Lorenzo lead Yamaha.

By Peter McLaren

Confidence isn't something that Jorge Lorenzo appears to lack, but the MotoGP rookie's self-belief was surely given a further boost when he finished last week's Sepang test in third position - as the top Yamaha rider.

Lorenzo's fourth MotoGP appearance - and first of 2008 - saw the reigning 250cc world champion set a very impressive 2mins 0.766secs, on Michelin qualifying tyres, at the end of the third and final day.

That time was just 0.440secs off fastest man Nicky Hayden, 0.1secs behind Ducati's world champion Casey Stoner and over half a second quicker than Bridgestone-shod Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi.

The Spaniard's race-tyre progress was a little more 'complicated', since he fell towards the end of a midday race simulation, but he'd managed a 2mins 2.104secs before the accident - putting him within 0.3secs of former five-times MotoGP world champion Rossi.

Crash.net caught up with Lorenzo just after his midday fall...

"It is going well. I am fast and we are happy. We have to solve some problems with the front fork, on corner entry to mid-corner, but I think many teams are having problems in this area here," began Jorge, riding in full Fiat livery for the first time.

"I rode with the pneumatic-valve engine yesterday and also earlier today, when I had an accident during a race simulation, so because of that I will probably return to the standard bike this afternoon.

"I was off the racing line and fell as I started to accelerate, but we'd already done a lot of laps and got a lot of information," he explained.

Turing to the two-tyre set-up at Fiat Yamaha this year, which has forced its pit garage to be divide in two, Lorenzo wouldn't be drawn on how different his learning experience might if he was in a 'normal' two-rider team.

"This is the way it is," he shrugged. "We can't do anything about it... I am very happy with the Michelins."

Lorenzo's next track outing will be back at Sepang from February 5-7.

"We won't be going to Phillip Island; we'll be back at Sepang next month. I don't think we'll have any new parts then, but I think the second evolution of the motorcycle will be ready by Qatar," he revealed.

Looking ahead to his debut MotoGP season and, despite his strong testing form, Lorenzo claims he is setting no specific targets.

"Our objective has to be to get a good feeling from the bike and learn everything as quickly as possible. We don't have any targets, you just have to finish races and learn all that you can," he declared.