CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM TEST Losail, Qatar Tuesday, February 7th 2006 Ambient temperature: 25.9 degrees C Track temperature: 39.0 degrees C Humidity: 64.6% PROGRESS CONTINUES AS PLANNED FOR CAMEL YAMAHA DUO IN DOHA Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards continued the good work they began yesterday with a second day at the top of the time sheets at the desert circuit of Losail, Qatar today. Spending the majority of the day testing tyres for Michelin, Rossi and Edwards completed 60 and 76 laps respectively on their 2006-spec YZR-M1s. Rossi was once again fastest, setting a best lap of 1’56.53 with Edwards close behind him with a time of 1’56.81. Yamaha Tech 3 rider Carlos Checa was third quickest, according to the unofficial lap times, setting a time of 1’56.95. The Camel Yamaha Team will continue for one final day of testing tomorrow whilst Yamaha Tech 3, Suzuki and the Kawasaki and Ducati test teams have finished their Qatar testing today. VALENTINO ROSSI (1’56.53, 60 Laps) “We managed many laps today, everything went very well and I am quite pleased. In the morning we worked mostly on settings and we have now nearly fixed the chatter we were experiencing. We made some small modifications and the bike responded quickly and it is giving me a very good feeling now. After that we worked for the rest of the day with Michelin and tested most of the tyres that they brought with them; the new things they have brought here seem to be extremely good. Our main target with them is to keep the performance level of the tyre up after 15 or 20 laps, and it seems we’re improving in this area and our times were consistent throughout the day. With these new tyres and the new M1 combined we have much better stability and grip. For sure we don’t have most of the other teams testing here so it’s hard to judge exactly where we are, but I think anyway we can tell that we are doing okay.” COLIN EDWARDS (1’56.81, 76 Laps) “Today has been great, I’m really happy. We got going on the new Michelin stuff after lunch and they’ve made some great improvements. We had some new things to try for Yamaha, but we mostly concentrated on tyres. I’m really starting to feel confident with the bike and to believe in myself again. This is my first time in MotoGP to be with the same team for two years running and it’s great not to have to worry about adjusting to a new bike and team at the start of the season. It feels really good to be back with the best team and on the best bike! I can concentrate entirely on my race preparation without any distractions or worries and the new style I adapted to last season now feels totally natural. I feel like I have all the tools in place for a really good season. Tomorrow we’re planning to do a long run and we have a few more tyres to test; I am sure we’ll make some more progress.” JEREMY BURGESS VALENTINO ROSSI’S CREW CHIEF “Everything is going well so far. The test has been successful and the weather has been good. We’ve been able to test everything that we wanted up to now and we’ve confirmed everything that we found out in Malaysia. We’re proceeding well towards the first race!” Unofficial Lap Times: 1. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Yamaha, 1’56.53 2. COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Yamaha, 1’56.81 3. Carlos Checa (SPA) Yamaha, 1’56.95 4. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 1’57.87 5. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 1’58.33 6. S. Ito (JPN) Ducati, 1’58.85 7. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha, 1’58.98 8. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki, 1’59.46 Qatar Lap Record: 1’57.903 (Nicky Hayden, Honda, 2005) Qatar Best Lap: 1’56.917 (Loris Capirossi, Ducati, 2005) More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki: Team SUZUKI MotoGP makes further advancements on final day Team SUZUKI MotoGP has finished its test in Qatar with John Hopkins and Chris Vermeulen completing long test runs on their new Suzuki GSV-Rs. Both racers finished off their respective test programmes with full race length runs to assess the race distance performance of their respective new GSV-R prototype race bikes at the Losail International Circuit. Hopkins also tested a new evolution Bridgestone race tyre over a full distance and was pleased with the consistency of the new rubber. Vermeulen concluded his testing schedule by knocking almost another second off his previous best time to record a fastest lap of 1’57.88. The young Australian star also completed further long tests on the newest generation Bridgestone tyres and was happy with the improvements he made throughout the test. Team SUZUKI MotoGP now head off to Sepang for its third and final private test before returning to Europe for the Official MotoGP tests in March. The first round of the MotoGP World Championship will be at Jerez in Spain on Sunday 26th March. John Hopkins: “We didn’t do quite as much as we would have liked today for one or two reasons. But nevertheless it was good to get a long run completed and to see that Bridgestone has improved tyre consistency compared to the race here last year is a big bonus. I feel that the new bike has so much more potential than last year’s. It is more consistent and easier to ride and I know that I am now ready to race it at a higher level. We still need a certain amount more performance out of the bike and a bit more durability in some areas. But I am confident that Suzuki will make big steps prior to the first race in Jerez. I’m looking forward to going to Sepang next week one of my favourite tracks and see what I can do there, that’s for sure!” Chris Vermeulen: “We got through lots of work here at Losail and I’m beginning to feel that I’m getting to know the GSV-R and the Bridgestone tyres really well. I am very pleased with how my guys are working and Tom O’Kane and I have managed to get the bike set up to suit my style well. My technique has improved since the start of the test at Sepang in January and this has helped me to find more consistency from the bike. We still need more speed from the GSV-R, but it is certainly a very nice package to ride at the moment and I am looking forward to the Sepang test and getting back to Europe.” Paul Denning Team Manager: “We got through a lot of work at this test and we now have a better motorcycle and a better Bridgestone tyre than we did for the race last year. The team has done a fantastic job over the three days and we now need to maximise the benefits from this test and to keep things pointing in the right direction. “The bike still needs more performance but the potential in this machine is massive compared to last year’s bike. For me one of the most positive points of this test has been the performance of both riders. They have given full effort and application and have made no mistakes which is really all you can ask of them. John is riding superbly well and if Chris can keep closing the gap on John as he has done over the last three days, then we should have two very competitive riders come the first race at Jerez.”