Jerez Day 2: Rossi goes fastest
World champion Valentino Rossi was fastest on his Yamaha followed closely by Honda's Dani Pedrosa.
Rossi spent most of his time today on the new 2009-prototype M1, working on developing the setting and also trying out some new parts for the engine, amongst other things. He set his best time of the day on his 52nd of 54 laps, dipping nearly seven tenths of a second under the lap record with a time of 1’39.429.
Valentino Rossi – Position: 1st Time: 1'39.429 Laps: 54
“The track was a bit drier today and so we were able to improve even more and do a great job. We worked a lot on the new bike and tried some different parts to yesterday, including for the engine and we were quite fast. It seems we’re going in the right direction with this new bike and I am happy about this. I hope that the information we have gathered here will help the engineers to improve the bike and I look forward to the next evolution in Sepang. I think these first tests with the one-tire rule have been quite positive and Bridgestone have done a good job so far, although for sure they will have a difficult job to decide which tire for which track. Anyway, I hope that we will have some exciting battles next year with everyone at the same level with their tires. Now I am looking forward to some holidays and next week I will go to Wales for the rally, which I hope will be a lot of fun. It’s been a fantastic year and I am really happy I have finished at the top today, it’s not a big thing but it gives a good feeling to me and all the team and means we can enjoy our holidays confident that we are in good shape!"
MotoGP now begins its traditional winter break from testing, reconvening at Sepang, Malaysia, on February 5, 6 and 7 2009.
Results
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) – 1’39"429 (54 laps)
2. Dani Pedrosa (Honda Repsol) – 1’39"447 (47 laps)
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) – 1’40"426 (58)
4. Toni Elias (Honda Gresini) – 1’40"448 (56)
5. Alex De Angelis (Honda Gresini) – 1’40"486 (49)
6. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) – 1’40"486 (70)
7. Mika Kallio (Ducati) – 1’40"564 (54)
8. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) – 1’40"604 (39)
9. Sete Gibernau (Ducati) – 1’40"856 (48)
10. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda Repsol) – 1’40"966 (46 laps)
11. Niccolò Canepa (Ducati) – 1’41"077 (48)
12. James Toseland (Yamaha) – 1’41"740 (45)
13. Vittoriano Guareschi (Ducati) – 1’42"906 (46)
14. Yuki Takahashi (Honda Scot ) – 1’42"918 (60)