After having closed the 2014 season only yesterday, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were back on the track less than 24 hours later to successfully test the 2015 YZR-M1 machines for the upcoming season.

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team made the most of the beautiful weather at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit by starting the session with the 2014 machine. The data derived from this year's bike was used as a point of reference once they switched to the 2015 M1 at half point.

Forty-five minutes into the five-hour long test session, Lorenzo entered the track as the eighth rider and immediately set the pace. After setting multiple fastest laps he led for most of the session with a 1’31.501. After completing seven laps he returned to the pits, but soon increased his lead further to a 1’31.421 when he returned to the track. Upon return to the pits he was pushed back by Pol Espargaro, but 2 hours and 20 minutes into the session Lorenzo retook the lead and soon improved his time to an impressive 1’30.975, making him the only rider to go under the 1’31 mark.

With two hours of the session remaining, teammate Valentino Rossi also joined his rivals on the track to have a go on the 2015 bike. It only took the nine-time World Champion five laps to reach the top five and he soon further improved his time to a 1’31.312. This was enough to shoot him up the rankings to third, just behind Lorenzo and Smith, but in front of Pol Espargarò. The Yamaha top four was leading the standings into the final hour of the first day of testing. Back in the pits Rossi got pushed back to fourth as Pol Espargarò improved. Rossi was determined to regain his position and headed back out to post some more flying laps. He was unable to improve in place, but further improved his time to a 1’31.250, just 0.275s behind his teammate.


Jorge Lorenzo - 1st / 1'30.975 / 45 laps

"I was very happy to do this test because the weather was very stable all day. There was no wind and this was good because we were able to do all the things we needed try. We tried a lot of things to reduce the weight, especially with the chassis, but it’s important to have the same feeling despite decreasing the weight. Other than that we worked on the setting and some other little things. I am satisfied because I rode the fastest lap time, even better than the times set this weekend during the Grand Prix. I didn’t ride a 1’30 before, so this means the bike is working well.”

Valentino Rossi - 4th / 1'31.250 / 42 laps

“Today the biggest news was the chassis. We tried a chassis that’s a little bit different and we didn’t expect a lot of difference, but in reality the bike is better. I felt good and it helped me with braking and entering the corners. Yamaha did a good job and I already was able to go faster than the 2014 race bike, so that’s not bad. Later we tried some other things: a different pipe, some electronics and some other things. It’s been a good day. We have to work on all the areas of the bike but especially we have to try to stress the rear tyre less and keep a better pace when the tyre has done a lot of laps.”

Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director

“After the end of a successful season, today we had a positive first day of testing. We used this session to get a feeling for the bike and to test some small things. Though the differences between the new 2015 bike and the 2014 one are minimal, there were some changes made on the frame and piping. We can be very satisfied with today’s results because Jorge rode an impressive lap in the 1’30’s, which is better than the times ridden this weekend. Valentino also showed a good pace and closed an all-Yamaha top four. This shows that the bike is working well.”

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