Lorenzo leads second day of test

From motogp.com

Aboard his Yamaha M1 prototype, Jorge Lorenzo set the fastest lap on the second day at Valencia, in his final session of the three-day test.

Lorenzo was the only rider to break the 1:32 barrier on Tuesday at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit, as he set the quickest lap with a 1:31.939.

Taking his factory bike round for 62 laps as he and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi tested a new chassis – a new engine is expected to be available to work with in the new year – the Spaniard was 0.256 secs. faster than Monday’s quickest rider Casey Stoner.

On his Ducati Desmosedici meanwhile, Stoner was second fastest on the timesheet as he made 44 laps on the circuit, 12 more than he completed on Monday as the Australian continues to fine tune his 800cc race machinery.

World Champion Rossi emerged only in the afternoon, coming out onto the track just before 2pm to take his M1 out for the final time for this test, as he lapped at just over half a second slower than Lorenzo.

The focus of the Valencia test for Ben Spies remains acquainting himself with his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 bike as he tries various tire and wheel options, but the experimental nature did not stop the Texan from posting the fourth-fastest time of the day at just under half a second behind Rossi.

His team-mate Colin Edwards’ test appears to have come to a premature end however, as he failed to take part on Tuesday due to illness.

Nicky Hayden, who finished the season on a high with his fifth place in Sunday’s race, matched that placement on the timesheet as he recorded 84 laps on his factory Ducati. The 2006 World Champion was trying out the new rear spec Bridgestone tires for 2010, along with several other riders.

Ohlins suspension was again tested by Dani Pedrosa, as both he and Repsol Honda team-mate Andrea Dovizioso took their 2010 RC212V prototypes out for the second day. Sunday’s race winner Pedrosa was sixth fastest on Tuesday, with Dovizioso 12th as he continued to adjust to the weight distribution caused by the realignment of his engine. The Italian crashed shortly after 1pm, but was back out on the track shortly afterwards.

Randy de Puniet took his RC212V out as the LCR Honda team tested suspension and electronics updates on the Frenchman’s 2009 machine, in a bid to improve the rear set-up of the bike.

Mika Kallio (Pramac Racing), testing a new aluminum swingarm and Loris Capirossi (Rizla Suzuki) both came inside the top-10 lap times, as did Marco Melandri whose return to the San Carlo Honda Gresini team sees him riding the RC212V after a two-year absence.

New Pramac arrival Aleix Espargaró’s familiarization with the Ducati continued as he builds on his 13th-placed race finish from Sunday.

The four riders making the graduation from the 250cc class were also gaining more track time, as Héctor Barberá recorded the quickest time of the quartet. The Valencian rider was using the Desmosedici GP9 as he becomes accustomed to the power delivery offered by the 800cc machines. The Aspar rider has also been assigned three new crew members by Ducati Corse, and he completed 100 laps, the most of any rider on Tuesday.

Marco Simoncelli’s (79 laps) education on the Gresini Honda, Álvaro Bautista’s (74) on the Rizla Suzuki and Hiroshi Aoyama’s (88) on the Interwetten Honda all carried on as well.