MOTOGP » 'Tired' Rossi stays top at Sepang

Very interesting that Rossi is able to easily out pace Hayden on the Bridgestone qualifying tyre.

Race pace is not too bad either but I guess there is still room for improvement yet.

I dont want to say that rossi is up there with casey as yet as i beleive he''s still a little way off race pace but not by much.

The test at Jerez will give us fans the first chance to see who''s where in the peking order as everyone will be in attendance at that test, not only that there is the usual BMW up for grab''s for the fastest lap too.

i think rossi is up there with Casey, its not the fastest lap it is the amount of fast laps sequins that they can do. from reports i see that rossi is able to be consistent and ride a race distance in a competitive pace.
we all know that rossi can set his mind and ride like he is alone on the track, pass 10 riders without slowing down his pace.
i just hope that he can keep his concentration and determination in a competitive level.
as for the m3 award, with the money he makes he can buy a new one every week!!!
now Yamaha know what they are up against i just hope they won't disappoint rossi, and give him the right tool to work with.

i was surprised to read that Rossi made mistake and still did a very good qualifing lap.if he hadn't done that mistake he may have been even quicker than Tuesday's remarkable time 2.00.300!!i agree that he needs to improve his race pace if he wants to win it this year but maybe till the end of the test he will have done that.also i wish Yamaha had gone to PI instead of Sepang because Rossi would have a better idea to see how he is compared to his main rival Stoner!anyhow everything is going as planned so far.hope he will outpace Stoner in Jerez too when he will also be celebrating his 29th birthday!!!

Up until 3pm today Rossi has done a 2'01.1 and the rest 2'02s

valentina46,
I have to agree with you, I'm a little concerned they choose to miss that test, I would have thought that testing at as many tracks as possible is key especialy as they have no data whats so ever on bridgestone tyres.

However I must stress that that is only my take on it & I'm not in the position of the brilliant Valentino Rossi & Jeremy Burgess, I'm sure they know exactly what they are doing & they are doing things the way they are for reasons we fans can not see or realise.

I'm 100% certain that as this year goes on & the more data they gather & the more they get used to the rubber valentinos times will come down so the others have reason to be worried

Yamaha needed sepang to prove there new cooling system. Yamaha had overheating issue at every "hot" race last year. The heat at Sepang was too provide hot conditions whilst they went about testing everything else.
The thing we can extrapolate from this test is that the bike "seemed" reliable in hot conditions.
Also the front Michilen seems to be the same profile as last year giving grief to a few riders (Lunatic/Colin Texas).