Spies completes important M1 work

Rider Ben Spies spent the sessions working through two differing engine specifications and a number of frame and geometry settings on the 2012 1000cc YZR-M1. The data will now go back to Japan with the Yamaha engineers who will work on the next stage of development ahead of the first 2012 test in Malaysia at the end of January. Despite missing the valuable input of team mate Jorge Lorenzo, all the required testing was completed within the two days.

At the conclusion of the test Spies was third in the timesheet with a best lap time of 1’32.338 after completing 57 laps.

Ben Spies:
“It’s been a long two days. We had a lot of work to do with Jorge not being here but we’ve got through everything. I think we got the guys working in the right direction, we’re still quite a way from Qatar and what we’ll be racing with but we’ve got a good idea of what we need to work on. There’s a lot of potential in what we have so they’ll go back to Japan now to work on it for a couple of months and we’ll see what we have as a package next year. The team and engineers have worked really hard for the last couple of days so a big thank you to them.”

Massimo Meregalli, Team Director:
“It’s been a really good test. We got a lot of data, everything we were missing in the previous tests from cancellations and injuries etc. The work that we’ve done is good, the schedule is completed and we are quite satisfied. There is of course still some work to do but I think it’s been positive. Now they’ll check the data in Japan and we’ll see the next step in January. Ben did a really good job; I’ve never seen him so focused in a test. It’s the best way to start the new season.”

Yamaha Factory Racing