race here.”

Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
“Today we had more problems at the start than we expected, and Jorge was struggling to find feeling going into the turns. Later on however the team tried some new settings that allowed him to obtain a decent pace in the cooler conditions, so we were able to end the night’s work on a good note.”