Yamaha Get Back To Business Texas Style

[KUCIAR666]

Yamaha Get Back To Business Texas Style

Austin (Texas, USA), 12th March 2013 - Update at 3pm local time (-6GMT)

Yamaha Factory Racing were back on track today with Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi enjoying their first ever Circuit of Americas (COTA) experience. The Yamaha riders were at the new track in Texas for day one of the three-day private test. The first sessions were dedicated to learning the track, both Lorenzo and Rossi focusing on understanding the complex 5.5km circuit which has 20 corners and an elevation change of over 41 metres.

Jorge Lorenzo, 4th; Best lap time (at 3pm local time): 2:07.388

?I think it?s very important to come here and learn the track. I haven?t learnt 100% of it, I need more laps to learn my lines, but for the moment it?s a very beautiful track which is very complete with every kind of corner. In the beginning it was difficult to understand the lines but I have improved 22 seconds from the first lap today, that means it's a hard track to learn and a difficult track to go to the maximum on. I think it helps more than some other places to have this extra time. I think three or four practices before the race will not be enough to understand it so some of the riders who didn?t come here will have a little disadvantage.

The wind has been a little bit of a problem, especially on the longer straight where you arrive over 340kmhr, you feel a lot of unstable feelings. Almost all the track is tricky, there?s some very hard braking and also tight hairpins. The first sector is flowing but it is very hard to find a good line because it?s blind. We?re getting used to the track but also trying to solve a problem at maximum lean where we don?t have full confidence. We have to change the setting a bit to make it better. The tarmac is not perfect with only four bikes on it to clean it so it?s difficult to understand if it?s very grippy or not. It?s hard to know if it will be much better at the race weekend or just a little bit.?

Valentino Rossi, 5th; Best lap time (at 3pm local time): 2:07.924

?I really like the track, my first impression is that it is beautiful. It?s very flowing with a lot of fast corners and a lot of change of direction; it is fun on the bike! There are three hairpins that are very tight; this is better for Formula 1 overtaking, but for us they are a bit slow. In general the track is good. There is some downhill and uphill and first braking zone is very good. We have to understand which tyre to use, but the asphalt surface doesn't have any rubber on it at the moment so there is not so much grip at the moment. The uphill at turn one helps to stop the bike, which is beautiful. For me turn two is the best though and after you enter into the chicane which is very similar to Silverstone. The straight is very long, which is maybe good for overtaking.

The city is great, the atmosphere is very good so I think it is a very good place for a race. Its very important to have this time as the track is so difficult, the are a lot of blind corners where you have to understand where to brake. We will continue to work on the line to understand the track and also to increase the rear grip on the bike as we suffer in acceleration. The first feeling is positive. It?s important for MotoGP to have a third race in America, we have a lot of good riders from the USA so it?s right to be here.?

Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director -
?It was definitely a good idea to come here. The track is very difficult to learn, I think it is really special. We are working hard to get a base setting but the most important point is for the riders to get used to the circuit. We?ve started with our base set up from Sepang and we?ll modify it for this circuit. We are on schedule and we will continue working until tomorrow night. If we gather all the information required then we won?t stay for Thursday.?

Test Result at 3pm local time (-6GMT):

1 - Marc Marquez (HRC - Honda) - 2:05.620
2 - Dani Pedrosa (HRC - Honda) - 2:06.140
3 - Stefan Bradl (LCR - Honda) - 2:07.307
4 - Jorge Lorenzo (YFR - YAMAHA) - 2:07.388
5 - Valentino Rossi (YFR - YAMAHA) - 2:07.924

 

[KUCIAR666]

Yamaha Completes Testing in Texas
15:00 Local Time (GMT-6)

Yamaha Factory Racing will complete their testing activities today at the Circuit of Americas track in Texas. Originally planned for a three-day test, riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi managed to provide all the data required over the first two days so will not continue tomorrow. Both Lorenzo and Rossi used the two days to work with their crews on set up to find the optimum performance from their YZR-M1s? for the long and technical track. The two made big improvements from the first morning, shaving several seconds off their first times but were still looking for more grip at full lean.

The Factory team will now re-join the rest of the MotoGP paddock back in Europe for the next Official IRTA test at the Jerez De La Frontera Circuit in Spain on the 23rd March.

Jorge Lorenzo, 3rd; Best lap time (at 3pm local time): 2'04.664 - 17 Laps

?I feel better today, especially in the last run before the lunch break, we changed the set up of the bike and we improved some tenths so we are closer to the fastest riders, but not as much as we would like. We were too soft in the suspension to start with, we made it harder and in this track it works.

These two days that we are here I think is enough to get a good idea of set up and riding style. The fans will like MotoGP here, it is going to be a great show.

We have been trying different set ups of the bike, no new parts, just playing with the set up, changing the suspension and forks and in the last run I improved half a second with set up changes.

We still don't have enough grip on the rear so we can?t lean over with confidence which is why we are further behind than in Sepang.

I am adapting my riding style every lap a little for the track. In the main straight we are at 340kmh/h which is an amazing speed; when you have to brake and put your helmet up the wind is very strong so it?s difficult to be stable.?

Valentino Rossi, 5th; Best lap time (at 3pm local time): 2'05.518 - 29 Laps

?The feeling with the track improved today, we started to work on the bike to improve the difficult points, especially in the three very hard braking areas where it is important to have good stability. It?s also very important to have grip on the edge through the hairpin to have speed along the straight.

It looks like you can make a big difference in the slow parts here. The chicane part in turn two is very technical and difficult as it is blind; you have to go a bit with memory.

Step by step we improved a lot from yesterday but have some disadvantage compared to the other guys so we need to put all the sections together. The target was to come here and try to understand the track and try to be ready for the race.

Our competitors are able to accelerate faster than us from the hairpin and they have a bit more grip on the edge compared to us so these are the areas where we have to work, in the flowing parts we are not so bad.

The track is good, a very classical ?Tilke? track, I like the fast parts, turn two and turn ten especially. There is lots of hard braking and it is very wide so good for overtaking. The long right before the last two lefts is also good. Its fun and not too hot like it is in Sepang so it's a good place to make a motorcycle race.?

Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director -
?First of all I would like to remark that it has been a good idea to come here. Yesterday we were able to download a lot of data from both riders; that has permitted us to find a much better set up.

Today the results we got are quite promising and we are leaving Austin with a lot of useful data. We are expecting different conditions for the race but the test has been successful. We are now looking forward to the Jerez test which is important as we will decide there how to start for the season.

The test here was organized by Honda to cover three days but we knew from the beginning that two days would be enough for us. The target was to allow the rider to get used to the circuit and get as much data as possible for our Japanese engineers.?

Test Result at 3pm local time (-6GMT):

1 - Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda - 2'04.363
2 - Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda MotoGP - 2'04.640
3 - Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing - 2'04.664
4 - Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda - 2'04.686
5 - Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha Factory Racing - 2'05.518