Following reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo’s stunning victory in Barcelona at the weekend the Yamaha Factory Racing Team have concluded two days of successful testing. The Monday test at the Catalunya circuit immediately following the race was followed by a move to Aragon by the Team and a further day of testing today. Riders Lorenzo and Rossi worked through a number of set up changes along with the testing of a new Bridgestone tyre.
Lorenzo was also pleased to have improved his set up for the Aragon track, a key step towards a potential win at this year’s Grand Prix and ended the day as the fastest rider, nearly four tenths clear of rival Marc Marquez.
Nine-time champion Rossi was pleased to have made a significant step forward in control under heavy braking as well as improved set up for the Aragon circuit. The Italian ended the day in fourth, just under a second from first position.
Jorge Lorenzo – 1st / 1’48.076 / 53 laps
“Compared to normal I’ve been stronger today. At this track normally I suffer many problems in setting up the bike and getting the bike to work like in other tracks. This time from the beginning I have been very competitive with a lot of confidence. Also I think I am in very good shape so I have taken profit of it. I could also test a new tyre to put myself in a qualifying situation and I did a very good lap time. We are just testing very little things but it is better than nothing.”
Valentino Rossi, 4th / 1’49.007 / 54 laps
“First of all we modified a bit the setting and also the front fork and now I feel more confident in braking, I can brake deeper and stop the bike in a better way. For me this is the biggest improvement. After this we tried the swing arm like Jorge has it, a little bit more stiff which I like. We tried some other small things; at the end we made a good package that gives me a really good feeling, especially in braking. I’m so happy because until today I didn’t have this feeling in braking, I am always in a bit of trouble. I can’t wait for Assen to understand if this is also improved at other tracks. It is important for the qualification lap because you have to push more in braking. This result is especially important here in Aragon as this is not one of my best tracks. I have not made great races here yet but the pace today and the lap times at the end make me very happy.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager
“The result of this test is quite similar to the one in Barcelona two days ago, we tried the same things and they had the same positive outcome. No dramatic things but set up wise and feeling wise the bike improved and Jorge is feeling good. The main target was to get more confidence on the bike and improve the consistency as well. I think we were able to deliver both for him which is very positive. If you have that on two different tracks it says something so let’s see if we can use that in the coming races.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director
“It has been a really positive test, the first part in Barcelona and the second part here in Aragon. All the items we tested in Barcelona we could reconfirm with positive results here in Aragon. The plan we had to stay there on Monday and test here on Wednesday gave us some really good feedback. I think after the great weekend we had in Barcelona we finish this Spanish trip in a good way. We are ready to go to Assen and we are expecting to go well there as it is a circuit that suits our bike. We are really looking forward to the next race.”
Aragon Test Times
1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 1m 48.076s
2. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 48.434s
3. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 1m 48.928s
4. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 1m 49.007s
5. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 1m 49.553s
6. Alvaro Bautista ESP GoandFun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 1m 50.080s
7. Randy De Puniet FRA Suzuki Test Team (Suzuki) 1m 50.860s
