| Yamaha Take a Positive Step Forward at Estoril MotoGP Test | The MotoGP paddock remained at Estoril today following the weekend's race event for a one day official MotoGP test. Yamaha Factory Racing riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies enjoyed warm temperatures and blazing sunshine for the morning and afternoon sessions. The focus of both Spies and Lorenzo centred on a new swing arm and updated suspension components. Lorenzo also took the opportunity to test new electronic settings in the hunt for more grip from his YZR-M1 and both riders also tested some new Bridgestone tyres.
Still riding high from his podium finish yesterday, Lorenzo was fast from the off, finishing the morning session as the fastest man on track with a 1'37.170. The afternoon session saw more of the same, the Young Mallorcan making full use of the new settings to break under the 1'37 mark and get down to a 1'36.316 as he wrapped up the afternoon session in second place just 0.105 from the front.
Spies was enjoying a better day following the unfortunate premature end to his Portuguese race yesterday. The Texan rider and his crew had tested all their new parts by mid afternoon, finding nearly seven tenths of a second in the afternoon session to finish with a best time of 1'37.421 in seventh place.
The team will now take a short break before round four of the 2011 MotoGP Championship at Le Mans next week.
"A very successful test I would say," said Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager Wilco Zeelenberg. "It will be useful for the rest of the season I'm sure. We made some very important changes to the bike and the problems we had yesterday are now solved. Bridgestone brought some new tyres which help as well. The most important thing we improved was corner speed entry and front end safety so that's a double plus we can use at all tracks."
"Today we profited from a good test," commented Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director Massimo Meregalli. "We tried some different bike set ups that gave us good information so we are satisfied on both sides of the garage with what we've learnt. Fortunately the weather gave us good conditions so we could test properly. We are going to study the data from today to be ready with some new settings for Le Mans."  |
| Position 2nd - Time 1.36.316 - Laps 91 | "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. I think we can be faster with the corners now so I am looking forward to going to France to keep fighting for more podiums."
| Position 7th - Time 1.37.421 - Laps 69 | "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. There was a good lap time improvement today, I did the best I could with what I had so I'm looking forward to Le Mans to start fresh." |
1. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'36.211
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1'36.316
3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Repsol Honda Team 1'36.602
4. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'36.850
5. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Ducati Team 1'37.382
6. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1'37.410
7. Ben Spies (USA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1'37.421
8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team 1'37.460
9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Team 1'37.463
10. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1'37.679
11. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'38.032
12. Karel Abraham (CZE) Cardion AB Motoracing 1'38.087
13. Toni Elias (SPA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'38.412
14. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Pramac Racing Team 1'38.633
Estoril Record Lap
D.Pedrosa (Honda) 2009, 1'36.937
Estoril Best Lap
J.Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2008, 1'35.715 | 
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