Successful Sepang test for Yamaha dream team

Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi today completed the third and final day of the first official MotoGP test of 2013 at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. Despite the threat of bad weather both riders were able to enjoy a good amount of dry track time to work through a number of potential engine and chassis specifications for the 2013 YZR-M1. Reigning World Champion Lorenzo delivered his trademark consistency from day one, leading the time sheet at times and never straying far from the front. The Mallorcan was under the official race lap record of the Sepang circuit this morning and just a tenth of a second from the official pole record. He went on to complete a long run this afternoon to wrap up the test. Teammate Rossi continued to go from strength to strength having been reunited with the YZR-M1, the Italian again improving on his time from the day before by nearly half a second to finally dip under the 2’01 mark and finish in third place just over a tenth of a second from teammate Lorenzo in second.

The Japanese Yamaha engineers will now take the valuable data gained back to Japan to work towards the second Sepang test in a few weeks time.

Jorge Lorenzo - Laps 58, Time - 2'00.429

“I think these three days have been positive for us. We tried many things and some of them were good. We need to reconfirm again in another track but here we were able to improve a little bit. I was able to make a simulation this afternoon, the first one I’ve done in Sepang in my GP career. I felt strong physically, mentally and riding so it was good. The other riders are also really strong so it promises to be an interesting season.”

Valentino Rossi - Laps 55, Time - 2'00.542

“I’m very happy, all three days were very good. We worked hard on the bike and improved day by day. The third day was the best, we were able to stay less than half a second from pole position and the lap time is higher which is interesting. Today we finished third in the standings which is theoretically the front row so I’m very happy with this first test.”

Wilco Zeelenberg - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“The whole test has been quite positive and we finished today finding two directions for the rest of the season. Also Jorge’s long run this afternoon was quite consistent, I think that was one of our tasks we were aiming for, to be fast is one thing but to be consistently fast is what it takes to win in racing. Overall we are pretty satisfied, both Jorge and the team worked really hard in these hot conditions, we’re looking forward to coming back to see how we can improve even more.”

Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director

“This has been a really important and positive test. We have been able to work really well and our Japanese engineers have a lot of data so they are really happy. We can go home pretty satisfied and the engineers can continue working on the project, we will see what we can do in a few weeks. Jorge has been very consistent and fast throughout the test in many different circumstances so we are very pleased with him. On Vale’s side he removed a lot of weight from his shoulders, I see him very happy because he is finally back riding a bike that he enjoys, which is what he was looking for. I can’t say more than that!”

Yamaha Racing