The first official MotoGP test of 2013 entered its second day today at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were again quick to get up to speed, taking over half a second off their times from day one by the early afternoon before rain came in to disrupt the day. Reigning World Champion Lorenzo was again running in second position as he ran through various updates to the 2013 YZR-M1, wrapping up the day just 0.019 seconds from front man Dani Pedrosa. Teammate Rossi put in another strong day, sending a clear message about his capabilities as he completed the session in fourth place, less than half a second from the front. Both riders were working through set up positions along with differing chassis and engine specifications to make up for time lost due to bad weather at the end of season test in Spain last year.
Jorge Lorenzo
“Today in the morning the conditions were good and I could easily do the lap times from yesterday, I improved by more than half a second. Later we tried some little parts we couldn’t try yesterday, but not so much and the bike didn’t improve a lot. In the last hour it started to rain so I decided to exit and ride in the wet. We made more than eight laps in the rain. I think it was important to find the feeling in these conditions and also try the new tyre.”
Valentino Rossi
“The second day of testing in Sepang is finished and the balance of the day is positive for us, especially as we finished some work on the bike. We have some different parts for the bike for this season and we continue to work on the setting. The positive is we improved compared to yesterday in terms of time on one lap with the new tyre but especially on the rhythm, I was half a second faster than yesterday which is not so bad. Fourth position is quite good especially as we are less than half a second behind Pedrosa and Lorenzo. Unfortunately it started to rain so we had to stop earlier, because our target this afternoon was to go into 2’00 but we will try again tomorrow."
Yamaha Factory Racing Press Release
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