MotoGP Testing - Phillip Island - Day Three

Valentino Rossi stood on top of the timesheets after knocking out a 1m29.6 on today's third day of the three day MotoGP test session at the picturesque Victorian circuit.

Sete Gibernau was the fastest man on the opening days and it looked as though it would be Spain on top at the conclusion of the tests but Italy's Rossi waited until the final afternoon to stamp his authority.

Gibernau would not be too worried however as he went home to Spain after the second day of the test where he proved that he will have the pace to be the top challenger in 2005 after recording a 27 lap race simulation that was a huge 29 seconds faster than Rossi's current race record at the 4.4km circuit.

"For sure Gibernau's race rhythm was very impressive at Phillip Island although I was quicker in Malaysia last week," Rossi said.

"I love this track and riding fast here is a fantastic sensation because this is not a computer style track.

"This morning we tried some different settings from yesterday and they worked better. We found more agility in the bike. Then we continued testing tyres for Michelin, which were good. The test has been quite positive and we have collected some useful information which we’ll continue to work with when we return here soon.”

American Nicky Hayden made good use of the final day to slot into second fastest overall with a 1m29.8 just ahead of Spain's Carlos Checa.

Nicky Hayden - "Today was the best day of the test for me, I got a good, long run in and recognised a bit more where we need to improve, both myself and the machine. I felt good and we made some positive steps forward and the race time I did was 28 seconds faster than my race time last year so we're pretty happy with that - but it's still not enough. We'll take away what we've learnt here and move on to Qatar. I tried both chassis options that we've got and we learned a lot about the differences but overall I just felt more consistent today and some of that's down to me getting into a rut yesterday. We're still a new team but the atmosphere's good and we're gelling really well."

Team-mate to Checa in the Ducati camp is Italian Loris Capirossi who has outshone the new member of the team in previous tests but Phillip Island was Carlos Checa's to get one over Capirossi and he did it in fine style to finish the test more than half a second quicker on his new mount.

"I am really happy with this testing session, with my team and with my bike" declared Carlos. "We found a good base set-up for the Desmosedici and some very interesting indications on which to work in the future. Now it's time for a short break and then we'll be back to work in Qatar".

Capirossi is sure he has the bases covered and was not worried, "I'm generally pretty pleased with my pace, which was quite good for several successive laps at around 1m30s. We still have to do a bit more work over the longer distance, but I and my team are ready!".

Max Biaggi was right on Checa's heels in fifth place with a three-tenth of a second gap over Colin Edwards who ended the test in sixth place.

Max Biaggi - "I am tired today after so many laps but I wanted to give Michelin the information they needed from the tyres they asked me to test - but I was praying for the red light at the end of the pitlane to end the day's testing! At times today it was a little difficult as there were some spots of rain which did little for your confidence, especially in the fast sweep into turn one. Overall we have had a good test and confirmed our feeling and direction with the machine set-up following last week's test in Sepang. We know the areas we need to improve on and we have three tests in March to achieve that."

Colin Edwards (1’30.60, 78 laps) - “Today was really encouraging, I got on with some really good tyres and played around a bit and the result and time was better. I didn’t do so many laps today but the ones I did were good. We checked out all the settings and we feel like we’ve made some progress. I’m heading back to the States now for a bit of family time before we come back here in a couple of weeks. I’m really excited about the news that we’re going to race in Turkey, Rio was always a cool place but it wasn’t one of my favourite tracks. It’s always fun to go to new tracks, and now we’ve got three new ones in a year, although Laguna isn’t so new for me.”

Seventh was Alex Barros who was marginally quicker than the aforementioned Capirossi while the best Suzuki man young American John Hopkins with a 1m30.8 just ahead of Marco Melandri who rounded out the overall top ten.

Alex Barros - “We worked a lot on the new forks today but we honestly haven’t had the results we were hoping for. I’m losing half a second because of it because the rest of the bike is fine. There are two positive things to take out of it though – firstly that the race here in Australia is not until October, so we have plenty of time to make progress with the forks, and secondly I am really happy with the work we have done here and in Malaysia with Michelin. They are preparing very well for the new season and when we put all the data they have gathered from tests on the compound and construction into practice, I think the results will be excellent. We’ll be able to verify that in Qatar, although it is not the best circuit because we don’t have many references there, and definitely at the Irta tests in Spain”.

Australia's Troy Bayliss made some progress after a frustrating three days in Malaysia last week and ended the Phillip Island shootout 11th fastest with a best time of 1m30.9.

“I did the same time on race tyres today as I did yesterday, which is more or less the same as I did at the GP here last October on qualifiers (1’30.87). We’re still not up there with the fast guys but we’re not far off. We’ve worked a lot over these few days and we will continue to do so at the next tests in Qatar. I can’t wait to get there actually – not because I like the track particularly but I just want to improve. In any case I’m leaving here lot happier than Malaysia.”

Kenny Roberts Junior was next on the list while surprisingly Makoto Tamada could only manage 13th fastest after leaving Sepang last week with the fastest time on the board. Ruben Xaus was fairly lineball with the Japanese rider's pace while rounding off the top 15 was MotoGP newcomer Toni Elias who continues to be well off the pace on his Yamaha.

Rossi 1m29.6
Hayden 1m29.7
Gibernau 1m29.8
Checa 1m29.8
Biaggi 1m29.9
Edwards 1m30.2
Barros 1m30.4
Capirossi 1m30.4
Hopkins 1m30.8
Melandri 1m30.9
Bayliss 1m30.9
Roberts 1m30.9
Tamada 1m31.4
Xaus 1m31.4
Elias 1m32.8