The Fiat Yamaha Team's young Spanish rookie Jorge Lorenzo, who boasts an outstanding record of two pole positions and two podiums from his two MotoGP starts, put in more impressive work today during a one-day test in Jerez. After joining his team-mate Valentino Rossi as part of a Fiat Yamaha double podium yesterday, he posted the fastest time of the day and completed a total of 94 laps.
Another day of Andalucian sunshine today provided Lorenzo and his crew with the chance to work on general setting and their all-important tyre testing programme with Michelin amid slightly more relaxed surroundings. The Mallorcan continued to show his ability and fast rate of progress, not only topping the time sheets on a qualifying tyre but lapping consistenly fast on race tyres. His best time on a race tyre was 1'39.59, over half a second faster than the fas test lap record recorded in yesterday's race and he was the only rider to dip under the 1'38 mark on a qualifying tyre.
After another successful week in his fledgeling MotoGP career, Lorenzo now has a short break before the next race at Estoril in Portugal on the 11th April.
Daniele Romagnoli - Team Manager"It was a another really good day today; Jorge's progress is almost unbelievable for us to watch and every day is enjoyable. The most impressive thing today is that we were able to improve on Jorge's race pace from Saturday, which was the best pace of the whole weekend. We continued to work on set-up and improved the front feeling with the help of a new fork setting, and with race tyres today he was very consistent and very fast. We also refined some engine mapping and through this it seems that we've been able to obtain improvement with tyre wear. Michelin had planned a very interesting tyre test for us today with Estoril in mind and we found some good things, especially concerning the rear tyre. Jorge has done a great job at just his second race and today's test gave us a chance to check out some important things that will help us at the next race in Estoril. We're already looking forward to the next challenge but for now I want to thank all the team and Yamaha for their hard work; they deserve a good rest before Portugal!"
Ambient temperature: 20 degrees
Track temperature: 24 degrees
Humidity: 30%
Test Times: 1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'38.679
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'39.117
3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'39.218
4. Randy De Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP 1'39.484
5. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1'39.569
6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'39.747
7. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'40.034
8. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'40.116
9. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'40.389
10. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JiR Team Scot MotoGP 1'40.394
11. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'40.534
12. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'41.308
13. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'41.396
14. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'42.132
15. Toni Elias (SPA) Alice Team 1'42.240
16. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing 1'42.562
17. Sylvain Guintoli (FRA) Alice Team 1'42.624
Jerez Lap Record: D. Pedrosa (Honda) 2008, 1'40.116
Jerez Best Lap: J. Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2008, 1'38.189
