MotoGP – Sepang Test Day 3 – Lorenzo closes in the lead, Rossi at the top of his pace

“Peace made with taxes”, so the newspapers will headline. Valentino Rossi will owe twenty million euros (compared to the 60 evaded in 2000-2004 and the 112 requested by the treasury), but it is not the real news of the day. Speaking of Sport, and this is the aspect we consider, today the seven-time world champion carried out a positive race simulation on the third and final day of testing in Sepang. Before flying to Jerez, the phenomenon from Tavullia found the certainties he was looking for also in terms of consistency: 22 laps at a very high level in 2'01" with only a few laps in the low 2'02". Positive feedback for an incredible leap in quality compared to two weeks ago: today Valentino is strong, both physically (in January he wasn't at 100% enough to not close the race simulation for morale reasons) and mentally. Rossi finds certainties again, he faces off against Casey Stoner at a distance while waiting for the pre-season report in Jerez, a pro-Michelin track according to 2007. With a Yamaha YZR M1 that seems to be going well, with Bridgestone tires that are more than a simple choice... spot on. Taking inspiration from the Guidomedano dictionary, Rossi is there on the pace and there on the single lap, as confirmed by the "monstre" 2'00"3 on Tuesday (reaffirmed yesterday with the 2'00"472).

So good for the box-in-blue, today at the top also thanks to the performance of Jorge Lorenzo, who on the fourth attempt with the qualifying Michelins stopped the clock at 2'00"705, a front row performance. The Majorcan is still looking for a feeling with the front (even if considerable progress has been made in just 24 hours) which will allow him to trust his package, managing to push just enough on consistency: Lorenzo remained on 2nd today 02 high-2'03″low, not yet at the top-5 level.

Better, with due proportions, goes to the Honda Gresini riders, Alex De Angelis and Shinya Nakano, on track with the Bridgestones for some time, once again engaged in testing in search of a solution to the "disease" of chattering, especially as regards the rider San Marino. More work at Kawasaki, with Jacque and Serizawa having collected data that will be useful to the starting riders in Jerez. Nicky Hayden and the HRC team did not ride today: testing was closed prematurely, giving the Kentucky Kid a few days of rest in Owensboro, while the Japanese technicians had 24 more hours to "get their hands on" the 212 RC2008V. And to prepare the new V4 for Jerez…

MotoGP Test Sepang – Thursday 7 February – The times

01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha YZR M1 – 2'00.705 (73 laps)
02- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha YZR M1 – 2'01.190 (48 laps)
03- Shinya Nakano – Honda RC212V – 2'02.135 (23 laps)
04- Alex De Angelis – Honda RC212V – 2'02.193 (20 laps)
05- Olivier Jacque – Kawasaki ZX-RR – 2'03.021 (50 laps)
06- Tamaki Serizawa – Kawasaki ZX-RR – 2'03.623 (32 laps)

Alessio Piana

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Photos from the Sepang II tests

Wallpapers from the tests in Malaysia