Following Sundays' Turkish Grand Prix, the Camel Yamaha Team stayed on
to test in Istanbul, making the most of a dry day after a
rain-interrupted weekend as they searched for improvements to the 2006-spec YZR-M1.
Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, who finished fourth and ninth
respectively in the MotoGP race, had continued to experience problems
throughout the weekend and were unable to find a perfect race set-up.
Yesterday's test was therefore aimed at finding a better base setting and
gathering yet more data in order to provide the Yamaha engineers with more
information to work with ahead of the next race in China.
It was a fruitful day's work and the Team was able to make up for the
time lost to the rain on Saturday, with both riders finding a marked
improvement to their settings and posting some good lap times. Edwards
completed 60 laps with a best time of 1'53.31, whilst Rossi's fastest time
of the day was 1'53.61 after 72 laps.
The MotoGP paddock will reconvene in just over a week's time for the
fourth race of the season in Shanghai, China, where Valentino Rossi took
victory in the rain last year.
Davide Brivio - Camel Yamaha Team Director
"Once again we decided to take the chance to stay on and test after the
race, as we saw this weekend that we still have work to do. Yesterday
was a very important test for us as we continued from what we did during
the weekend and tried a few more ideas in order to try to improve, and
hopefully to fix, the problems that we've been having this season. We
made some good progress with both riders and found a better setting for
the bike and this was reflected in the lap times, which were better
than those that Colin and Valentino set on Friday, when it was dry. Our
work this weekend was interrupted by the rain on Saturday and we weren't
able to find a good setting in time for the race, but yesterday we
achieved that so hopefully that will help us in China. All this information
will help the Yamaha engineers in their work over the next week, and
now we look forward to a better situation for both our riders in China."
Camel Yamaha Team Times:
1. Colin Edwards, 1'53.31 (60 Laps)
2. Valentino Rossi, 1'53.61 (72 Laps)
