Yamaha Factory Racing duo happy with progress at Estoril test - MotoGP Update
The bwin Grand Premio de Portugal was followed by a one day official test on Monday at Estoril. The Yamaha Factory team riders tested their M1s on a sunny day and were pleased with the results.
The one day test was held in dry weather conditions with bright sunshine which helped the riders to get out on the track and test their machines in full swing. Both test sessions were blessed by the warm-dry atmosphere. The Yamaha Factory Racing duo, Jorge
Lorenzo and Ben Spies, both were focused on testing the new swing arm design with upgraded suspension components.
The reigning World Champion also put the new electronics settings to the test to see if it extracted more grip out of his M1. Both riders were also testing the new compound tyres provided by Bridgestone.
Lorenzo was on high pace at the start of the test session and he led the early time sheet of the day with a best lap time of 1: 37.170 seconds. The morning session ended in the same manner with Lorenzo on top.
The second test session sighted some changes with Marco Simoncelli was the man top the time chart. The Spanish rider, Lorenzo, made full use of the newly tested settings and broke the 1: 37 second barrier. Lorenzo set his new best time of 1:36.316 seconds
but stood 0.105 seconds off Simoncelli’s pace.
Jorge Lorenzo said after the test session, “I’m very happy with the test we have done today. Before I was not feeling as safe and as comfortable going into corners as I did last year and in 2009. Now we have found something with the chassis set up that works
much better so I feel comfortable again.”
The Spaniard was happy with his increased speed in corners and the M1 is stable in breaking and entering corners. He should be assured a spot in the Le Mans round to fight for a podium place finish.
The American rider, Ben Spies, was annoyed with his consecutive second ‘Did Not Finish’ status. The finishes came in Spain and then at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Ben Spies was able to test all the new components by the end of the first session. In the following
session Spies was able to shred seven-tenth off his previous time and stood in seventh place on the time sheet with 1: 37.421 seconds. He was 1.2 seconds off Simoncelli’s pace.
Ben Spies said, “It’s been a decent day of testing for us after what happened yesterday. We started over today and I’ve been happy with the sessions. We learned something later on this afternoon which I think is really going to benefit us
in Le Mans that we haven’t been able to try before now.”
Ben Spies is looking forward to get a better place in the next round at Le Mans.
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