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***Malcolm*** · 05-02-2015, 06:54 PM

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo is leading the standings after the second day of pre-season testing at Sepang, with teammate Valentino Rossi finishing less than 0,8s behind him in sixth place.

Jorge Lorenzo made the most of the gained data from yesterday’s eight-hour testing session and was quick to position himself among the protagonists on the leader board. After getting a feel for today’s more slippery and bumpy track, he grew in confidence and picked up the pace to become the first rider to break the two-minute barrier with a 1’59.963s lap. His lap stayed unbeaten for the rest of the session.

With the track still cool in the morning, teammate Rossi took his time to further test set-ups with the aim to prolong tyre life. When the track started to warm up he put his YZR-M1 to the test and posted the sixth fastest time of 2’00.676s, +0.713s behind his teammate, despite suffering some chattering issues.

While the track was baking in the blistering afternoon temperatures at 2pm, the riders took some time to regain their strength and consume enough fluids, before heading back out into the bright sunshine at the Sepang International Circuit.

When Lorenzo and Rossi retuned to the track they used the last two hours of the session to test various aspects of the bike with their fastest lap time and position in the standings remaining unchanged.

Jorge Lorenzo - 1st / 1'59.963 / 56 laps

“1’59 is a good lap time. The other riders couldn’t do it because the track seems to be a bit more slippery and bumpy and that makes it more difficult to achieve good lap times. Our bike improved a lot over this last year and I feel ready both physically and mentally. All together, we’re in a good shape. In the first four hours in the morning I was quite comfortably riding 2’00’s. In the afternoon it seemed that the track condition was a bit worse and I couldn’t ride as many fast laps. The goal for tomorrow is to repeat the pace that I had today and maybe do even better.”

Valentino Rossi - 6th / 2'00.676 / 63 laps

“Today was more difficult for us. In the morning we had chattering of the bike in the corner, because we tried something different. The braking was not so bad, but the bike was very difficult to ride. There were hard vibrations with a high frequency. The morning was the right moment to ride good lap times. The conditions were right to push, but I couldn’t ride at 100 per cent. In the afternoon we modified the bike and we fixed the problem with front vibrations. My pace was not so bad but it was also nothing special. I’m not very happy with what we tried today. We have to continue tomorrow, try something else and continue in a good way.”

Massimo Meregalli - Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team Director -

“Today was a good day but a strange day. We don't know the reason but between yesterday and today the bikes behaved differently. Jorge has been impressive in the morning and has been very fast and consistent. Valentino suffered from some chattering issues in the morning, we were able to resolve this for the afternoon but possibly due to the track conditions we were then not able to make a step forward in lap-time. We lost a little time working on the chatter this morning but we are confident that we will be on schedule tomorrow to continue testing. Both Jorge and Valentino still need to make a race simulation tomorrow which we will aim to do at the time this year’s race would take place in the afternoon to have as close as possible conditions.”

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