ROSSI PUTS CELEBRATIONS BEHIND HIM FOR TIRE TESTING

After making another step up the all-time winners list to joint second with his 90th career victory last Sunday, Valentino Rossi wasted no time in getting started on working towards number 91 at Le Mans yesterday. It was the first of two days of testing for Rossi, who was the sole occupant of the Fiat Yamaha Team garage as team-mate Jorge Lorenzo flew back to Spain after his hard-fought second yesterday to continue rehabilitation on his fractured ankles.

Yamaha is flying high after filling the podium but there is still ongoing development work for the team, with Rossi focusing largely on tire testing for the future with Bridgestone today as well as refining the set-up of his M1. Most of the paddock stayed on to test and Rossi was second fastest after 68 laps with a best lap of 1’33.661, set on a qualifying tire.

The Italian is keen to head to his home race at Mugello next week in the best possible shape and will therefore continue testing Tuesday, when he will have the track almost to himself with most teams are packing up tonight.

Valentino Rossi “Monday was a good day, even if it was quite hard to get back to work after the great day we had Sunday! We tested many different tires with Bridgestone, both qualifiers and race tires, and collected a lot of information. The tires we tested were mostly for the future development, not so much for the next few races, but it’s very important to look ahead like this and we found some good material. Of course we worked on the setting a bit as well and also tested some new electronic maps, and now we will continue with more tire testing again tomorrow. Our aim for this test is just to make sure the bike is in the best possible shape for the Italian challenge that is waiting around the corner!”

1. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda 1'33.106
2. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team 1'33.661
3. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro 1'33.994
4. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki 1'34.108
5. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing 1'34.484
6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP 1'34.730
7. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda 1'34.752
8. Shinya Nakano (JPN) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'34.911
9. Alex De Angelis (RSM) San Carlo Honda Gresini 1'34.926
10. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing 1'35.082
11. Marco Melandri (ITA) Ducati Marlboro 1'36.064
12. Erwan Nigon (FRA) HRC Test Team 1'37.389
13. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki Racing 1'37.424

Le Mans record lap: V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2006, 1'35.087
Le Mans best Lap: C. Edwards (Yamaha) 2007, 1'33.616