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Media Release
11/10/2009
Valencia (ESP)
Fiat Yamaha Team's Jorge Lorenzo (Photo: Yamaha Racing)
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Jorge Lorenzo was the only rider to break the 1’32” barrier on Tuesday at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, as he set the quickest lap of the second day of the post-season test on his M1 prototype with a 1’31.939.
Taking his factory bike round for 62 laps as he and Fiat Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi tested a new chassis -- a new engine is expected to be available to work with in the new year -- the Spaniard was 0.256s faster than Monday’s quickest rider Casey Stoner.
On his Ducati Desmosedici meanwhile, Stoner was second fastest on the timesheet as he made 44 laps on the circuit, 12 more than he completed on Monday as the Australian continues to fine tune his 800cc race machinery.
World Champion Rossi emerged only in the afternoon, coming out onto the track just before 2pm to take his M1 out for the final time for this test, as he lapped at just over half a second slower than Lorenzo.
The focus of the Valencia test for Ben Spies remains acquainting himself with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike as he tries various tire and wheel options, but the experimental nature did not stop the Texan from posting the fourth-fastest time of the day at just under half a second behind Rossi. His teammate Colin Edwards’ test appears to have come to a premature end however, as he failed to take part on Tuesday due to illness.
Nicky Hayden, who finished the season on a high with his fifth place in Sunday’s race, matched that placement on the timesheet as he recorded 84 laps on his factory Ducati. The 2006 World Champion was trying out the new rear spec Bridgestone tires for 2010, along with several other riders.
Öhlins suspension was again tested by Dani Pedrosa, as both he and Repsol Honda teammate Andrea Dovizioso took their 2010 RC212V prototypes out for the second day. Sunday’s race winner Pedrosa was sixth fastest on Tuesday, with Dovizioso 12th as he continued to adjust to the weight distribution caused by the realignment of his engine. The Italian crashed shortly after 1pm, but was back out on the track shortly afterwards.
Randy de Puniet took his RC212V out as the LCR Honda team tested suspension and electronics updates on the Frenchman’s 2009 machine, in a bid to improve the rear set-up of the bike.
