Following yesterday’s heavy rain, thick fog delayed the start of the second day of testing in Jerez this morning before giving way to sunshine and a dry track, providing the Yamaha Factory Team with the chance to get some important work under their belts. Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards both focused on general set-up work today and were pleased to see good improvements to the performance of their 800cc Yamahas since their last test here in November. Rossi and Edwards were consistently fast throughout the day, with Rossi topping the time sheets until the last stages of the session before being overtaken by Marco Melandri (Honda), who set the day’s best lap in a time of 1’40.383. Rossi finished just behind him in a time of 1’40.408, under the existing 990cc lap record, which he himself set in 2005. Edwards, having been in the top three for most of the day, also slipped down the order at the end as several riders opted to try qualifying tyres ahead of tomorrow’s 40 minute timed ‘qualifying’ shoot-out, which begins at 1405 CET.

Valentino Rossi (2nd, 1’40.408, 65 Laps)
“Today was a very good day for us and we’ve done some great work. After today we’re happy because we can understand that we did a great job when we were here in November. We started with the same setting and the bike was fast straight away, then afterwards we tried a new setting from January and February, with the suspension and other things, and it felt even better. I had a great feeling with the front and also with the rear, and I had a lot of confidence with my bike. The balance was good under acceleration and I was able to go fast and in a good rhythm. Tomorrow we’ve got some more things to try and also some more tyres from Michelin, so we hope to make even more improvements. We’ll also get the chance to try a qualifying tyre and to see how we go against our rivals in the ‘qualifying’ session, which will be interesting. So anyway, we’ve got another day and some more work to do, but the situation is already good and I am feeling happy.”