MOTOGP: Rossi Rediscovering Old Rhythm

Valentino Rossi positive reintroduction to Yamaha's MotoGP program continued at Sepang.

Media Release | Posted February 06, 2013 Sepang (MAL)

Yamaha Factory Racing's Valentino Rossi (Photo: Yamaha Racing)

The first official MotoGP test of 2013 entered its second day today at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were again quick to get up to speed, taking over half a second off their times from day one by the early afternoon before rain came in to disrupt the day. Reigning World Champion Lorenzo was again running in second position as he ran through various updates to the 2013 YZR-M1, wrapping up the day just 0.019 seconds from front man Dani Pedrosa. Teammate Rossi put in another strong day, sending a clear message about his capabilities as he completed the session in fourth place, less than half a second from the front. Both riders were working through set up positions along with differing chassis and engine specifications to make up for time lost due to bad weather at the end of season test in Spain last year.

Jorge Lorenzo Position: 2nd Time: 2.00.568 Laps: 52

“Today in the morning the conditions were good and I could easily do the lap times from yesterday, I improved by more than half a second. Later we tried some little parts we couldn’t try yesterday, but not so much and the bike didn’t improve a lot. In the last hour it started to rain so I decided to exit and ride in the wet. We made more than eight laps in the rain. I think it was important to find the feeling in these conditions and also try the new tire.”

Valentino Rossi Position: 4th Time: 2.01.038 Laps: 45

“The second day of testing in Sepang is finished and the balance of the day is positive for us, especially as we finished some work on the bike. We have some different parts for the bike for this season and we continue to work on the setting. The positive is we improved compared to yesterday in terms of time on one lap with the new tire but especially on the rhythm, I was half a second faster than yesterday which is not so bad. Fourth position is quite good especially as we are less than half a second behind Pedrosa and Lorenzo. Unfortunately it started to rain so we had to stop earlier, because our target this afternoon was to go into 2’00 but we will try again tomorrow."

Wilco Zeelenberg Team Manager

“This morning went pretty smoothly and we were directly faster than yesterday. Our competitors improved also but that’s life in this sport. The only thing I can say at this moment is that we are happy with what we are doing, concentrated and Jorge is feeling good on the bike. Let’s continue tomorrow and see what we can achieve to finish the test.”

Massimo Meregalli Team Director

“The schedule for the day proceeded well, we got a lot of good data this morning on both sides. Jorge spent a lot of time with the 2013 configuration and he is pretty satisfied. For sure there is room to improve and we will continue to work on it. Vale is happy too, he compared some different settings and he found one he liked. Now he will work on the 2013 bike this afternoon. If our starting point is as good as we think then we are in a good shape.”

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