Final Test Gets Underway at Jerez {{forumTopicSubject}}
News Jerez, Spain 23/02/2007
Final Test Gets Underway for Yamaha at Rain-Hit Jerez
Colin Edwards
Yamaha Factory Racing riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards started their final pre-season preparations today as the Official MotoGP Test began in Jerez. The Andalusian circuit, which will play host to the second round of the MotoGP World Championship in March, will provide the teams with the last chance to fine-tune their 800cc MotoGP motorcycles before the season gets started in Qatar. After three consecutive races in warmer climes, it was a wet return to European shores this morning when the MotoGP paddock was subjected to a heavy rainstorm and as a result Rossi and Edwards were not able get out on track until the early afternoon. However even after that the low temperatures meant that track failed to dry properly and it remained quite damp in places, causing the Yamaha pair to take it gently throughout the afternoon as they concentrated on trying to find the right set-up ahead of a hopefully drier day tomorrow.
Valentino Rossi
The timesheets were topped today by Honda rider Marco Melandri, who set a time of 1’42.563, a full two seconds off Rossi’s old 990cc lap record, which still stands from 2005. Edwards came in at 11th position with best lap of 1’43.845 with Rossi behind him in 13th after a lap of 1’44.494.
Colin Edwards, Position: 11th Time: 1’43.845 Laps: 38
“Actually that was a really useful day for us, despite the weather! Obviously the times don’t really show it, but I’m not worried about those because the conditions really limited what we could do with regards to going fast. It wasn’t nice out there with the patchy conditions and it was really quite dangerous; it was obvious that whoever took the most risks was going to be fastest today! Anyway, we came here with our ‘smooth-track’ setting which worked so well in Qatar and tried it here, which is much bumpier. The good thing about today is that we think we now understand why it doesn’t work so well on bumpy tracks and so tomorrow we’re going to work on changing that and getting it to work everywhere. That’s the aim for tomorrow and hopefully we’ll be successful in that task, which will put us in much better stead as far as adjusting the bike to different tracks goes. We were obviously nowhere near our times from December today but we know the bike is better than it was then so I am sure that once the track dries out properly and it gets a bit warmer, we’ll get a lot faster.”
Valentino Rossi
Valentin Rossi Position: 13th Time: 1’44.494 Laps:36
“The most important thing about this test for us is that it gives us the chance to see how our new bike has changed from the test here in December to now. We’ve had three tests in between and the bike has changed quite a bit, plus we’ve had some new parts for the engine and the bike is a bit faster. Today wasn’t great because the conditions were bad, it didn’t really dry out all day so it wasn’t possible to go so fast. Anyway though, I am impressed at some of the times of my rivals in these conditions! I was quite fast at the start when it was quite wet, but really it wasn’t enough to do a real wet-weather test. So after today we still can’t see how much we’ve improved from the last test, but hopefully tomorrow will be better. We’ve found some interesting things though and I think it will be better tomorrow. Of course the objective of this weekend is to be ready for the race when we return here and I hope we will also be able to go faster than we did here in December. The biggest changes since we were here last have been made to the suspension, especially in the front, but today we couldn’t really see the potential of these changes. If it becomes warmer we will also try to find some good tyres for this track, so let’s hope for sunshine!”
Davide Brivio, Team Director
“Today was a bit disappointing because we obviously have a lot of work to get through here and the weather really delayed us, but anyway both riders found out some interesting things about their bikes in these conditions and gathered some good information. We hope that the weather will be better tomorrow so we will be able to see how much our bike has improved since the last test here. It’s a bit cold at this time of year, but hopefully the sun will come out and we will be able to really get started!”
Unofficial Lap Times
1. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 1’42.563
2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 1’42.634
3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 1’42.706
4. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 1’43.206
5. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 1’43.214
6. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 1’43.315
7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 1’43.476
8. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati 1’43.673
9. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 1’43.687
10. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 1’43.817
11. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1’43.845
12. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1’44.052
13. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 1’44.494
14. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 1’44.659
15. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 1’45.081
16. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 1’45.208
17. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati 1’45.603
18. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Ducati 1’45.826
19. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1’45.901
20. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 1’45.937
21. Kousuke Akiyoshi (JPN) Suzuki 1’47.191
22. Jeremy McWilliams (IRE) Ilmor 1’47.696
23. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 1’49.365
Jerez Lap Record (990cc)
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 - 1’40.596
Jerez Best Lap (990cc)
Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2006 - 1’39.064
jun 2005
Følger: 55 Følgere: 52 MC-er: 1 Emner: 245 Svar: 1.699
dec 2003
Følger: 133 Følgere: 120 Emner: 271 Svar: 7.336
jun 2005
Følger: 55 Følgere: 52 MC-er: 1 Emner: 245 Svar: 1.699
dec 2003
Følger: 133 Følgere: 120 Emner: 271 Svar: 7.336
Valentino Rossi
Valentino Rossi ended his pre-season preparations in fine style today after taking top honours in the traditional 40-minute ‘Qualifying’ Practice session at Jerez, smashing last year’s pole time and becoming the fastest man ever round the Spanish circuit in the process. There was double satisfaction for Yamaha as Rossi’s team-mate Colin Edwards, who took this same accolade in treacherously wet conditions at Catalunya last year, finished the session third.
After a one-two in this morning’s free practice, Rossi and Edwards were feeling confident for this afternoon’s timed shoot-out and with several qualifying tyres each to try during the session, had plenty of chances to see what their 800cc Yamahas could do under pressure. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) took an early lead before Dani Pedrosa (Honda) took control with just over half the session gone. Rossi soon joined him at the top and an exciting battle ensued between the Italian and the Spaniard as they swapped the lead several times over the last twenty minutes, with Edwards remaining in close contention throughout. In the closing stages of the session Rossi produced a perfect lap to set an outstanding time of 1’38.394, almost seven-tenths of a second faster than Capirossi’s pole time from 2006. Pedrosa was unable to find an answer despite crossing the line seconds before the chequered flag and mounting a last-gasp effort to usurp Rossi from the top spot.
Today’s result marks the end of a long but satisfying pre-season testing campaign for the Yamaha Factory Team, who leave Jerez in good shape and high spirits ahead of the first race of the season in Qatar on 10th March.
Valentino Rossi (1st, 1’38.394, 17 Laps)
“After this morning, when my Yamaha worked very well, I knew that I had a chance to try to win this competition. However I knew it was going to be a hard fight as well and I definitely expected Pedrosa to be as strong as he was. It was a fun battle with him, the first real one of the year! Anyway with every qualifying tyre I tried it felt better and better and I was able to go faster; in the end my time was fantastic and my Yamaha really flew! The most important thing about this is that it shows what great work we’ve done over the winter, everyone has tried so hard and this is a nice way to say thank you to them all. This new bike is working really well with the new tyres, both with race and qualifying tyres, so this is very important too and I would like to say thank you to Michelin. It was fun to see just how far I can push this new bike and it has answered me brilliantly, I felt very confident in my Yamaha today and I was able to ride it on the limit. Colin was also very fast so this once again shows how well our bike is working. Of course this isn’t even the first race and now we have to wait until Qatar, but we’re definitely in good shape and I am excited about the season ahead!”
Colin Edwards
Colin Edwards (3rd, 1’39.300, 16 Laps)
“That was good fun today! This morning everything really came together for both Valentino and I and we knew that we were going to be able to push hard this afternoon. The Michelin qualifiers worked great and, after some of the problems we had last year, that’s a massive relief for us. I had a few more issues than Valentino in the timed session, nothing serious but our setting wasn’t quite the same as his and I wasn’t able to match his pace, but we know what we need to work on and anyway we were still in the top three and pretty fast. Honestly both Valentino and I are just so happy with everything, it all seems to work and it seems all the effort over the winter has paid off this time! It’s good to have finally finished testing and to be leaving here on such a high note; it gives everyone that extra kick for the first race. I can’t wait to finally get to Qatar now and start racing!”
Davide Brivio - Team Director
“This is only an appetiser before the real racing begins, but anyway it’s always nice to win this competition for the third time in four years and it gives everyone real confidence for the first race. The fact that Valentino was on top and Colin third is really great and it’s especially important that it’s happened here at Jerez, where we struggled quite a bit last year. This is very satisfying for everyone and it shows we’ve worked very well in the right direction throughout winter testing. Of course the race is a different story, so now we will focus on Qatar and hope it goes well for us there too.”
Lap Times
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha 1'38.394
2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 1'38.527
3. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha 1'39.300
4. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 1'39.556
5. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 1'39.832
6. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati 1'39.873
7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 1'39.887
8. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1'40.043
9. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team KR 1'40.083
10. Carlos Checa (SPA) Honda 1'40.100
11. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 1'40.202
12. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda 1'40.242
13. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Yamaha 1'40.307
14. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 1'40.396
15. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki 1'40.551
16. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati 1'40.681
17. Alex Barros (BRA) Ducati 1'41.038
18. Kousuke Akiyoshi (JPN) Suzuki 1'41.805
19. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Yamaha 1'42.215
20. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati 1'43.008
21. Andrew Pitt (AUS) Ilmor 1'43.026
22. Shinichi Ito (JPN) Ducati 1'43.073
23. Jeremy McWilliams (IRE) Ilmor 1'43.202
Jerez Lap Record (990cc): Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 – 1’40.596
Jerez Best Lap (800cc): Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2007 – 1’38.394
dec 2003
Følger: 133 Følgere: 120 Emner: 271 Svar: 7.336
Final Test Gets Underway at Jerez
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