Spies Second at Sepang Test Day Two; Lorenzo Third

Yamaha factory rider Ben Spies led for most to the second day of MotoGP testing at Sepang before settling for the second best lap the time sheets behind defending World Champion Casey Stoner.

Spies rode 37 laps and recorded a time of 2:01.052, which stood as the fastest lap in the morning session. That time was surpassed later in the afternoon by Repsol Honda rider Stoner by 0.157 seconds. Spies was able to trim more than a second off of his day one time while logging 37 laps on day two.

Spies’ teammate Jorge Lorenzo was also fast in the afternoon, with a time of 2:01.068 good enough for third overall.

Yamaha spent the day optimizing the balance of the YZR-M1′s chassis while continuing to refine the electronics.

“We got going pretty well in the morning, then even when the track started to slow down the pace was still really good. We started to mess with the balance of the bike a little today and played with the electronics to find a good foundation with the bike. At Valencia we compared some stuff and got in the right direction. Now we’re here and taking the next step, trying some things to see how it affects the set up. There’s definitely some room for improvement and some areas we’re not struggling with at all.” – Spies

Lorenzo said he felt more physically tired on the second day but still managed to complete 40 laps compared to 30 on the first day.

“Today I was much more tired than yesterday so it was tough to finish with a good pace but we managed it. We didn’t find any big improvements but some small details. Tomorrow we hope to make one big step. We improved our lap times a lot in the morning but in the afternoon when it was even hotter we managed to go faster which is very positive.” – Lorenzo

Over in the Tech 3 Yamaha garage, Cal Crutchlow continues to impress, setting the fifth fastest best lap of the day at 2:01.565. The Englishman was third on day one and continues to be faster than any other satellite riders, and even the factory Ducatis. Teammate Andrea Dovizioso was also faster on the second day but his time of 2:02.160 put him ninth overall compared to sixth overall on the first day.

[Source: Yamaha]

By Dennis Chung