Testing Continues for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP in Qatar
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05/03/2018
The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team continue testing in Qatar ahead of the first round of the 2018 MotoGP season.
Today the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team completed the second of the three test days at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar. Both riders continued to prepare for the 2018 racing season and ended the day in 7th and 11th place respectively.
Rossi experienced some tyre issues but, similar to his teammate, still made steps throughout the day as he focused on bettering his bike's set-up compared to yesterday.
Though an issue with the front tyre spoiled the Doctor's time attack, he still managed to improve on his time from yesterday, thanks to the progress he made in today's session testing small details of the set-up. He ended the day in 11th place with a fastest lap of 1'55.316s, set on lap 30 of 45 laps, 0.730s from the front.
Valentino Rossi
Position: 11th - Time: 1'55.316 - Laps: 45
"The position is not so fantastic at the end, because during the time attack I had some problems with the front tyre, so I couldn't do it. In the end, I'm quite a bit behind, but the pace is not so bad on average. We worked a lot today and tried to understand, because we had some issues, especially with the front tyre. After a few laps I started to lose some grip. It looks like, in these conditions, it will be difficult to finish the race with a good pace, so we still need to work tomorrow and try to improve this."
Massimo Meregalli
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP - Team Director
"The second day of testing is over and we got a lot of work done, trying quite a few things. The riders didn't have the same feeling as they had on Day 1. They suffered from a lack of grip, so this compromised their results during their time attack efforts. Nevertheless, both riders seem to be able to carry a consistent pace. We still have work to do tomorrow, because there are still areas where we want to improve. Tomorrow we also want to do some longer runs, to focus on the bikes' handling with a full tank and better the tyre life."
Report and Images from Yamaha
