Following an enforced rest after sustaining a muscle injury in his left leg on Tuesday, Jeremy Mc
Williams was back out on track for the final day of the Qatar test - then warned his Ilmor team about the massive amount of work ahead.
The
MotoGP veteran, still suffering the effects of multiple injuries sustained at
Jerez in November, unsurprisingly finished the test slowest of all - within 0.6secs of team-mate Andrew Pitt, but with a further five-second gap to fastest man
Dani Pedrosa and just one test still to go before the Qatar season opener on March 10.
"I don't think we can underestimate how much work we still have ahead of us," admitted the Ulsterman. "I'm definitely not where I want to be speed wise yet but we will have some new engine parts to play with in Jerez so hopefully that will make a difference. On a positive note, I tried out a new 16 inch front tyre from Michelin today and it was great, it really helped on the corners."
Meanwhile, Pitt's final day hopes were hit by an engine issue that took longer than anticipated to fix - meaning the Australian remained off-track for the rest of the afternoon.
"We tried out some different settings this morning at the rear of the bike with the shock and pivot and I definitely felt the benefits of the changes we made to the chassis," said the 2006 WSBK race winner. "It was frustrating not being back out this afternoon but as I said on Tuesday we are definitely making progress, we're starting to catch up with the rest and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do in Jerez next week."
In general terms, increased information allowed Ilmor to switch emphasis from engine to chassis set-up - and the team will be working flat out to increase its competitiveness before the Jerez test from February 23-25.
