Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Begins Final Preseason Test in Qatar2015-03-15 08:45The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team took to the Losail International Circuit today for the final official preseason three-day test of 2015. Riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi continued to work on perfecting the set-up of their Yamaha YZR-M1s before the first race to be held at the same track in two weeks time. The first day of testing started off slowly, with most of the teams opting to wait out the afternoon until the temperatures cooled, so conditions were closer to those of the traditional night race of Losail. Jorge Lorenzo had a challenging start to the test, with a lack of grip on the slippery track slowing him down. Having waited until after 6pm local time before heading out, he rode a 1’57.351s lap and moved up to seventh place in the provisional session standings. He improved his times throughout the session and finished the day in sixth place on the timing sheets with a best time of 1’55.828s, +0.563s off the front. Teammate Rossi also experienced some difficulties. An unlucky crash at turn eight on his third lap lost him one of his three sets of tyres for today’s session. Despite this misfortune, the uninjured nine-time World Champion soon got back on his way and rode his YZR-M1 to provisional tenth place with a lap of 1’57.557s. He later improved his time to seventh quickest with a 1’55.938s lap. The two remaining sets of tyres were not enough for him to take part in the time attack at the end of today’s session and as the pace of the field quickened he dropped one place, ending the day in eighth place, + 0.673 off the front. Jorge Lorenzo 99 Jorge Lorenzo 6th / 1'55.828 / laps “It’s been very difficult to get onto the pace today. We don’t exactly know what happened, but it looks like we need much more grip on the rear when we enter the corners. I think we are still very far from our limit. The track is not very grippy, especially on the entry of the corners and also the curbs are very slippery and bumpy, so the track conditions are a bit strange compared to last year" Profile Profile 46 Valentino Rossi 8th / 1'55.938 / laps “At the end today it was not so bad. I had a quite good pace, we worked a little bit on the bike and we improved the setting. Unfortunately I had a crash at the beginning of the session. Fortunately I was not injured, but I did have one less tyre so I had to work the whole day with two sets and I was not able to do the time attack at the end. The feeling is quite good for the first day, the lap times are not so bad and it looks like this year’s battle will be very hard because all the bikes and the riders are very strong. Tomorrow we have to continue to work on the bike. We don’t have a lot of new things, but we’ll work on the balance and the setting and will try to improve the lap time.” Profile Profile Valentino Rossi Team Director Massimo Meregalli Massimo Meregalli Team Director “The plan today was to work on the settings for both Jorge and Vale and also to work on the braking to keep closing the gap to our competitors. Jorge worked hard with his crew from the beginning but was still looking for a comfortable pace and set up at the end of the session. Unfortunately Vale had a strange crash after just three laps going into turn eight and so we lost one set of tyres and some valuable time. Fortunately he was uninjured which is the most important thing. We are not completely satisfied at the end of today with our position but as always will work on solutions both tonight and in the morning to be ready to make improvements and step closer to the front.” TEST TIMES Results 1. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Ducati Team 1'55.265 2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 1'55.363 3. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'55.554 4. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Team Suzuki MotoGP 1'55.698 5. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'55.813 6. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1'55.828 7. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) CWM LCR Honda 1'55.837 8. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1'55.938 9. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1'55.954 10. Scott Redding (GBR) Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 1'56.112 11. Maverick Viñales (SPA) Team Suzuki MotoGP 1'56.130 12. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Pramac Racing 1'56.132 13. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Pramac Racing 1'56.301 14. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1'56.615 15. Karel Abraham (CZE) AB Motoracing 1'56.638 16. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing 1'56.719 17. Nicky Hayden (USA) Drive M7 Aspar 1'57.099 18. Stefan Bradl (GER) Forward Racing 1'57.146 19. Jack Miller (AUS) CWM LCR Honda 1'57.228 20. Loris Baz (FRA) Forward Racing 1'57.376 21. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing 1'57.405 22. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Drive M7 Aspar 1'57.500 23. Michele Pirro (ITA) Pramac Racing 1'57.664 24. Alex De Angelis (RSM) Octo IodaRacing Team 1'58.026 25. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1'58.459 26. Marco Melandri (ITA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1'58.990 Full standings Results CIRCUIT INFORMATION Technical Informations Circuit Losail Location Doha, Qatar Length (m) 5380 Width (m) 12 Turns 16 Turns righ 10 Turns left 6 Pole position left Grand Prix of Qatar Record Lap Time 1'55.153 Rider C.Stoner Bike Ducati Year 2008 Best Lap Time 1'53.927 Rider J.Lorenzo Bike Yamaha Year 2008 2014 Results 1st M.Marquez (Honda): 42'40.561 2nd V.Rossi ( Yamaha): +00.259 3rd D.Pedrosa (Honda): +3.370 Source: Yamaha MotoGP Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
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