Lorenzo picked up from where he left off yesterday, the race winner once again topping the time sheets nearly half a second ahead of Casey Stoner. The championship leader tried a new engine upgrade and a new suspension setting for his M1 and also completed some laps on Yamaha’s 2011 prototype YZR-M1.
After struggling in yesterday’s race Rossi and his crew were keen to understand what had happened so they worked closely on their setting to do just that today, with the Italian completing more laps than nearly anyone else. Rossi also had the chance to try the new 2010 engine upgrade and finished the day fourth fastest.
The team now has a weekend off before flying to Indianapolis next week for the next round of the MotoGP World Championship.
Jorge Lorenzo – Position: 1st Time: 1’56.269 Laps: 44
“This was an important and interesting test for us, both for the rest of the season and looking towards next year. We had a lot to do but unfortunately the rain forced us to stop early. As well as the ‘new’ prototype machine for next year we also tried an engine upgrade and a new Ohlins suspension, but it’s too early to know if they will be better for our M1, which is already very competitive. We got quite a lot of information though so hopefully it will help the engineers to improve things even more.”
Valentino Rossi – Position: 4th Time: 1’57.129 Laps: 50
“I’m happier today because we worked hard to understand what happened during yesterday’s race and at the end we have a clearer picture. We worked a lot on the setting and we found out some things, which we hope will be useful over the rest of the season and help us to have some more good races. I tried a new engine for the 2010 bike and it’s not so different but there are some small things about it which I think can help; I hope we can use it soon.”
Positive test for Spies and Edwards in Brno
Less than 24 hours after a strong performance in the Czech Republic MotoGP race, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team was back hard at work for a one-day test session at the Brno circuit today.
Perfect conditions this morning allowed Texan Spies to complete 36 of his 42 laps on board a 2011 prototype model of Yamaha’s factory YZR-M1 machine.
Spies was delighted with the potential of the test bike and finished in sixth position on the timesheets having been able to give valuable feedback to engineers.
Spies ended with a best time of 1.57.575 to lap 0.5s quicker than he managed when finishing in an impressive fourth place in yest erday’s 22-lap race.
The 26-year-old though was unable to complete a further assessment of the new bike when rain brought an early end to proceedings shortly after 3pm.
Colin Edwards finished one place higher up in fifth place as he was able to spend 41 laps assessing different front-end geometry settings and a revised front tyre specification from Bridgestone.
Edwards, who equalled his best result of the season in yesterday’s race with seventh, set a best time of 1.57.512 to finish almost a second faster than his quickest race pace.
Colin Edwards 5th 1.57.512 – 41 laps
“We made a change with the set-up for the race yesterday and I didn’t really have a good feeling with the bike, so we reverted back to the setting I was happy with on Saturday just to try and understand why I wasn’t able to run the same pace. I’ve learned not to race the bike with a setting that we hadn’t tested but we thought it would be fine. I tested some different front-end geometry to try and make more progress with the better turning performance we found earlier in the weekend and we’ve got some more ideas for the future. I tried a new Bridgestone front and I was really happy with that so it was a good test. Although I wasn’t happy with the result yesterday, I felt we made a breakthrough with the bike here and I’m really looking forward to challenging for my first top six finish of the season at the next race in Indianapolis.”
Ben Spies 6th 1.57.575 – 42 laps
“It was a good day. I can’t say too much about the new bike and honestly I’m not sure exactly what I rode. I just got on and rode what was given to me and I didn’t set any blistering lap times today but th at was not the objective. Today was all about giving feedback and getting some data on the new bike. The good thing is that I was pretty much on the pace of the bike I’ve been riding since February and that is a big positive because we’ve got plenty of time to work on that bike. We got lots of information so it was a productive day. It was a good weekend with my first front row start and a strong fourth place in the race and after today I’m heading to Indianapolis for another home race full of confidence. I love racing in front of my home fans and hopefully I’ll be able to get my best result of the season at Indy.”
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’56.269
2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’56.844
3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’56.944
4. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1’57.129
5. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’57.512
6. Ben Spies (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1’57.575
7. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team 1’57.691
8. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’57.700
9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team 1’57.991
10. Hector Barbera (SPA) Aspar Team 1’58.017
11. Marco Melandri (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’58.070
12. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1’58.091
13. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Pramac Green Team 1’58.612
14. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Interwetten-Honda MotoGP 1’58.830
15. Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Green Team 1’58.926
16. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1’59.454
Brno: Record Lap
J. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2009, 1’56.670
Brno: Best Lap
V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2009, 1’56.145
