Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards completed a positive second day of testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia today, both making marked improvements to their lap times from yesterday. Rossi topped the unofficial time sheets at the close of play and Edwards was also over eight-tenths of a second faster than on day one.

Rossi spent most of the day testing Michelin tyres and getting to grips with Yamaha’s new prototype 2006-spec YZR-M1, which he rode for the first time yesterday, before switching back onto the 2005 bike towards the end of the day to continue working with Michelin. Edwards also tested several tyres, the American continuing to work exclusively on the 2005-spec bike before he tries the new prototype tomorrow afternoon. Rossi set a best time of 2’02.61, inside the lap record and over a second faster than his best lap of yesterday. He was followed by Melandri and Elias (both Honda) with Edwards in fourth with a time of 2’02.94.

Rossi - 1st - 2m02.61 0 60 Laps - “I am really happy with what we did today on the new bike and I am feeling quite positive about it. I have a good feeling on it and more stability than with the old M1, so this is very encouraging considering that it’s just the first day of work. Today we did a lot of work with Michelin while trying to understand and gather data for the new bike. At the end of the day I changed back to the old bike and continued testing tyres. Yesterday the feeling was not perfect with the 2005 bike but we changed some settings and today it began to feel much better. We had some problems here in the race and so it’s good to make these improvements. Tomorrow we have some more things to try with the new bike before we fly home for the holidays!”

Colin Edwards - 4th - 2m02.94 - 67 Laps - “During my first run this morning I went over half a second quicker than yesterday and then went even faster later, so it was a good day. We mostly concentrated on testing tyres in the morning and then the afternoon was spent trying out some other stuff for Yamaha. This new style is not so much about my position on the bike – there are small changes to that but I think only a serious ‘Edwards fan’ could notice – its more about my style of controlling the bike before and during a corner. My technique has definitely changed and it’s feeling better each day as I get more used to it. Tomorrow I think I need to do a long run and then I hope to get on the new bike in the afternoon. I am really excited about trying it out; Valentino seems very positive about it so I can’t wait to have a go myself!”

Davide Brivio - Gauloises Yamaha Director - “Both riders worked a lot for Michelin today and it was a positive day all round. Valentino made a good start with the 2006-spec bike and Colin also continued to make improvements to his performance, so it was another good day of testing. Tomorrow Valentino has a few more things to do on the new bike and then we hope to be able to give it to Colin for the afternoon to give him a chance to make his own evaluation.”