LORENZO CONTINUES TO SET PACE IN OFFICIAL MOTOGP TEST
2010-08-17 18:47:13 Author: admin Source:
MotoGP championship leader Jorge Lorenzo and team mate Valentino Rossi completed the official MotoGP one-day test at Brno, alongside the rest of the MotoGP grid, to set themselves up for the final eight races of the season. The test was cut short by recurring showers, but the conditions did not hinder both Yamaha men from enabling the M1 test programs to fruition.
Lorenzo, winner at the Czech Grand Prix, said, "This was an important and interesting test for us, both for the rest of the season and looking towards next year. We had a lot to do but unfortunately the rain forced us to stop early."
Lorenzo picked up from where he left off over the weekend's race, the Spaniard once again topping the time sheets nearly half a second ahead of Ducati's Casey Stoner. He tried a new engine upgrade and a new suspension setting for his M1 and also completed some laps on Yamaha's 2011 prototype YZR-M1. "We tried the ‘new' prototype machine for next year, in addition to an engine upgrade and a new Ohlins suspension for the current M1. But, it's too early to know if they will be better for our bikes, which are already very competitive. We got quite a lot of information though so hopefully it will help the engineers to improve things even more."
After struggling in the race, Rossi and his crew worked predominantly on the M1 setting, with the Italian completing more laps than nearly anyone else. Rossi also had the chance to try the new 2010 engine upgrade and finished the day fourth fastest.
In the other Yamaha camp, the Tech 3 team riders were back hard at work for the test session. Colin Edwards (above) and colleague Ben Spies were on hand to try out the 2011 prototype model of Yamaha's factory YZR-M1.
Spies was delighted with the potential of the test bike and finished in sixth position on the timesheets having been able to give valuable feedback to engineers. Spies ended with a best time of 1.57.575 to lap 0.5s quicker than he managed when finishing in an impressive fourth place at the Czech GP. Edwards finished one place higher up in fifth place as he was able to assess different front-end geometry settings and a revised front tyre specification.
Edwards, who equalled his best result of the season in the race with seventh, set a best time of 1.57.512 to finish almost a second faster than his quickest race pace.
The teams now has a weekend off before flying to Indianapolis next week for round Twelve of the MotoGP championship.
Results
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1'56.269
2. Casey Stoner Ducati 1'56.844
3. Dani Pedrosa Repsol 1'56.944
4. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'57.129
5. Colin Edwards Yamaha Tech 3 1'57.512
6. Ben Spies Yamaha Tech 3 1'57.575
7. Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda 1'57.691
8. Loris Capirossi Suzuki 1'57.700
9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 1'57.991
10. Hector Barbera Aspar 1'58.017
