From a press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: ROSSI FEELING POSITIVE AFTER IMPRESSIVE TIMES IN SEPANG The second Fiat Yamaha Team test of 2008 began in Sepang, Malaysia today, with Valentino Rossi picking up just where he left off at the same track 12 days ago. After several teams opted to test at Phillip Island last week, it was a somewhat depleted MotoGP field on track today and Rossi and new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo shared the track with just seven other riders. Rossi topped the time sheets today with a blistering best lap of 2’00.300, over 0.3 seconds faster than the existing best lap of Sepang, which the Italian set himself back in 2006. Rossi set today’s time on a Bridgestone qualifying tyre on his 62nd of 64 laps, but he also recorded improvements in his times with race tyres as he continues development with his new tyre manufacturer. Team-mate Lorenzo chose to stick to race tyres today and posted the fourth fastest time with a lap of 2’02.654 Valentino Rossi Position: 1st Time: 2’00.300 Laps: 64 “Today was a positive day for us and I really enjoyed myself. We started to work more on the bike and to adjust the suspension and balance to suit our tyres. I have a very good feeling and the lap times have improved compared to last time, both with race tyres and with the qualifying tyre. It’s a big deal changing tyres not as big as changing bikes but all the same I have needed time to understand how to ride the bike differently and now I’m learning more and more how to get the best from the Bridgestones. My fitness has also improved compared to last time and this is also helping me to ride better, so I think that we’re in good shape at the moment.” Fiat Yamaha Team Davide Brivio Team Manager “It was a good day for us and the times show that we are on target. This morning the surface was quite dirty but it improved this afternoon and Valentino was quicker than at the last test both on race and qualifying tyres. His fitness is also better so this is enabling him to improve his overall performance. Tomorrow we will continue with our testing programme and hopefully we can improve further on this good start.” More, from another press release issued by Fiat Yamaha: LORENZO WORKING HARD TO IMPROVE SET-UP IN SEPANG New Fiat Yamaha pilot Jorge Lorenzo resumed the task of getting to grips with his YZR-M1 in Sepang today, ahead of his inaugural MotoGP race in Qatar in one month’s time. After a promising showing here last time out, Lorenzo and his team’s clear focus for this test is to refine and improve set-up, and they began work today with the same bike they used at the last test. Lorenzo and his team-mate Valentino Rossi formed part of a field of just nine riders on track today, with the majority of teams having chosen to test in Australia last week instead. The Spaniard’s main issue to address is front-end feel going into the corners and he was disappointed not to make more progress in this area today. Nonetheless his engineers were able to gather some important information and they will continue with their task tomorrow, as well as resuming tyre testing with Michelin. Lorenzo posted the 4th best time of the day, his lap of 2’02.654 coming on the 24th of 57 laps. Rossi topped the time sheets with an impressive lap of 2’00.300, set using a qualifying tyre. Jorge Lorenzo Position: 4th Time: 2’02.654 Laps: 57 “We are working as we planned but unfortunately today we haven’t been able to improve as much as we hoped on the problems we had at the last test. The biggest issue is the feeling I have with the front-end going into the turns; I need more confidence in this area so we still have some work to do to find the key. We have some more ideas after today so tomorrow we will try again, working in a slightly different direction, and hopefully we will be able to make more progress on this.” Fiat Yamaha Team Daniele Romagnoli Team Manager “We didn’t improve as we wanted to today and Jorge is still lacking some confidence in front, which means we’re not fast enough going into the turns. Despite this it’s not a wasted day as our engineers were able to collect a lot of data and they and the team will analyse this tonight, prepare a schedule for tomorrow and go from there. The bike is the same as the last test but the goal is to improve the set-up and solve the issues which are affecting Jorge. We will keep working tomorrow and see where we get to!” Results 1. Valentino Rossi – Fiat Yamaha Team 2:00.300 2. Nicky Hayden – Repsol Hrc 2:01.949 3. Shinya Nakano – Honda Gresini 2:02.317 4. Jorge Lorenzo – Fiat Yamaha Team 2:02.654 5. Alex De Angelis – Honda Gresini 2:03.231 6. Olivier Jacque – Kawasaki Racing 2:03.655 7. Yamaha Test Rider – Yamaha Test Team 2:06.356 8. Tamaki Serizawa – Kawasaki Racing 2:06.874 9. Yamaha Test Rider – Yamaha Test Team 2:07.319 Sepang Lap Record Casey Stoner (Ducati) 2007 – 2’02.108 Sepang Best Lap Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2006 – 2’00.605 More, from a press release issued by Repsol Media Service: NICKY HAYDEN, SATISFIED WITH THE IMPROVEMENTS ON THE CHASSIS OF HIS HONDA RC212CV DURING THE FIRST ROUND OF TESTS IN SEPANG The first of three days of tests planned for the Malaysian Sepang circuit The Repsol Honda Team was back on track at Sepang today for the second pre-season test at the 5.548 km Malaysian grand prix circuit. American Nicky Hayden, MotoGP World Champion in 2006, is the sole factory Team rider present at Sepang his team mate, Spaniard Dani Pedrosa at home in Barcelona working on his recovery from a hand injury sustained at Sepang last month. Repsol Honda team work today focused on chassis comparison testing while running with a variety of front and rear tyres from Michelin. The Repsol Honda Team technicians tried slight geometry variations that improved the overall balance of the RCV and provided Hayden with better rear end grip, particularly on the edge of the rear tyre. Hayden crashed at turn 15 near the end of the day escaping unscathed from th e incident. Hayden and the team will continue chassis comparison testing tomorrow working from the data gathered today while running with the latest Michelin tyre developments. Quotes MotoGP Nicky Hayden, fastest lap: 2m 01.949s (lap 80 of 80) “We got a late start because the track was not in good shape after the overnight rain. Nobody was in a hurry to go out. When we did we all went together and cleaned up the track a little. We ran comparison chassis tests and confirmed what we learned at Phillip Island. The guys changed the geometry a little on the 2008 chassis and the bike had a better balance so we made some progress there. Michelin gave me a couple of rear tyres I really liked, one 16 inch and one 16.5 both ha ve good grip on the edge of the tyre and the bike felt a lot better. We will keep on working on the chassis tomorrow and test more tyres.” More, from a press release issued by Honda: MotoGP test Sepang, Malaysia day one of three-day test. February 5, 2008. Honda RC212V riders return to Sepang for second MotoGP test The second MotoGP test of 2008 at Sepang, Malaysia opened today with just five regular championship challengers present. With teammate Dani Pedrosa absent due to hand injuries sustained on day one of the previous test at the track, Nicky Hayden is working overtime evaluating the performance of the Repsol Honda factory team V-4 800cc RC212V four-stroke. Hayden spent the limited track time running chassis comparison tests in combination with a variety of Michelin front and rear tyres. At the Phillip Island test Hayden rear grip was an issue but Hayden was happy with tyre performance today finding improved grip on the edge of the 16 inch tyres he tested today. Hayden crashed at turn 15 near the end of the day escaping unscathed from the incident. The team will continue chassis comparison testing tomorrow. The Gresini Honda team of Shinya Nakano and Alex De Angelis are in attendance together with the Yamaha squad of Rossi and Lorenzo and several test riders from other factory teams. Rain on Monday had left the track surface in a greasy condition and the first rider to venture out was Gresini Honda rider Alex De Angelis. The young Sanmarinese and his technicians planned a full day of tyre testing for Bridgestone but De Angelis crashed after just nine laps but returned to the track to complete 41 laps on the day. Shinya Nakano on the second Gresini RC212V worked on refining chassis settings with changes to geometry based on the feedback from the test held at the track last month and his three-day stint at Phillip Island. Honda rider lap times and quotes. Nicky Hayden, Repsol Honda: 2m 01.949. “We got a late start because the track was not in good shape after the overnight rain. Nobody was in a hurry to go out. When we did we all went together and cleaned up the track a little. We ran comparison chassis tests and confirmed what we learned at Phillip Island. The guys changed the geometry a little on the 2008 chassis so we made some progress there. Michelin gave me a couple of rear tyres I really liked, one 16 inch and one 16.5 both have good grip on the edge of the tyre and the bike felt a lot better. We will keep on working on the chassis tomorrow and test more tyres.” Shinya Nakano, Gresini Honda: 2m 02.317s 55 laps. “We tested some geometry changes on the RCV today and found a good specification for the chassis at this track. The set up gave me more stability entering the corners. For the test tomorrow we will use the same specification as our base set up while we test tyres for Bridgestone.” Alex De Angelis, Gresini Honda: 2m 03.231s 41 laps. “I did not have a good feeling with the front end of the RCV when I went out this morning and we were working on trying to improve that when I crashed. After the crash I waited until the track conditions improved before going out again. Tomorrow I will need to get in as many laps as possible to improve the front end and learn more about the way the RCV behaves at this track.”