Testing In The Rain; Yamaha’s Report
Added on Monday, April 5th, 2004 by Carole Nash Editor
Testing In The Rain; Yamaha’s Report
Yamaha’s MotoGP riders put the final touches to their pre-season at the second day of a wet IRTA test at the Spanish circuit of Jerez.
Valentino Rossi topped the leader board again despite doing just 39 laps on his YZR-M1 machine due to sporadic rain showers throughout the first day. His team-mate Carlos Checa also had a valuable day of testing, finishing fourth fastest during his first day.
Non-stop heavy rain turned the paddock into a small river today, Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Carlos Checa completed just 19 and 17 laps respectively and only spending enough time out on track to check their wet-weather set-ups. Like most other riders present they finished early in the final test before the season-opening Grand Prix in South Africa later this month.
With poor weather having also interrupted the first day, Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3 Yamaha rider Marco Melandri put in some bright early laps today, despite the conditions.
Melandri’s M1 was in possession of a new engine spec for the last day of testing, in readiness for its use in the first race of the year at Welkom on 18 April. With a new power plant to evaluate Melandri was especially keen to lap as often as possible, familiarising himself with the more user-friendly motor from early in the day. Even as the rain increased, both Melandri and team-mate Norick Abe put in more laps in the afternoon, although ultimately Abe was to suffer two falls, without injury.
The fastest dry lap of the tests went to Rossi with a 1m 42.656s, with Checa fourth on 1m 42.927s, Melandri 14th (1m 44.470s) and Abe 19th (1m 45.564s).
Valentino Rossi (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team)
It was another good surprise to be fastest yesterday, I am very happy. We arrived here and everything immediately went quite well with a set-up similar to Barcelona. The bike is easy to steer, very agile, and it’s handling the braking well. There’s not very much to say about today, except that I’m pleased with the way the bike has gone in the wet. It is still not bad to ride and the tyres felt okay too. Anyway this is the end of the winter tests and I’m very happy with our progress.”
Carlos Checa (Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team)
“We’ve been wet-weather testing today to get the feeling of the bike in these conditions. The main thing we’ve been working on is different engine maps. It was good to try the new engine spec in the wet and it is definitely a bit better. It’s important to try the bike in these conditions in case we have weather like this at one of the races. Overall I’m very pleased with this test and I think it is maybe the best one yet for us.”
Marco Melandri (Fortuna Gauloises Tech 3) `I was riding well in the rain and Biaggi appeared on the track, just as the rain was falling very hard. I saw Max behind me and I allowed him to pass. It was difficult to stay with him for the first lap but after that I was able to catch him. Yamaha gave me a new engine today and I have to say thank you to them for this and I hope we can have some dry time in qualifying for Welkom.’
Lap times of Wednesday March 31 (dry conditions)
1. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) GAULOISES FORTUNA YAMAHA 1′42.656
2. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP 1′42.761
3. Colin Edwards (USA) Telefonica Movistar Honda Motor 1′42.771
4. CARLOS CHECA (SPA) GAULOISES FORTUNA YAMAHA 1′42.927
5. Alex Barros (BRA) Repsol Honda 1′42.974
6. John Hopkins (USA) Team Suzuki MotoGP 1′43.314
7. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team 1′43.386
8. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Telefonica Movistar Honda Mot 1′43.408
9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1′43.457
10. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Camel Honda 1′43.541
