Post by BADGER on Nov 29, 2006 20:31:45 GMT
Rossi fastest on two-wheeled return.
After trying a DTM car, finishing 11th in Rally New Zealand and then winning the Monza Rally, Valentino Rossi returned to MotoGP action during testing at Jerez on Tuesday - and was fastest of all.
The Jerez test is the third outing since the end of the 2006 racing season and marks the final opportunity for MotoGP track time before the winter test ban, which lasts from December 1 to January 20.
However, the opening day's action was initially delayed by unexpectedly cold temperatures then - shortly after the temperatures had improved - rain arrived, wetting the track for the rest of the day and reducing some riders to just a handful of laps.
Rossi - riding with a 'King Arthur and Excalibur' inspired helmet design and livery on his new 800cc Yamaha - set a total of 16 Tuesday laps, with his fastest time a 1min 41.745secs.
That was within half a second of Loris Capirossi's fastest lap at the season-opening Spanish Grand Prix - an event which Rossi and Yamaha struggled badly at with chatter problems, the Italian qualifying just ninth then finishing 14th after a first turn fall.
"I'm very happy to see that we have no chatter here, because we had quite a lot of problems in the first race last season," said Rossi, who lapped slower in the race than Tech 3 Yamaha's Carlos Checa, using Dunlop tyres. "This is one of my favourite tracks and it's a great pleasure for me to be able to ride comfortably again at it; it feels like another track compared to last March! Our new bike seems to work well and so far I am very happy with it.
"Unfortunately we only had time for a few laps before the bad weather stopped us just when we were about to begin to test some different things, but anyway we have made a good start. Even though the bike is clearly going well for both Colin and I at the moment, we know that we have a lot of work to do and so these next two days are going to be very important to us," he added. "I have some new stickers on my bike and a new helmet; they're a reference to the legend of King Arthur and 'Excalibur'! I want to show everyone that we are ready to fight back and that we're ready to do our very best throughout these winter tests. Let's hope the weather is good tomorrow so we can begin our task properly!"
Factory team-mate Colin Edwards was third fastest in the dry with a lap of 1min 42.293secs and the Texan also took the chance to try out his new bike in the wet, completing 36 laps in total before calling it a day. Sandwiched between the Yamaha pair was Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins, who set the second fastest time of 1min 42.161secs out of a total of 12 riders testing.
After trying a DTM car, finishing 11th in Rally New Zealand and then winning the Monza Rally, Valentino Rossi returned to MotoGP action during testing at Jerez on Tuesday - and was fastest of all.
The Jerez test is the third outing since the end of the 2006 racing season and marks the final opportunity for MotoGP track time before the winter test ban, which lasts from December 1 to January 20.
However, the opening day's action was initially delayed by unexpectedly cold temperatures then - shortly after the temperatures had improved - rain arrived, wetting the track for the rest of the day and reducing some riders to just a handful of laps.
Rossi - riding with a 'King Arthur and Excalibur' inspired helmet design and livery on his new 800cc Yamaha - set a total of 16 Tuesday laps, with his fastest time a 1min 41.745secs.
That was within half a second of Loris Capirossi's fastest lap at the season-opening Spanish Grand Prix - an event which Rossi and Yamaha struggled badly at with chatter problems, the Italian qualifying just ninth then finishing 14th after a first turn fall.
"I'm very happy to see that we have no chatter here, because we had quite a lot of problems in the first race last season," said Rossi, who lapped slower in the race than Tech 3 Yamaha's Carlos Checa, using Dunlop tyres. "This is one of my favourite tracks and it's a great pleasure for me to be able to ride comfortably again at it; it feels like another track compared to last March! Our new bike seems to work well and so far I am very happy with it.
"Unfortunately we only had time for a few laps before the bad weather stopped us just when we were about to begin to test some different things, but anyway we have made a good start. Even though the bike is clearly going well for both Colin and I at the moment, we know that we have a lot of work to do and so these next two days are going to be very important to us," he added. "I have some new stickers on my bike and a new helmet; they're a reference to the legend of King Arthur and 'Excalibur'! I want to show everyone that we are ready to fight back and that we're ready to do our very best throughout these winter tests. Let's hope the weather is good tomorrow so we can begin our task properly!"
Factory team-mate Colin Edwards was third fastest in the dry with a lap of 1min 42.293secs and the Texan also took the chance to try out his new bike in the wet, completing 36 laps in total before calling it a day. Sandwiched between the Yamaha pair was Rizla Suzuki's John Hopkins, who set the second fastest time of 1min 42.161secs out of a total of 12 riders testing.