Promising day for Rossi and Edwards after foggy start in Jerez

Following yesterday’s heavy rain, thick fog delayed the start of the second day of testing in Jerez this morning before giving way to sunshine and a dry track, providing the Yamaha Factory Team with the chance to get some important work under their belts. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards both focused on general set-up work today and were pleased to see good improvements to the performance of their 800cc Yamahas since their last test here in November. Rossi and Edwards were consistently fast throughout the day, with Rossi topping the time sheets until the last stages of the session before being overtaken by Marco Melandri (Honda), who set the day’s best lap in a time of 1’40.383. Rossi finished just behind him in a time of 1’40.408, under the existing 990cc lap record, which he himself set in 2005. Edwards, having been in the top three for most of the day, also slipped down the order at the end as several riders opted to try qualifying tyres ahead of tomorrow’s 40 minute timed ‘qualifying’ shoot-out, which begins at 1405 CET.

Valentino Rossi (2nd, 1’40.408, 65 Laps) “Today was a very good day for us and we’ve done some great work. After today we’re happy because we can understand that we did a great job when we were here in November. We started with the same setting and the bike was fast straight away, then afterwards we tried a new setting from January and February, with the suspension and other things, and it felt even better. I had a great feeling with the front and also with the rear, and I had a lot of confidence with my bike. The balance was good under acceleration and I was able to go fast and in a good rhythm. Tomorrow we’ve got some more things to try and also some more tyres from Michelin, so we hope to make even more improvements. We’ll also get the chance to try a qualifying tyre and to see how we go against our rivals in the ‘qualifying’ session, which will be interesting. So anyway, we’ve got another day and some more work to do, but the situation is already good and I am feeling happy.”

Colin Edwards (9th, 1’41.204, 69 Laps) “Today we started where we left off yesterday, trying to work out how to adapt the good setting from Qatar to this track. We figured a few things out in the morning and kept on making progress and actually what we’ve found is quite a long way from the Qatar setting and also from the old setting we used here, but anyway it works great! It felt good all day and I was doing consistently quick times, before we put in our ‘first-choice’ tyre from Qatar near the end and then it felt really fantastic. It really is a great tyre, so hopefully Michelin will have lots of those for me this season! I was right up there on the time sheets until the end when a few people put qualifiers in, but that wasn’t on our agenda today and we’ll have a go at that tomorrow. Of course there’s the competition tomorrow and it’s definitely the day to make a statement, so we’ll see how it goes!

Davide Brivio – Team Director “Today we did a great job with Valentino, we found a very good balance and a good setting and he was able to be fast from his first lap and always at the top, until the very end. It was also a good day for Colin and he was also fast throughout. Tomorrow is our last day of testing before the championship starts so it’s very important, then we also have the competition in the afternoon. We’re in good shape with both riders so it should be an interesting day.”

Lap Times: 1. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 1’40.383 2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 1’40.408 3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 1’40.581 4. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati 1’40.748 5. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 1’40.952 6. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 1’41.071 7. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 1’41.096 8. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 1’41.151 9. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1’41.204 10. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 1’41.234 11. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1’41.259 12. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 1’41.269 13. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1’41.363 14. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 1’41.590 15. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 1’41.777 16. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 1’41.783 17. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 1’41.845 18. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 1’42.364 19. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Ducati 1’43.209 20. Kousuke Akiyoshi (JPN) Suzuki 1’43.610 21. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati 1’44.143 22. Jeremy McWilliams (IRE) Ilmor 1’44.458 23. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 1’44.589

Jerez Lap Record (990cc): Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 – 1’40.596 Jerez Best Lap (990cc): Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006 – 1’39.064