Fiat Yamaha make a speedy start to 2010

With Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo both inside the top three times at the first official MotoGP test of 2010 in Malaysia, it was a successful outing for the Fiat Yamaha team.

Rossi was the only rider of all 17 present to get under the 2’01” mark, as he set a time of 2’00.925 on Friday, whilst Lorenzo’s time of 2’01.680 made him third fastest behind Ducati’s Casey Stoner.

Rossi left the garage just after 1pm on Friday as morning rain meant the track did not dry out until lunchtime, and when he did emerge the World Champion completed 32 laps on his YZR-M1 prototype – just under half a second slower than his own record pole position at the circuit, set in 2009.

“After yesterday this second day has been very good as well, even though we lost a few hours to the rain, and by the end we were still able to finish all our work,” explained the Italian. “We worked on the new bike to find a better setting and I was happy to be the fastest overall - even though this is just testing this is important for me!”

“At the next test we will have a few more new things but we’re already happy because we’re fast and strong. There is room to improve of course; Sepang is always a good track for the Yamaha so we will have to wait until Qatar to get a better understanding of our level, but we have made a great start.”

Lorenzo started his work late in the morning but completed the bulk of his 60 laps after lunch. A big improvement on his Thursday time and a comfortable feeling with the new M1 were positive results for the Spaniard.

“I felt much better today and I was able to be fast straight away,” he said. “It wasn’t a big problem yesterday, it’s just that after such a long break I forgot how to ride a little bit! I need a bit of time, but it was much better today. I’m happy about my performance and about my feeling with the new bike. Yamaha have made good improvements without changing the best parts of the bike and this is the best way. They have made some good modifications to the chassis and the engine and this has already improved our pace.”

Lorenzo added: “We don’t have many days on the bike until the start of the season so we will make the most of the time here next month to continue our good work.”