Ambient temperature: 38 degrees
Track temperature: 55 degrees
Humidity: 28%

The Gauloises Yamaha Team’s busy winter testing schedule resumed in Sepang today, as the team began the second three-day test of the year at the Malaysian circuit. Just over a fortnight since they were last here, reigning World Champion Valentino Rossi and his new Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards were back on board their 2005-specification YZR-M1s, once again sharing the track with the large majority of their fellow MotoGP competitors.

Rossi completed 58 laps and was fifth fastest in the unofficial standings with a best time of 2’02.53, despite suffering from a fever which worsened as the day wore on. He spent much of the day testing Michelin tyres, whilst also doing some work on the engine braking settings of his M1. Like his team-mate, Edwards’ day was largely focused on tyre work with he and his team also spending some time changing the front and rear settings. He set a fastest lap of 2’02.98 from a total of 63.

Valentino Rossi, (2’02.53, 58 laps) - “I had a fever today and I didn’t feel so good. As the day went on I felt more and more weak and I began to find it hard to focus on the bike. I thought it was a good idea to stop a little early, as we had already done all the work we wanted to do. We worked a lot on tyres today and also on engine braking; we had a few things to improve on this from the last test and we managed that today, so we achieved what we needed to do. I am going to go to sleep early tonight and I hope to feel better tomorrow!”

Colin Edwards (2’02.98, 63 laps) - “We had a few difficulties starting out today; for some reason the bike didn’t feel the same as last time, but once we sat down and discussed things, everything got better. We did a lot of tyre work and didn’t change much on the settings throughout the morning, but this afternoon we played around a bit with the front and rear settings, and made some good improvements. It felt even hotter than at the last test, but I’m pleased because I was doing consistently fast laps during the hottest part of the day.”

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Yamaha Team Director “The first day went quite smoothly for the whole team. We did a good job with the tyres and we are now fine-tuning the bike settings and will continue to work on this over the next two days. We took it quite easy today as we have plenty of time ahead of us!”