Bradley Smith cut a happier figure at Sepang on day two as he closed to within a second of the top six.
The
MotoGP rookie bounced back from third-gear crash on the opening day of the second pre-season test in Malaysia to clock a fastest time of 2m 02.369s – an improvement of 1.6s from his quickest lap on Tuesday, when track conditions were described as 'dirty and greasy'.
The 22-year-old worked on his braking technique and completed 63 laps as he builds up his feeing with the Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1, finishing the day in tenth position.
“After the crash yesterday I am feeling much happier today, though I'm a little bit wary of some things that happen with the front and that can play on your mind a little bit,” said Smith.
“But the track has more grip and my feeling with the bike is much better.
“Today I worked a lot on my braking technique because I'm being too cautious at the moment and not using the carbon brakes as they need to be used.
“We played around with some different settings today too just to gain more of an understanding about what direction we can take in the future if we have certain problems.”
The British rider also expressed his admiration for factory Yamaha rider and current champion Jorge Lorenzo, who deposed
Dani Pedrosa from the top of the Sepang times on Wednesday.
“I think Jorge is doing exceptionally well riding around consistently in the 2.00 bracket because all of the other guys seem to be in the 2.01s,” Smith said.
“He is on another level at the moment but to be honest I feel quite good doing consistent 2.02s.
“We are working for Qatar and the first race rather than lap times now.
“It is not easy that's for sure but I am confident soon it will start clicking into place and we will start rolling forward.”