 Final day of testing in Malaysian track sepang saw Sete Gibernau once again setting fastest time of the day in great weather conditions. Second fastest was his team-mate, Capirossi, in front of best Honda rider Marco Melandri. Dani Pedrosa continued his quick adaptation to Honda RC211V. Valentino Rossi finished day as 5th fastest.
Sete Gibernau (73 laps - 2m01.83s race, 2m01.03s qualifying)
My settling-in period with the team, the bike and the tyres is continuing and I am increasingly satisfied with the choice that I have made. Today I felt pretty good on the GP6 and I also wanted to do a few laps on the GP5, which I have never tried, to make a back-to-back test. This confirmed what Loris, who knows the bike well, had said yesterday: the GP5 is a good bike but the GP6 has more development potential and from now onwards we are only going to use that bike. For the first time I used Bridgestone`s qualifying tyres and they gave me a good feeling. We`ve still got a lot of work to do to be at 100% but we are on the right path.
Loris Capirossi (76 laps - 2m01.64s race, 2m01.08s qualifying)
We can also be satisfied with today`s performance. The weather was good all day and we were able to do all the scheduled tyre testing. Bridgestone are working well and we have gathered a lot of useful information for the next test session here at Sepang. I also tried the new qualifying tyres, which have a good potential. I like the GP6 more and more and I can`t wait to test it in Australia, where last year I only did a few laps on the Friday morning before crashing, which forced me to miss the Australian and Turkish GPs.
Marco Melandri, I Fortuna Honda: 2m 01.12s - 71 laps.
Yesterday we had many problems with my second bike and also this morning. It was nowhere near as good as my number one bike. I did not have a good feeling running into the fast corners, the front end felt vague. We had to try many things to improve the front end today. Last year we could usually fix this problem with suspension setting but we tried every potential solution we could with
the suspension and balance of the bike. Then we worked on the geometry and the bike improved a lot so I am happy with my team for improving the total performance of the bike especially the work on the front end and rear end grip. Now the difference between the two machines is not so much. When we finished working on the settings of the spare we tyre testing for Michelin. With even better chassis settings than before and the tyres Michelin gave us I was seven-tenths of a second faster than my previous best lap time at this test. So the three days have been positive.
Dani Pedrosa, E Repsol Honda: 2m 01.56s - 77-laps.
Today we did many laps and I got more and more feeling for the bike. We tried some race starts for the first time, and at the end we did some tyre testing for Michelin and I did one long run, not very long, but this was half a race it's good to get the experience. I learned that the Michelin tyres are quite consistent, but I was worried at the beginning I just wanted to get an idea of what the
qualifying tyre is like because it is so important to have a good grid position. I was worried at the beginning about crashing so by the time I realised how much grip the tyre had I was more than half way through the lap. So I am happy with my time. I haven't really thought about the next test. I just want to relax for a few days and then I'll get back in the groove in Australia.
Valentino Rossi (2'01.60, 60 Laps)
This morning we worked 100% on tyres with Michelin. Last year at the race here we had some problems in this area but Michelin have brought a lot of new tyres here and they seem to be very good. We've been working with them to find a better grip. This afternoon I did the race simulation which was also promising. In general I am happy with this first test and with the evolution of the new bike; I already have a good feeling with it. It's not so different from the 2005 version but it's better in many areas. Yamaha is working especially hard on improving the stability of the bike and making it easier to find the right setting. The engine is also better. Now it's important that we try the bike at a different track and I think it will be interesting in Qatar. Last year I was able to win the race there, one of the best races of the season, but we had some problems throughout the weekend. It will be good to see how the new bike performs there.
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