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--  Video - Day Three --

--  MotoGP Test Wrap - Repsol Honda Team complete successful test at The Circuit of The Americas The private MotoGP test held in Austin has come to a conclusion for Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, the Repsol Honda pair and LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl staying on for a final third day of testing. The Yamaha squad left after two days. It has been a valuable test for the two Spanish Repsol HRC riders who shaved over eight seconds off their times from the first outing here on Tuesday. Rookie Marc Marquez finished on top with a fastest time of 2'03.281 recorded today on lap 38 of 57. Marc has used this test to further familiarise himself with the MotoGP machine and has spent time working with the electronics and gearing on his Honda RC213V. His teammate Dani Pedrosa finished 2nd fastest with today's time of 2'03.898 taken on lap 4 of 25. After testing some settings in the morning, Dani decided not to do so many laps in the afternoon due to a slight neck strain from the morning. He will now rest ahead of next week's final pre-season test in Jerez on the 23rd, 24th and 25th of March, where he will look to confirm the setup changes and new rear shock that he tested in Austin. The first race of 2013 is now less than a month away with the Grand Prix of Qatar taking place on 7th April. Marc Marquez 1st 2'03.281 "This final day has been good for me. From the beginning I had the same feeling as yesterday and especially this morning we started to try some technical settings for the first time and we found some big improvements. After lunch we were considering a race simulation but in the end we spent the time working with the electronics. It's been important to come and test here as we will be here for the second race. It's quite a physical track - especially the first sector - but in the end, we now know the track a little and we have a good base for when we come here for the GP" Dani Pedrosa 2nd 2'03.898 “After the first exit this morning I had a pain in my neck, I'm not sure what caused it but it affected my riding so I decided not to do so many laps today. Everything has gone well though in general, we had three positive days and I'm happy we came here, because we were able to put in many laps of this circuit which is very tricky and difficult. There are some heavy braking points and some blind corners, so it was important to test here to find the references. We weren't able to try much in terms of settings, because we didn't know the track and the surface wasn't 100% with so few riders here, but we've been improving. We only tried the soft compound tyre, but in general the feeling is positive. I'd like to thank Honda for making the effort to come here, it has been valuable and I am very grateful!" --  LCR Honda Report With Yamaha riders not contesting the final day of testing, LCR Honda racer Stefan Bradl took the “COTA” this morning alongside HRC colleagues Pedrosa and Marquez concluding the private test with a 2’04.225. The German spent the day testing Bridgestone tyres and breaking system regulations completing 43 laps, but he could not go for a long run as planned because of aching left hand problem. Bradl and his squad will reunite at Jerez (Spain) for the fourth and final Official MotoGP Test (23/24/25 March) before the season launches in Qatar on 7th April. Bradl: “Overnight my left hand started to ache and this morning it was oddly swollen. For this reason I was not able to be very aggressive on the bike (especially on hard braking and left corners) and we decided to cancel the afternoon race simulation. However we improved some areas like the breaking stability and we tried different hard tyres both rear and front gathering more data for the race weekend. Overall it was a useful test for us because we had the first approach with this new track and we gained more track time before the start of the season”. Testing Results 1 Marc Marquez 2'03.281 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 2 Dani Pedrosa 2'03.898 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 3 Stefan Bradl 2'04.225 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP

--  Video - Day Two --

Testing Results - Day Two 1 Marc Marquez 2'04.363 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 2 Stefan Bradl 2'04.640 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP 3 Jorge Lorenzo 2'04.664 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing 4 Dani Pedrosa 2'04.686 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team 5 Valentino Rossi 2'05.518 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing -- Yamaha Report - Yamaha Completes Testing in Texas Yamaha Factory Racing will complete their testing activities today at the Circuit of the Americas track in Texas. Originally planned for a three-day test, riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi managed to provide all the data required over the first two days so will not continue tomorrow. Both Lorenzo and Rossi used the two days to work with their crews on set up to find the optimum performance from their YZR-M1s’ for the long and technical track. The two made big improvements from the first morning, shaving several seconds off their first times but were still looking for more grip at full lean. The Yamaha Factory Team will now re-join the rest of the MotoGP paddock back in Europe for the next Official IRTA test at the Jerez de la Frontera Circuit in Spain on the 23rd March. Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 3rd Time: 2.04.664 Laps: 17 “I feel better today, especially in the last run before the lunch break, we changed the set up of the bike and we improved some tenths so we are closer to the fastest riders, but not as much as we would like. We were too soft in the suspension to start with, we made it harder and in this track it works. These two days that we are here I think is enough to get a good idea of set up and riding style. The fans will like MotoGP here, it is going to be a great show. We have been trying different set ups of the bike, no new parts, just playing with the set up, changing the suspension and forks and in the last run I improved half a second with set up changes. We still don't have enough grip on the rear so we can’t lean over with confidence which is why we are further behind than in Sepang. I am adapting my riding style every lap a little for the track. In the main straight we are at 340kmh/h which is an amazing speed; when you have to brake and put your helmet up the wind is very strong so it’s difficult to be stable.” Valentino Rossi - Position: 5th Time: 2.05.518 Laps: 29 “The feeling with the track improved today, we started to work on the bike to improve the difficult points, especially in the three very hard braking areas where it is important to have good stability. It’s also very important to have grip on the edge through the hairpin to have speed along the straight. It looks like you can make a big difference in the slow parts here. The chicane part in turn two is very technical and difficult as it is blind; you have to go a bit with memory. Step by step we improved a lot from yesterday but have some disadvantage compared to the other guys so we need to put all the sections together. The target was to come here and try to understand the track and try to be ready for the race. Our competitors are able to accelerate faster than us from the hairpin and they have a bit more grip on the edge compared to us so these are the areas where we have to work, in the flowing parts we are not so bad. The track is good, a very classical ‘Tilke’ track, I like the fast parts, turn two and turn ten especially. There is lots of hard braking and it is very wide so good for overtaking. The long right before the last two lefts is also good. It's fun and not too hot like it is in Sepang so it's a good place to make a motorcycle race.” Massimo Meregalli - Team Director “First of all I would like to remark that it has been a good idea to come here. Yesterday we were able to download a lot of data from both riders, that has permitted us to find a much better set up. Today the results we got are quite promising and we are leaving Austin with a lot of useful data. We are expecting different conditions for the race but the test has been successful. We are now looking forward to the Jerez test which is important as we will decide there how to start for the season. The test here was organized by Honda to cover three days but we knew from the beginning that two days would be enough for us. The target was to allow the rider to get used to the circuit and get as much data as possible for our Japanese engineers.” -- LCR Honda Report On the second day of the private MotoGP test at the Circuit of the Americas (Texas), LCR Honda racer Stefan Bradl placed his Honda RC213V Factory Spec. fourth after completing 49 laps with a 2’04.640. After yesterday’s first taste of the anti-clockwise Texan track (the third-longest on the calendar after Silverstone and Sepang), Bradl enjoyed a very positive second day and continued to adapt to the new circuit that is proving to be quite technical. Bradl: “This morning we struggled a bit in the breaking areas which is unusual for my riding style and my bike set-up. After some adjustments we have found an improvement and I was able to go faster and faster. In my flying laps on new soft tyres I was not enough precise because we had low grip. However I was very consistent throughout the day and we have found two base set-ups to develop”.

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