Fresh from yesterday’s Gran Premi Monster Energy de Catalunya, the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders were back on track today to complete the one-day Catalunya MotoGP Official Test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi took time to try some new Michelin tyres and there was also an opportunity for them to test a new chassis for the 2016 YZR-M1 and work on some small set up changes to further improve the balance of their bikes.
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi returned to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya today to undertake a detailed testing programme. Whilst putting some new items to the test, Lorenzo completed 49 laps and finished the one-day Catalunya MotoGP Official Test in second place.
Rossi arrived a bit later to the scene where he secured a brilliant win a day earlier, and used the final three hours of the session to help develop some new Michelin tyres. He ended the day in eleventh place.
One hour into the eight-hour long test session, Lorenzo entered the track and started work on his YZR-M1. He spent most of the morning getting familiar with the new items before it was time to pick up the pace in the early afternoon. After already having completed yesterday’s full race distance, he clocked a 1’44.202s on his 26th lap, moving up to provisional first place. His time remained unchallenged until the very end of the session, when the Mallorcan rider had already finished his testing programme for the day. Lorenzo ended second in the final results, 0.239s from the front.
With three hours of the session remaining, teammate Valentino Rossi joined his rivals on the Catalan track. He steadily improved his best time over the first hour before entering the top nine when he set a 1’45.454s on lap 23. The Doctor then put his full attention towards developing his bike. Whilst thoroughly testing some new Michelin tyres and a new chassis for his YZR-M1, he got pushed back to eleventh place in the test results and finished 1.491s from first.
Tomorrow the team will be back on track for another private test in Catalunya.
Massimo Meregalli – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“After already three days of riding, Jorge, Vale and the team again put in a lot of effort and this made it a successful test so far. We stuck to our schedule and were able to test and compare the required materials for the day. The riders used this one day of official testing to try out a new frame, two rear-arm specifications and they also helped develop the front and rear tyres brought by Michelin. The initial feedback from the riders on the chassis and the tyres was positive. Tomorrow we will continue our test programme and the main task is to decide which chassis is better. If we conclude that the new frame is better, we might have it ready at the next round in Assen. So far we can be satisfied with today’s results because Jorge rode an impressive lap in the 1’44.202s on used tyres, which is almost as fast as his pole position lap and shows we are making good progress. Valentino mainly focused on testing the Michelin tyres. His feelings were positive, so we will continue to work on this concept when we are back on the track tomorrow for a private test, which we will use to make our final comparison between the options we tested today.”
Jorge Lorenzo : 2nd / 1’44.202 / 49 laps
“It was a positive test. After my crash yesterday I felt quite some pain, especially in my leg, but some pills made me feel better, so I could get through the day quite well. I tried many things, especially some new tyres from Michelin on the rear, some of the them had quite a positive effect on acceleration, and a new chassis from the team, which also gave us some positive points that we will test further tomorrow.”
Valentino Rossi : 11th / 1’45.454 / 42 laps
“It was a good test. We concentrated on the tyres and we found something good so the rear tyres are working better than yesterday, but now we have a bigger task because we have to try new things that Yamaha have brought here to test, which will be very interesting for the rest of the season. I tried the new chassis and the first impression was OK and tomorrow we will continue with the rest.”
