Yamaha Tests New Engine Spec at Sepang

Yamaha MotoGP riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies tested new engine specifications for their YZR-M1 prototypes on the first day of testing at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit.

Wet conditions limited track time in the afternoon but Yamaha was able to get some data on the engine in the morning. Yamaha also worked on finding a solution to front end chatter problems.

Lorenzo completed 22 laps with a top lap time of 2.02.436, good for third on the day but 0.675 seconds behind the leader Casey Stoner.

We started with a different engine spec to the one we used in the last test. Today it was difficult to make any comparisons as the track was in much worse condition than last time and the lap times were much slower. The rain also meant we couldn’t finish everything we wanted to today on the track so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow. – Lorenzo

Spies completed 31 laps while setting the fourth best lap 2:02.819. His best lap was over a second slower than Stoner’s time of 2:01.761 but the Texan says he isn’t concerned with how the competition is doing.

Everything was good this morning; we were just waiting for the weather to improve in the afternoon. The Yamaha engineers delivered a lot for us to test again, it’s important we go the right way with the parts and not worry too much about what everyone else is doing. We have to focus on the task at hand which is what we’re doing and getting through all the updates methodically. We will keep working and hope for some good weather in the next two days. – Spies

Tech3 satellite rider Cal Crutchlow was seventh on the time sheets with a time of 2:03.213. His teammate Andrea Dovizioso was more than half a second slower however with his time of 2:03.830 good for 11th out of 15 riders at the test.

[Source: Yamaha]

By Dennis Chung