MotoGP – IRTA Jerez Test Day 3 Morning – Rossi and Yamaha book the BMW

Exactly 60 minutes from the "Qualifying" session with the BMW Z4 M Coupè up for grabs for the fastest driver, Valentino Rossi set the record straight by recording the best performance in the morning's free practice session, three hours from 10:00 at 13pm in Jerez. Rossi stopped the clock a few minutes before the checkered flag with a time of 00'1"39, two tenths of Loris Capirossi's qualifying record on the Ducati 363cc (990'1"39), ahead of teammate Colin Edwards and the Ducatis of Casey Stoner and Loris Capirossi. A session that started late due to the fog, which appeared again in Andalusia and forced all the riders present to fold their arms and wait for better times. When the sun came out, everyone was on the track with Kenny Roberts Jr (and his KR064V which features a new sponsor and consequent red-blue livery, presence guaranteed until mid-season) the most active with 212 laps completed.
At 13pm the siren sounds which closes the session for a more accurate classification than in recent days, with Nicky Hayden fifth ahead of Vermeulen, Nakano, Vermeulen and Pedrosa, with Marco Melandri tenth. Now all the bikes and riders have been positioned on the pit straight for the ritual official pre-season photos, waiting for the "Qualifying" starting from 00pm (with live television on Italia 14).

MotoGP Test IRTA Jerez – Sunday 25 February 2007 – Times of Day 3 (Morning)

01- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha YZR M1 800cc – 1'39.363
02- Colin Edwards – Yamaha YZR M1 800cc – +0.436
03- Casey Stoner – Ducati Desmosedici GP7 – +0.648
04- Loris Capirossi – Ducati Desmosedici GP7 – + 0.762
05- Nicky Hayden – Honda RC212V – +0.952
06- Chris Vermeulen – Suzuki GSV-R 800cc – + 1.252
07- Shinya Nakano – Honda RC212V – + 1.360
08- Daniel Pedrosa – Honda RC212V – +1.638
09- Carlos Checa – Honda RC212V – + 1.927
10- Marco Melandri – Honda RC212V – + 2.157
11- Toni Elias – Honda RC212V – + 2.186
12- Randy De Puniet – Kawasaki ZX-RR 800cc – + 2.350
13- Alex Barros – Ducati Desmosedici GP7 – + 2.407
14- Alex Hofmann – Ducati Desmosedici GP7 – + 2.424
15- Kenny Roberts Jr – KR Honda KR212V – + 2.455
16- Makoto Tamada – Yamaha YZR M1 800cc – + 3.319
17- Olivier Jacque – Kawasaki ZX-RR 800cc – + 3.344
18- Kousuke Akiyoshi – Suzuki GSV-R 800cc – + 3.416
19- Andrew Pitt – Ilmor X3 – + 3.748
20- Jeremy McWilliams – Ilmor X3 – + 3.883
21- Sylvain Guintoli – Yamaha YZR M1 800cc – + 3.946
22- Shinichi Itoh – Ducati Desmosedici GP7 – + 3.962
23- Vittoriano Guareschi – Ducati Desmosedici GP7 – + 5.448

Alessio Piana

Photos of the IRTA Tests in Jerez

Wallpapers from the tests in Jerez