Alex

The Team now move directly to Phillip Island in Australia for a further test before the season kicks off under the floodlights of Qatar on the 23rd March. Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro completed the final day of testing with many positives to conclude, for the beginning of the MotoGP season at the end of March. Both Monster Yamaha Tech3 riders experimented with various aspects of their Yamaha YZR-M1 MotoGP bikes in order to find the most suitable set ups which would suit their riding styles. British rider Bradley Smith ended the test with an overall feeling of satisfaction regarding his performances over the past three days, as he prepares for his second season in MotoGP. Having spent a large quantity of time on refining the front and rear sections of the Yamaha YZR-M1, as well as accustoming himself to the seamless shift gearbox and the new Bridgestone tyres, Smith was content with the developments made. He completed a full race simulation today, which was successfully undertaken and confirmed that all of the changes made during this test were in the right direction. Undertaking a colossal 185 laps over all three days, the young British rider finished the second Sepang test with a best time of 2:00.804 in 9th place. Young Spanish rider Pol Espargaro finished the session feeling pleased, having spent the past three days learning and mastering his new MotoGP bike. The 2013 Moto2 World Champion, completed over 158 laps around the 5.543 kilometre track, over the three days. He optimised the available time and tested ceaselessly to continue to gain as much knowledge of his new Yamaha YZR-M1 and Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team as possible. The learning curve was steep and despite a small crash yesterday, Espargaro leaves the Sepang test feeling positive. Having gelled seamlessly with the new gearbox, the young Spaniard set the 3rd fastest time on the opening day, before finishing in 10th overall, with an ultimate lap time of 2:00.999. The next testing session will commence at the Losail Circuit, Qatar on the 7th of March for Satellite MotoGP riders, and Open Class MotoGP riders only. The second 2014 MotoGP pre-season test session ended today with very positive results for the NGM Mobile Forward Racing Team. Aleix Espargaró was very consistent along the three days of testing, scoring the 4th best time in the combined lap times classification with a top time of 2’00.101. After having worked on the bike set up in the first two days, this morning he made a long run to check the bike behaviour on the race distance, showing a good pace. Colin Edwards continued working on the bike set up. He also tested some new solutions in preparation of the race distance. In total he completed 23 laps, Aleix 43. Valentino Rossi 1st / 1'59.999 / 41 laps “First of all I am very happy because I am in first position and I did a good lap. I was one of the only ones in the 1’59s which is positive, especially because with the 2014 tyres in the first test we tried a time attack and I was more than one second slower than today. This test we have always been at the top and fighting for the first position so it’s positive. We still have some problems when it’s very hot over long distance with the new tyres, so we still have to work, but we made a good step from the first test. The next test in Philip Island will be very important to understand if also there we improved a lot like here because I am more than one second faster than the second test of last year so we have been working well.” Jorge Lorenzo 7th / 2'00.619 / 70 laps “We found a better solution today to improve our situation and adapt these tyres at this track. The tyres are much harder in the sidewalls. At this track, with this tarmac that is very slippery, it’s not the same as Phillip Island or Mugello for example, it’s impossible for us to be competitive. This tyre is much worse for Yamaha and better for Honda. Our bike is competitive, at a similar level to the competitors but with the tyre we have problems. We tried a simulation today and it was worse and worse every lap. In the edge there is a problem with no grip but also when you pick up the bike it spins. You can improve the feeling a little to get more grip but when the tyre starts to drop the problems get worse and worse.” Wilco Zeelenberg - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager “It’s been a difficult test and really we are not very happy with the result. For the last day Jorge has found some confidence back in the bike. Of course it’s not how we want it but at least he could do a decent long run and be quite consistent. It was very hot today and we got a lot of new information with the new tyres. We are very curious to see how we get on in two days in Phillip Island.” Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director “We finished this three day test with some good improvements and were able to make the bike better every day. At the end Valentino was able to make the fastest lap of the day. Jorge continued to have some difficulties, especially because of his riding style. It looks like the new tyre doesn't work very well on our bike, especially at this track. Here at Sepang the problem was increased because of the lack of grip on the tarmac and also the high temperatures. We made some improvements but we are not satisfied 100% and we have to improve over race distance. We look forward to the Phillip Island test now to see what Bridgestone has prepared to solve the issues we had last year and then we are ready for Qatar.” Bradley Smith 9th / 2'00.804 / 71 laps “We tried a lot of different solutions today, especially with the rear of the bike and tried to work the new Bridgestone tyres as much as possible. I found a setting that I was much happier with, which made the bike smoother, and let me ride the Yamaha how it should be. We definitely made the step with rear tyre performance, which allowed me to be much more consistent, compared to the last Sepang test and last year’s race. I did a race simulation, and am pleased as it was during a really hot part of the day, so not perfect in terms of track conditions. At the end of the day, after 70 laps I also did my best time. There are many positives, and I come away from here quite happy. It appears as though the track was slower this time than the previous test, but we are close to my lap time from then. All in all, it has been a somewhat difficult three days, but I am really pleased with the final result. “ Pol Espargaro 10th / 2'00.999 / 54 laps “It has not been an easy day today. Probably the most difficult one we have had so far. I didn’t feel too well, on one hand maybe because of the crash from yesterday, or on the other hand because it’s really demanding doing several days and so many laps in such hot and humid conditions. However, even if I’m not too enthusiastic about my performance today, I am still just one second from the top of the timesheets which makes me feel much better. Again, we tried different setup solutions, as I still have many things to learn about this bike. I’m really looking forward to trying the bike on a different circuit, in Qatar next week. This will extend my knowledge further, and will permit us to be able to evaluate the information which we collected during this test in a better way. But honestly, all these comments are not as important when you get news like we received today from our Moto2 rider, who is in hospital in France. My thoughts are with him and I hope he recovers quickly.” Aleix Espargaro 4th / 2'00.101 / 43 laps “I’m very happy with how we progressed in these three days of testing. We started where we left here in Sepang 1 and I could work on the second bike and on the race distance. I’m very satisfied with the data gathered during the long run. We were competitive and now I look forward to confirm my feeling in Qatar, where we will do another test session before the opening race of the season”. Colin Edwards 14th / 2'01.748 / 35 laps “We continued working on the bike set up to improve the feeling with the bike in the corners. We tried several solutions but I still don’t have the right confidence to push as I am used to. We also worked on the electronics with positive results and we focused on the tank to check the fuel consumption as we would like to take advantage of the possibility to use all the 24 liters that the Open class has at disposal. We gathered important data and I’d like to thank my team for the work done during these three days”. Sepang Test Two, Day Three: Final Times 1. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 1m 59.999s (Lap 13/41) 2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 59.999s | +0.000s (47/50) 3. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 2m 0.067s | +0.068s (6/36) 4. Aleix Espargaro ESP NGM Mobile Forward Racing (FTR-Yamaha) 2m 0.101s | +0.102s (7/43) 5. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 2m 0.164s | +0.165s (12/48) 6. Alvaro Bautista ESP GoFun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 2m 0.506s | +0.507s (9/60) 7. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 2m 0.619s | +0.620s (20/70) 8. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 2m 0.790s | +0.791s (7/62) 9. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 2m 0.804s | +0.805s (69/71) 10. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 2m 1.032s | +1.033s (6/54) 11. Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 2m 1.198s | +1.199s (26/47) 12. Randy De Puniet FRA Suzuki Test Rider (XRH-1) 2m 1.430s | +1.431s (53/55) 13. Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 2m 1.497s | +1.498s (51/56) 14. Colin Edwards USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing (FTR-Yamaha) 2m 1.748s | +1.749s (23/35) 15. Nicky Hayden USA Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 2m 1.924s | +1.925s (57/59) 16. Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Test Rider (Desmosedici) 2m 2.029s | +2.030s (8/48) 17. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 2m 2.070s | +2.071s (61/61) 18. Scott Redding GBR GoFun Honda Gresini (RCV1000R) 2m 2.228s | +2.229s (48/50) 19. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki) 2m 2.341s | +2.342s (13/54) 20. Katsuyuki Nakasuga JPN Yamaha Test Rider (YZR-M1) 2m 3.115s | +3.116s (3/30) 21. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki) 2m 3.499s | +3.500s (15/52) 22. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RCV1000R) 2m 4.304s | +4.305s (5/29) 23. Nobuatsu Aoki JPN Suzuki Test Rider (XRH-1) 2m 6.482s | +6.483s (3/14)

“For 2014, we have been able to unify all four riders and our team sponsors to present the Yamaha Racing Team with Yamaha Motor Insurance,” said team owner John Redding. “It again shows the significant support Yamaha and its associated companies have in racing and we look forward to representing YMI in the best light for 2014 and beyond.”

Van Horebeek is finding an effective rhythm and feeling on the works YZ450FM and showed positive speed in just his second outing on the new motorcycle. The circuit at Noto was bumpy and technical but ‘JVH’ attacked the surface with confidence. Jeremy had to work in the first sprint to recover from a mid-top ten start but was able to find room past Todd Waters and other GP peers to reach second spot. A top three launch in the next moto put him right at the front from the get-go but Cairoli’s holeshot and pace on home turf was tough to match. “Overall another good weekend with some solid results,” evaluated Team Manager Mino Raspanti. “Jeremy improved his start in the second moto and his riding was good on a track that was occasionally too narrow in places but had some nice line choices.” Van Horebeek is 65 points ahead of Waters in MX1 with DP19 Racing’s David Philippaerts also high up the table in fifth. Christophe Charlier scored another podium result with second place in the MX2 race behind Jordi Tixier. The Corsican upped his game in the Elite moto (run with the 450s) but a mistake on a jump saw him exit the track and crash. Charlier was unharmed but was unable to complete the race distance. “Christophe is OK after his crash and we’re happy that he managed to close the distance in speed to Tixier in the second moto. Again there were encouraging signs that we are on a good path in our preparation for Qatar,” commented Raspanti. “We’ll do some training and testing on Wednesday this week and then we’ll have our 2014 photoshoot before the final round at Montevarchi,” he added. Charlier Source yamaha-racing.com

Rossi and Lorenzo both undertook a race simulation in the stifling Malaysian heat this afternoon to shake the 2014 M1 down over race distance. Four–time world champion Lorenzo was also happy having completed the three days. The Mallorcan made good progress during the riding sessions, managing to closely replicate the feeling of the 2013 bike whilst making the big reductions in fuel required for the 2014 season. Lorenzo completed the final day in third position, just 0.333 seconds from the front. The MotoGP paddock will return to Sepang on February 26th for the second official test of the year. Valentino Rossi 2nd / 1'59.727 “The test has been very good, I’m very happy, especially for the second position and more than that for the lap time which is the best of my career in Sepang. It’s the first time under 2’00 for me and just one tenth from Marc and the overall record of the track. I found a good feeling with the bike, we found some good solutions and it’s been very positive. We tried a simulation in the afternoon that was very good to understand any problems. We suffered a bit to keep a good pace but it wasn't so bad. For the first test the balance was good.” Jorge Lorenzo 3rd / 1'59.866 “I think we improved a lot the lap time from yesterday but I didn't make a perfect lap. Maybe with softer tyres we could make a 1’59.5 or a 1’59.6. The goal was not to improve the one lap time but to improve the race pace which we did. When we tried a race simulation in hot conditions we found some problems where we didn't expect it, so the pace wasn't as good as we wanted. We’ve only practised in one track though which isn’t a Yamaha track historically, so let’s see what happens at the next Malaysia test and the other tracks. The evolution and the improvement is big so I’m quite satisfied. To have a similar feeling to last year with less fuel is a big thing.” Wilco Zeelenberg - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager “The last day of testing done and we reached our target. We really wanted to jump under the 2’00 mark this weekend so we made that. Step by step we are working in the right direction. We still have some work to do but we have six testing days to go until the first race so we can be satisfied with all the things we tried so far.” Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director “We finished the first three day test of the new season well with good data. We’ve been pretty fast throughout and the two semi-race simulations we did at 4pm gave us good information. Our main subject was fuel consumption and after this test we are able to run a race according to the new rules so this is a successful result. There is still some work to do, we need to find a better way to work with the new tyre but overall we are satisfied.” Positive Sepang test concludes for Monster Yamaha Tech3 Monster Yamaha Tech3 riders Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro made further improvements at the Sepang International circuit as the first test for the forthcoming 2014 MotoGP World Championship drew to a close. The three day test at the 5.543km circuit, 50kms south of Kuala Lumpur had perfect conditions for all three days. This allowed the Monster Yamaha Tech3 riders to ride uninterrupted, in order to prepare for the 2014 MotoGP world championship season which begins under the floodlights at the Losail circuit in Qatar, on the 23rd of March. Young British rider Bradley Smith completed the first test of the season in a positive manner, by exploring different set ups on the Yamaha YZR-M1 MotoGP bike in preparation for his second full time season in MotoGP. Smith experimented especially with full fuel loads, new Bridgestone tyres and long distance runs in today’s session with his Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team, and undertook 65 laps. He finished today with a best lap time of 2.00,896 min which puts him into 11th position but his time from yesterday ensures Smith an 8th place on the combined classification. Pol Espargaro concluded a positive, first MotoGP test of 2014 to finish inside the top ten at the Sepang International circuit. The 2013 Moto2 World Champion familiarised himself further with his new Yamaha YZR-M1, the brakes and the tyres, with Sepang being only his second test on a MotoGP bike. The young Spaniard progressed well with his new Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team and completed 65 laps. Espargaro finished the session with a best lap time of 2.00,655 min, which puts him in 8th place in today’s session, 9th in the combined times, and almost a second quicker than his initial best lap time set on the first day of testing on Tuesday. Bradley Smith 8th / 2'00.603 “We did some really good work, today we were concentrating on the new Bridgestone tyres. I tried to gain as much information and data also doing a half race simulation at the end of the day with this new tyre, just to compare it with the one from last year. Yesterday’s simulation was quite similar to today, although I believe we can still improve with this new tyre. I think I’ve done nearly 180 laps this test and we know where we need to start at Sepang 2. All in all I am pleased, even if the position on the timesheet does not seem to be ideal, it was never my main aim to set fast lap times during these three days. We are looking at the big picture, and preparing for the Championship and we will try to be ready for Qatar." Pol Espargaro 9th / 2'00.655 “I’m really pleased with how this first test went. I could improve every day by at least four tenths and it’s exactly these small steps that we need to do to be prepared for the season. My Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team helps me a lot as the feeling with them is already perfect. Nevertheless, I know that there are still numerous things to work on such as my corner speed and my braking. I think the braking is one of the toughest things when coming from Moto2 because you don’t have any electronic help, like there is in acceleration for example. Anyway, I’m truly happy because after these three days, I know exactly where I need to improve also on my personal preparation and I’m already looking forward to come back to this track in a few weeks.” Source: yamaha-racing.com

When was the first time you ‘noticed’ Cyril Despres? I first noticed Cyril when he was riding in his first Dakar Rally. When did you first think he was going to be a Dakar winner? In 2001 he came to Vesoul to train with me, I noticed that he had a good technical level and a really strong motivation. I said to myself; “This guy, will get there!” Do you think he has a similar riding style and approach to Dakar as you? He doesn’t have the same riding style to me, but like me, he has the same approach to the race. He doesn’t leave any details to chance. In addition, the physical preparations required to race have evolved a great deal since my time and he is in excellent physical condition. What do you think makes him special enough to win five titles? What makes Cyril unique is his intense motivation. His principal quality is his professionalism, and of course his excellent riding and navigational skills. When did you first think of him being on a Yamaha? I have known Cyril for a long time and it was myself who tried to create the initial liaison with Yamaha. I was very happy when I heard he had a contract confirmed with Yamaha, although it is still a real surprise to see him in blue! Have you shared any Dakar secrets with him this year to help him fight for his sixth win? Cyril is a good friend of mine so I’ve always tried to share my experience with him. Now, he’s joined Yamaha, myself and my copilot will give him some information to help navigation! Why do you think Despres and Yamaha will be such a good team? The Yamaha YZ450F motorcycle is powerful and the Yamaha team is really committed to winning the 2014 Dakar. Cyril is a big professional and so I hope that the teaming of ‘Cyril and Yamaha’ will succeed! What do you think will be the biggest challenge for Cyril in the 2014 Dakar? His challenge will be the race itself because it is harder than the other years. The Dakar is always difficult, it is not necessary to be the best, but mistakes should not be made and it is necessary to pass through all the traps to finish. What’s your impression of the 2014 Yamaha 450 Dakar bike? This race will be very interesting because the two best riders (Coma and Despres) are not any more in the same team! I had the chance to test the Yamaha YZF450, it is very powerful and the engine is reliable and powerful, so this motorcycle has all its chances, especially in the hands of Cyril.

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