Valentino Rossi continued his impressive form on the second day of testing in Sepang today, topping the time sheets again with another very quick lap on qualifying tyres. The Italian, who turns 29 in ten days time, was also fast throughout the day on race tyres, lapping consistently in the 2’01s.

Rossi had a busy day, continuing his tyre testing programme with Bridgestone, working on suspension and electronic mapping as well as trying a new cowling and putting in some practice starts. His time of 2’00.472 was set on the penultimate lap of 70 and was a fraction slower than his time from yesterday, although still inside the existing circuit pole record, which he himself still holds from 2006.

Valentino Rossi - Position: 1st Time: 2’00.472 Laps: 70
“Today was another very good day and I had a good pace and rhythm all day. We tested some different Bridgestone tyres before again trying the one I prefer, which confirmed that this is the best one for us and so we will use it for the long run tomorrow. We worked a little bit on the suspension and also on the electronic mapping and we also tried a lot of practice starts, maybe as many as ten, and we need to improve a bit in this area. I also tried a new cowling which is aimed at improving the cooling system and this had a good result. Finally I tried a qualifying tyre again and, although I made a small mistake on my lap because I was quite tired by then, it was again very positive.”

Davide Brivio - Team Manager
“At the moment we’re going very well and we’re very happy with our progress so far. Tomorrow we will concentrate on completing a long run and this will be very important to help us to see where we are. It was very, very hot today which made work quite difficult and Valentino did very well in these conditions. Now we just hope for a successful final day before we return to Europe.”

Difficult Day for Lorenzo in Malaysia
Fiat Yamaha Team rookie Jorge Lorenzo ran into a few problems on the second day of a three-day Sepang test today, continuing to struggle with front-end feeling going into the hard Braking areas. The 20-year-old and his crew dedicated most of the day to working on the problem but are yet to find the perfect solution, although Lorenzo was able to make a small improvement on his time from yesterday.

There were some positive notes however as the Spaniard tried a new chassis and reported improved stability with this. He completed 55 laps in the sweltering conditions and finished the day fourth fastest in a time of 2’02.396.

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 4th Time: 2'02.396 Laps: 55
"It has been quite a difficult day! We’re not so fast; slower than at the last test even though we have the same bike set-up, and we need to improve. Tomorrow I think I need to try some changes to my riding style. It’s still the same problem overall, with the front-end going into the corners, although I did try the new chassis and this is helping a little bit. After the session we had a long meeting with the engineers to look at all the data and now we will make a plan for tomorrow. We have one day left so of course we will try to make the most of it and finish the test in better shape.”

Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager
“Today was a hard day’s work. We’ve tested various different set-ups and improved a little bit but we still need to make a bigger step. We had some positive points with the new chassis, which improved stability in the hard Braking areas, so we will keep working in this direction. I am confident that the team can find some solutions to help us on our final day here tomorrow.”

Results
1. Valentino Rossi - Fiat Yamaha Team 2:00.472
2. Nicky Hayden - Repsol HRC 2:00.900
3. Shinya Nakano - Honda Gresini 2:02.049
4. Jorge Lorenzo - Fiat Yamaha Team 2:02.396
5. Alex De Angelis - Honda Gresini 2:02.646
6. Olivier Jacque - Kawasaki Racing 2:03.513
7. Yamaha Test Rider - Yamaha Test Team 2:05.647
8. Tamaki Serizawa - Kawasaki Racing 2:06.027
9. Yamaha Test Rider - Yamaha Test Team 2:06.244