Toseland 'turns into a MotoGP rider'.

is this report trying to make Toseland's fans or British fans happy by trying to spin up the story ... i don't know, but it doesn't matter if he is 0.5 sec off or 2 sec off ... the fact is, toseland is dead last for all the sessions ... that's not impressive ... as i've said before, toseland and lorenzo will suffer riding the M1 ...

Give him a break, it's his first outing on a new track!

i have no doubts toseland is up to the job, but what about the yam ? michelin will come back stronger and the tyres should be pretty much on a level playing field so you can take that out of the equation, but that M1 just doesn't pull in a straight line and if anything was getting worse as the season went on.

maybe the pneumatic valve will give it a bit more go but will it go round and round for 45 minutes ?

good luck james - just finish in front of colin ( yam test rider ) on a regular basis and you can have my cbr for 2009 - it's probably faster.

can only afford a £150 win bonus and two sets of tyres for the whole weekend but if anyone wants to chip in and help a brit.........

Fantastic stuff and genuine praise by the sounds of it,
It looks like James really could be doing no more than he is, let's just hope the bike does develop as well during the off season.

I expected James to be last for numerous reasons. 1. It is his first time on an M1. 2. It was at a circuit he had never ridden at before. 3. He was up against MotoGP race winners and race veterans.

Therefore, to be 2.5s off the pace is impressive (on race tyres to Hayden's fastest time on qualifying tyres).

A great start to what I believe will be a difficult debut season for James. Top 10's in your rookie season is a great start IMO and if Yamaha can produce a better bike in 2008, then I recon James could be a podium contender in 2009.

Good luck James.

Give JT a break!At least he's getting faster! It can't be easy to just jump on a bike that is SO different and perform on a new track and oh yes, with everyone looking at you and commenting/critising your every move!

Good luck to James and the rest of the Tech 3 team. If anyone can get the best out of the bike and put in the hours, I'm sure James can.

The typical British way, lets be really negative and once again slag off our two time SBK world champion. Do you think the Spanish fans are having a go at Lorenzo like this? Of course not, they are 100% behind him. As previously stated, for JT to come to an unknown track and jump on a bike he has only previously seen on TV with different tyres etc and to do those lap times is a credible performance. He is the hardest working racer we have and our only motogp rider so lets get behind him people.

Motp Dont be a ****. You do know that Haydens time was set on a
qualifier (worth 1s a lap) while Toselands (and lorenzo used std
tyres and a standard settings on the bike throughout the test?
Also Lozenzo had the benefit of having rode the M1 earlier in the
season (at Almera)whilst it was Toselands first time on the bike
and first time at the track.
If your going to make assumptions try to do for with a little bit
of information.

Wasn't Lorenzo's best time set on qualifiers. His race tyre time was 0.5s quicker than JT's. JT needs a couple more sessions to settle in - remember Lorenzo and Dovisioso are a couple of sessions ahead in terms of track time on Motogp bikes and tracks.

Of the rookies Dovisioso's times were the most impressive...

I have always felt James is a slighty slower learner than some riders, but he is he is as hard working and determined as just about any rider in the padock so always closes the gap up. He is also a clever guy, so pessonally i believe he has to think his way to each faster lap. Where as some riders feel there way, like Troy Baylis for instance.

With this in mind I guess, where he is now is where we should of expected.

New tyres, new cricuit, new bike with loads more adjustability, new team and new enviroment. <--- these are not excuses but more a reflection of how james works, and he has a long list work though.

I am confident, we have a real motoGP contenter in JT finially.

Yes, youre right, Lorenzo did use a qualifier to set his fastest time. So given he knew the track and has had time on the bike, doesn't that put Toselands time in a different perspective?

motp you muppet. Quite clearly you havent read the whole report. I think Mr Poncheral states several times he is more than impressed by JT's progress.

Just give JT another few test sessions and we an re-visit this thread. If by the IRTA tests in Feb and March he is still last then you are welcome to make these comments.

Talk is cheap & I'm not sure what you can read into testing times - acid test is the first Motogp race. Lets not build up our hopes too high.....

JT is doing very well indeed, tho i dont agree with what is said by team boss about needed more concentration in Motogp race to WSBK, with less gizmos and being alot heavier the WSBK would be alot more of a handful, and the quality of riders is extremely good. Top 4 WSB vs Top4 GP id say supers has the edge right now, just personal view.

but also the yam is not a bad bike, thats just an excuse by certain people to back up their sucess or failures. something yam for the image need to stamp out. they fell behind a bit in the latter part of the season, but that was really only due to honda speeding up. other than the Duke(stoner) and Honda it was the OVERALL package to be on for every round.

Found the full lis of lap times from Sepang.
Lorenzo's time without qualifiers was 2.03.044

1. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2'00.592
2. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 2'01.811
3. John Hopkins (Kawasaki) 2'02.047
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 2'02.128
5. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) 2'02.447
6. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 2'02.587
7. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2'02.643
8. Anthony West (Kawasaki) 2'02.659
9. Randy de Puniet (Honda) 2'02.700
10. Yamaha Test Team 2'03.269
11. James Toseland (Yamaha) 2'03.550
12. Yamaha Test Team 2'05.755
13. Yamaha Test Team 2'05.879

Interesting that there were so many Yamaha test riders there. Guess they are serious....

Compared to some other the other Motogp bikes the 2007 Yam' was slower to accelerate off the corner and had a lower top speed.
Both these areas need to be addressed and Michelin need to develop tyres specifically for the Yamaha's rather allowing Honda tyre development to lead the Michelin program.
I do not see a Yamaha winning the championship in 2008 as Edwards is past it, Lorenzo and Toseland are too inexperienced and Rossi has lost his confidence.
I'll be betting that it is a fight between Stoner and Pedrosa and maybe Nicky. I would like to hope Hopkins will be there at the end as well as there has been soom sensible evolution of the Kawasaki.

come on ... are you guys expecting herve to slag his new rider ... that's ridiculous ... i do believe james has the skills, but i don't think that yamaha has the right machine ... just look at this simple stats ... only biaggi and rossi has won on yamaha, and they had lots of riders from melandri, checa, barros (all are race winners) ... the ducati has capirossi, bayliss & stoner ... honda has the most list both factory and satellite won on it ... so, sorry james, i think you jumped the wrong ship ...

Everyone thought Schumacher made a big mistake when he went to Ferrari in 96. He could have taken the easy option and stayed with Benetton and kept winning but he didn't. He put in the hours, got the team around him and look what happened! It took a while for him to become truly competetive and he still managed to get 3 victories out of the 96 Ferrari (which was no mean achievement!!). He didn't expect to win championships straight away but he worked and worked at it until he got it right.

It may take a while for JT and the team to get the Yam working right but when he does....then again, the best things in life are always worth waiting for!!

yamaha have got one hell of a rider line up all multi world champions they have no excuse must produce agood bike next year or look very foolish.But i also say james should have gone to another team only Rossi will do some good with yamaha but show your strength next year James and maybe you will get a better ride (Colin did)

I am sure that given a reasonably competitive bike that JT will give a good account of himself in his rookie year.
He should be compared to previous SBK and 250GP world champions stepping up to MotoGP on a customer bike as apposed to a full works bike.
I think that being half a second off of Lorenzo on race rubber, on a new track, being one test behind him (less laps under his belt), on a customer bike, is not a bad showing and hopefully the shape of things to come.