Indeed, with Honda's Nicky Hayden finishing his test programme on Wednesday, only six other riders - four of them test riders - joined the Fiat Yamaha team-mates for the third and final day.

Not that that the limited attendance bothered Rossi: "I'm happy to be here 'alone' because it is quieter to work and understand the bike. In January it was like a race here!"

Third fastest on Thursday after the factory M1 riders was Shinya Nakano. Nakano and Gresini Honda team-mate Alex de Angelis rode even less laps than Rossi (14 and 12 respectively). Nakano finished 1.430secs from Lorenzo on qualifying tyres, with class rookie de Angelis just 0.059secs further back.

The four other riders present on MotoGP machines this week were from the Kawasaki and Yamaha test teams. Former 250cc world champion Olivier Jacque was unsurprisingly the top test rider, with a best Thursday lap time 2.3secs from the top, but set on a race tyre.

The second ZX-RR of Tamaki Serizawa, plus Yamaha test team riders Wataru Yoshikawa and Toshihiko Fujiwara once again completed the field. Kawasaki's new screamer engine didn't appear during this week's test.

In contrast to this week's attendance, the next MotoGP test - the first 'official' outing, to be held at Jerez from February 16-18 - will see a full line-up of teams and riders, pending the return to fitness of Honda's Dani Pedrosa (fractured hand) and Kawasaki's John Hopkins (groin injury).

After Jerez, only the Qatar test will remain before the season-opening night race takes place back at Losail on March 9.