Positive first day in Ferrari for Rossi

Shortly before 5pm on Wednesday, MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi finished the first day’s testing in a 2008 Ferrari Formula 1 car with positive lap times recorded in the afternoon session.

Having experienced technical problems in the morning which shortened his opening period, Rossi again returned to the pits without completing the first lap of his afternoon outing. However, this time it was to change from wet tyres to slicks as some afternoon sunshine began to improve what had been a wet track in the morning.

In good conditions, the 30 year-old registered a lap time of 1’35.5, almost seven seconds faster than his pre-1pm time. Improving further lap by lap, Rossi then set a best of 1’25.6, which compares well to Kimi Raikkonen’s qualifying record of 1’20.7 – set at the track in 2008.

Commenting on his day, Rossi said: “I’m very happy because it was a good test. We had some problems with the track when it was wet, but in the afternoon on slicks we recorded some good times because the track was drying out.”

Rossi will return to Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday for a second day of testing.