Valentino Rossi rides the new Yamaha 800cc at the Brno test

The Italian completed four laps with the bike on Monday

Valentino Rossi set the fastest time on both days of the test. © Camel Yamaha Team. Testing alongside most other MotoGP teams in the paddock, Rossi and team-mate Colin Edwards have completed two full days of work despite some bad weather on the second day, looking to maximise the potential of the YZR-M1 before the forthcoming run of ‘flyaway' races in Malaysia, Australia and Japan. Rossi, currently third in the championship standings, is one of several riders still in a position to challenge for the title with five rounds remaining.

The main focus for both riders during the two days for was to fine-tune the set-up of the M1, concentrating especially on improving rear grip and the stability of the bike through the corners. Both riders also tested a variety of Michelin tyres, with Edwards also putting in some wet-weather testing on Tuesday morning. Rossi set the fastest time on both days of the test with a best lap on Monday of 1'57"315, whilst Edwards was 14th on Monday and 4th today with a best lap of 1'59"140.

Il Dottore also had his first chance to ride the prototype of Yamaha's 2007 800cc bike. The Italian completed four laps with the bike on Monday and had planned another short run on Tuesday, but more rain in the late afternoon curtailed this and he was forced to stop after just a couple of laps.

Valentino Rossi: “Yesterday I finished very happy with the results and today I am even more pleased with the progress we've made. We've tested some new tyres brought here by Michelin and we've also worked a lot on the stability of my bike. We've concentrated a lot on setting and I definitely feel that the bike can turn better now when the throttle is open. We had a lot of things to test during these two days so we didn't have time to do a long run, but anyway my race pace was good throughout. Overall I am very happy with the work we've done on the M1, after this test we have a clear idea about the way we need to continue for the rest of the season and I think we're in good shape. Yesterday I tried the new 800cc bike for just a few laps and my first impression is quite good. I did only four laps yesterday and I hoped to do some more this afternoon, we asked for ten minutes extra track time at the end of the day but unfortunately it started to rain after a few minutes so we had to stop.”

Colin Edwards: “It's been a busy couple of days work; we've got through a lot and I think we've got a better idea as to why things didn't go so well last weekend. We've played around a lot with the setting and found some good things for the next few races. Testing here last year we made the bike perfect and then it didn't work so well in Japan, so we know that what works in Brno doesn't necessarily work everywhere else, but we'll go from here in Sepang and see what happens. It was unfortunate that the weather wasn't great today because it stopped some of our plans, but we did get to do some wet-weather testing for Michelin which is always useful. They've got some good new stuff and it definitely seems that they're making big steps forward with their wet-weather tyres.”

Davide Brivio, Camel Yamaha Team Director: “Today, like yesterday, our priority was to find the best setting for our bike for the last five races. In these last two days we have tested various different settings, particularly yesterday, and today we have also focused on testing some new tyres for Michelin. I think we have made a very good job and we have got excellent information from our riders, which will be very important to help us to be competitive until the end of the championship. Generally speaking, I am very happy with both Valentino and Colin's work during this test session”.
(Camel Yamaha Team)