Milan, Italy
28/2/2006

Riders and management

CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM UNVEILS FINAL LIVERY WITH SPECTACULAR SHOW IN ITALY

With exactly one month to go before the first race of the new MotoGP season, the Camel Yamaha Team today celebrated the start of its 2006 campaign with a Team Presentation in Milan, in front of 300 guests and international media. World Champion Valentino Rossi and his American team-mate Colin Edwards, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday today, were joined on stage by VIP guests from Yamaha and Japan Tobacco International, as well as Italian TV presenter Marco Mazzocchi, who compered the presentation.

The bikes were uncovered by the Festi group of acrobats, who descended from the roof to reveal the M1s of Rossi and Edwards in their final 2006 livery. Mazzocchi then welcomed Masao Furusawa, Executive Officer for Engineering Operations at Yamaha Motor Company and Lin Jarvis, Managing Director of Yamaha Motor Racing Srl, onto the stage.
“Even though the basic M1 concept for 2006 is the same”, commented Furusawa, “this is a more sophisticated bike, especially with the increasing RPM of the engine. It is very important for the progression of the bike to keep Valentino and Colin together, as they are not just riders for us, but a key part of the development of the M1.”

Masao Furusawa

“Last year we got everything right with this team,” added Jarvis. “The rider combination, the bike and every other element. Now our goal with our new title sponsor Camel is to achieve all this once again and win the championship.”

Roberto Zanni, European Regional President for Japan Tobacco International, spoke about the exciting new partnership between Camel and Yamaha. “The feeling has been very good with Yamaha right from the beginning. Everything is very professional but also very friendly, it’s a good atmosphere. I expect that the passion this year within this team will be very great and with two riders as successful as Valentino and Colin, we can expect great things.”

Davide Brivio, the Team Director for the Yamaha Factory Team for the fifth year running, then took to the stage to talk about his goals for the season. “I think that everybody will really like the new livery, and especially the riders’ numbers on the white squares. We needed to come up with something original for the livery without moving away from the Camel yellow, which we all really like, and now I think this final livery is going to look really spectacular on track. For the season, we’re ready! We’ve done some important and successful tests, and now we will just make the most of the six remaining days of testing before the first race to make some final improvements to the new M1.”

Valentino Rossi

The audience was then treated to a spectacular video of the team and riders, before Rossi and Edwards mounted the stage together for their part in the day. “This new bike is really beautiful!” exclaimed Rossi, who this season aims to win a sixth consecutive World Championship title. “It’s exciting to be starting another season with Yamaha; these last two seasons together with them have probably been the best of my career. It’s also nice to be with Colin again, we’re very close in our team. The new M1 is already very good and we’ve been working very closely to develop it with Yamaha. Yamaha has done a very good job. This year I have many new young adversaries who will be challenging me, and I think there is going to be some spectacular racing!”

Colin Edwards & birtday cake

His team-mate Edwards, seeking to improve on his fourth-place in the championship last year, said “I really like the new bike design, it looks really great. I had the retro-style number five like this on the bike at Laguna Seca last year and I’ve used it again for this year. The new bike in general has been fantastic throughout the winter tests, I’m really excited. Yamaha has done a great job and everything about it feels better than last year. I honestly can’t wait to get back on board this week in Barcelona, we have a few things to work on still but we’re in good shape. My promise for the year is to win at least a few races and have a one-two for the Camel Yamaha Team at the end of the year!”

Malaysia, Sepang
16/2/2006

Valentino Rossi

Bad weather again today meant that track time for Yamaha duo Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards was severely limited on their last day of testing in Sepang. The riders were unable to complete their planned long-runs but Rossi, who turned 27 today, made the most of the inactivity and celebrated with a large birthday cake in the team garage. Despite the rain the riders declared the test valuable and now head back to Europe looking forward to the final stages of preparation, before the first race in Jerez on 26th March.
With track conditions patchy throughout the day, times were slightly slower across the board than yesterday. Rossi and Edwards only completed 34 and 28 laps respectively, Rossi setting the second fastest time of 2’02.06 and Edwards the fourth fastest with a lap of 2’02.33. Loris Capirossi (Ducati) was quickest in a time of 2’01.92.

The Camel Yamaha Team now return home for a short holiday before they reconvene at the Montmelo circuit, outside Barcelona, for the Official MotoGP Tests on 3rd, 4th and 5th March.

Valentino Rossi (2’02.06, 34 Laps)

Valentino Rossi

“27 years is quite a lot and I am definitely getting old, although most of the time I still feel like I am only 16! Today we couldn’t do much because of the weather but overall it’s been a very interesting test. I am especially happy because we have made some good progress to solve the problem with the vibration. We have some new data now and we understand better why it’s happening, and how to finally fix it. We’re not yet at 100% and I think we can go faster, but I am feeling confident.

Before the Jerez GP we might receive a small improvement for the engine, and hopefully we will have a bit more power. The test in Barcelona isn’t so important for us but the final one in Jerez is very useful, as it’s just a week before the first race and the conditions will be similar. Now we’re close to the start of the season and it’s already becoming clear who the main challengers will be; Melandri and Pedrosa especially are looking very fast and it also seems like Ducati are strong. I think it’s going to be a very exciting year with some wonderful races!”

Colin Edwards

Colin Edwards (2’02.33, 28 Laps)
“Today was a bit of a wash-out for me! This morning we only tested a couple of tyres and then it looked like it might rain, so we decided to get started on our long run. Unfortunately I only had time for my warm-up and half a lap before it rained, so that was kind of it for the day! Anyway it’s been a good test, we’ve learned a lot more about the bike and we’ve been able to try quite a lot of new things which seem to make sense. We’re definitely not chasing our tails anymore and the bike is better than it was on Tuesday when we started; that’s the most important thing. In general the new bike is great, pretty much everything is better than last year and now I am just counting down the days to the start of the season.”

Davide Brivio – Camel Yamaha Team Director
We have concluded our overseas testing sessions and now we’re going back to Europe for the final two tests. The conditions in Barcelona won’t help us so much with the bike development but anyway we will try to make the most of it. The important test will be Jerez, which will be the final opportunity for some key preparation before the first race. At the moment we still have a small problem to solve with vibration but apart from that everything is going well. Now we have to work in cooperation with Michelin to find the best combination between the new bike and the new tyres, because both have great potential.”

The Yamaha Tech 3 outfit again surprised with very competitive times of Carlos Checa, who seems to have made the chance to Yamaha and Dunlop effortlessly. Yamaha debutant James Ellison however could not progress on the strong last day test results he achieved in Qatar. He will need some time to digest the input of the last tests to recalibrate himself for the Barcelona IRTA test starting on March 3.

Carlos Checa (2’02.66)
“The times have been really good this week and I am quite happy and surprised with the progress we have made so far. We didn’t know what would happen coming here after the good first test we made in Qatar and we were prepared to have some problems, but things have been better than we expected and I am happy. The new bike is excellent, as I said before, and now we’re starting to understand more about the tyres with Dunlop and how to work together with what we have. We have tried quite a lot of new things with Dunlop this week and there are some good improvements; we have found much better grip here which is helping me to have more confidence.

“Anyway despite all this and the times we have set, I don’t want to be overconfident or to start to think that things are going to be easy. We have only done two tests and, although the initial signs are good, we can’t afford to relax. We have a lot of work to do and a long way to go. The conditions here have been quite strange and now we go to Barcelona, which is a very different track and with much colder weather. Let’s wait and see what happens there. Of course it’s my home track so it’s always nice for me to ride there, but we have a lot of hard work ahead of us so I won’t let anything distract me.”

James Ellison (2’05.70)
“This test has really been one that I would like to forget! We started with the settings we had in Qatar because everything felt good there, but they were a mile off for this track so we gradually started to go back to what we had here in January. We got the times back to what they were then but I couldn’t go any faster. My riding style is all wrong for here, comparing the data with Carlos’ it’s clear that I am still carrying way to much corner speed – a hang-over from my Superbike days – and I am having a real problem to make the change. I need to be running in fast on the brakes, stopping the bike, turning it and then firing it out, but it’s not easy at this circuit, which I find very difficult. The encouraging thing is that I have been losing all my time on just three corners, so if I can crack my corner style, which I know I can, then I believe I can start to be more in touch with Carlos.

“We’ve been pretty unlucky with the weather as well. Most of the time I spent on the old tyres, and then when we put some new stuff in yesterday it immediately started to rain! Exactly the same thing happened today; we tried some of the good tyres and the grip was much better straight away, but then we needed to change the bike at the front and as soon as we did that it started to rain again…

“Anyway, I think I’ve just been thinking about everything too much! Now I am going to go home and spend some time mountain-biking – my second passion after riding motorcycles and my best form of training. I hope that I can clear my head a bit and go to Barcelona in a new frame of mind. I think I just need to just go there, ride the bike, trust in my ability a little bit and stop trying to think about too many things at once! I really like Barcelona so I hope it will be a big improvement there.”

Herve Poncharal – Tech 3 Yamaha Team Director
“We are really happy and pleasantly surprised with the performance of Carlos this week. He was fast in Qatar, but it was only the first test and we knew that Qatar has always been a good track for Dunlop. We didn’t know what would happen here, since Sepang has always been one of the more difficult tracks for Dunlop. Anyway, Carlos has been fast all week and it’s looking very promising, we’re very pleased with the situation with him. We certainly didn’t expect this level of results that quickly so well done to Yamaha, Dunlop and Carlos for the work they’ve done together in a short space of time.

“With James things have been more difficult and we haven’t made as much progress as we had hoped. He’s done a lot of laps but we haven’t been able to find the right way forward for him. This is a difficult track for him and I think, after three tests here, he needs a break and a change of scenery. I hope that a bit of time to rest now will help him so that we can make a new start in Barcelona.

“Overall it’s been an important test and once again we’ve learned a lot. We also got the chance to do a couple of runs in the rain which was good. The most important thing is that we’re leaving with bikes and riders in good shape for the tests in Spain and we’re looking forward to the start of the season.”

Unofficial Lap Times:
1. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati, 2’01.92
2. Valentino Rossi(ITA) Yamaha, 2’02.06
3. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki, 2’02.20
4. Colin Edwards(USA) Yamaha, 2’02.33
5. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 2’02.34
6. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki, 2’02.47
7. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati, 2’02.65
8. Carlos Checa (SPA) Yamaha, 2’02.66
9. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda, 2’02.70
10. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda, 2’02.86
11. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Honda, 2’02.87
12. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda, 2’03.00
13. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda, 2’03.64
14. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati, 2’04.18
15. Kenny Roberts (USA) KR Honda, 2’04.30
16. Jose Luis Cardoso (SPA) Ducati, 2’04.82
17. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha, 2’05.70

Sepang Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 – 2’02.993
Sepang Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 – 2’01.731

Ambient temperature: 33 degrees
Track temperature: 48 degrees
Humidity: 74%

Malaysia, Sepang
15/2/2006

Valentino Rossi

Work ended early for Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards today when day two of the Camel Yamaha Team’s Sepang Test was cut short by a mid-afternoon rainstorm. The Team spent the morning working on different settings and testing tyres with Michelin, looking to eliminate the vibration that the riders have been experiencing lately, before the rain came down after lunch. Both riders ventured out in the wet on the 2006-spec M1, the first time they have been able to see the performance of the new bike in these conditions, but the track soon started to dry out in patches and they decided to call it a day after just a few laps.

Shinya Nakano (Kawasaki) set the fastest time of the day with a lap of 2’01.80, followed by Loris Capirossi (Ducati, 2’01.87). Rossi, who celebrates his 27th birthday tomorrow, was close behind him with a time of 2’01.89 after 47 laps, whilst team-mate Edwards completed 57 laps and set the seventh fastest time with a lap of 2’02.20. The Camel Yamaha Team has one final day of testing remaining tomorrow.

Valentino Rossi (2’01.89, 47 Laps)
“This morning we did quite a lot of laps and we were quite fast and consistent, so I was happy. We worked very well with Michelin and with one or two new tyres that they brought we made some good improvements to the vibration. Unfortunately in the afternoon it rained and we couldn’t go on as we wished. We made a few laps in the rain just to see how the new bike was in the wet; we had some new things to try with the electronic mapping in these conditions, but we needed more time. After a few laps the track started to dry and then with the conditions half wet and half dry, we had to stop. Tomorrow we might do a long run and we will also continue with the work we started today.”

Colin Edwards

Colin Edwards (2’02.20, 57 Laps)
“The weather was a real disappointment today because we had a lot of work to do and we weren’t able to complete as many laps as we had hoped. Anyway in the morning we concentrated on a new front fork setting and generally played around, looking for some improvements to the chatter issue. We didn’t have enough time to do everything but we definitely made some steps in the right direction. We tested a couple of tyres for Michelin but then the rain came down. We did a few laps in the rain, just to check some settings and try out a couple of new things for Yamaha, and everything seemed okay in that area. Tomorrow we’re going to get started nice and early as we’ve got a lot still to do; I really hope the weather is better!”

Davide Brivio – Camel Yamaha Team Director
“Unfortunately the rain stopped us from completing all the work we wanted to do, but anyway we tried to use these conditions as best we could to check some things with the new bike. Tomorrow is our final day of testing in warm conditions before we return to Europe and we have to try to use all the time we have available to us.”

Unofficial Lap Times:
1. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki, 2’01.80
2. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati, 2’01.87
3. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 2’01.89
4. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 2’01.90
5. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda, 2’01.93
6. Carlos Checa (SPA) Yamaha, 2’02.06
7. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha, 2’02.20
8. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki, 2’02.37
9. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda, 2’02.62
10. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda, 2’02.65
11. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Honda, 2’02.66
12. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati, 2’02.87
13. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda, 2’02.93
14. Kenny Roberts (USA) KR Honda, 2’02.95
15. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 2’03.18
16. Alex Hofmann (GER) Ducati, 2’04.23
17. Jose Luis Cardoso (SPA) Ducati, 2’04.65
18. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha, 2’05.08

Sepang Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 – 2’02.993
Sepang Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 – 2’01.731

Ambient temperature: 31 degrees
Track temperature: 45 degrees
Humidity: 74%

Malaysia, Sepang
14/2/2006

Valentino Rossi

Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards began their last three-day test in Sepang today, where they rejoined the rest of the MotoGP grid at the popular Malaysian venue. Fresh from their test in Qatar last week, Rossi and Edwards completed more valuable development work with the 2006-spec YZR-M1, both finishing the day in the top five on the unofficial time sheets.

Focusing almost entirely on ironing out the small vibration problems they have been suffering from lately, fast lap times were not the aim of the day for the Yamaha pair. Despite this however, Rossi and Edwards were on the pace and well inside lap record time. Edwards was third behind Marco Melandri (Honda, 2’01.66) and Dani Pedrosa (Honda, 2’01.89) with a best lap of 2’02.00 from 54 laps whilst Rossi, who also completed 54 laps, was fifth with a time of 2’02.20.

Colin Edwards

Colin Edwards (2’02.00, 54 Laps)
“It was seriously hot out there today and pretty exhausting! Today we concentrated on fixing the little bit of chatter we’ve had and played around with some front fork settings, just trying to dial it in. We made some good progress and we have a new front-end setting to try in the morning; we hope that this will be the final key. Honestly we didn’t really concentrate much on lap times but it seems that they came anyway, so I’m pretty happy! The bike already feels even better than it did here in January, the new stuff we have from both Yamaha and Michelin is great and after Qatar I am feeling really confident, especially with the front-end. It’s all going well so hopefully we can make the final steps we need over the next two days.”

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi (2’02.20, 54 Laps)
“Today we worked almost entirely on trying to solve the vibration problems that we have had. We changed many things, tried various different settings and collected a lot of important information throughout the day. Now we are looking forward to using all this information over the next two days and we are confident that we are close to fixing the problem. Once we’ve been able to fix it, we will be able to use this bike to its full potential. Yamaha has done a great job and the potential of this bike is very high, it’s a big improvement to last year’s M1 and I am sure that once we’ve solved this one remaining issue, things will be very good.”

Davide Brivio – Camel Yamaha Team Director
“Of course fixing this vibration is now our main focus and today we worked a lot with the entire team to try to find the right way forward. We had great cooperation between the two riders and both crews, exchanging information and experience and this is very important for the team’s progress. We’ve been working on data collection today and we will continue tomorrow, trying some new things and gathering more information to help us. We’ve already done many days testing with this new bike and mostly it’s going very well, now we have two more days here to continue with our improvement.”

Unofficial Lap Times:
1. Marco Melandri (ITA) Honda 2’01.66
2. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Honda 2’01.89
3. Colin Edwards(USA) Yamaha 2’02.00
4. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki 2’02.15
5. Valentino Rossi(ITA) Yamaha 2’02.20
6. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati 2’02.64
7. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki 2’02.75
8. Nicky Hayden (USA) Honda 2’02.86
9= Carlos Checa (SPA) Yamaha 2’03.40
9= Casey Stoner (AUS) Honda 2’03’40
11. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati 2’03.51
12. Toni Elias (SPA) Honda 2’03.52
13. Kenny Roberts (USA) KR Honda 2’03.58
14. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Honda 2’03.66
15. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki 2’04.02
16. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki 1’04.10
17. Alex Hoffman (GER) Ducati 2’05.40
18. Jose Luis Cardosa (SPA) Ducati 2’05.81
19. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha 2’05.90

Sepang Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 – 2’02.993
Sepang Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 – 2’01.73

Ambient temperature: 37 degrees
Track temperature: 54 degrees
Humidity: 79%

Reports in Italy suggest that MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi has switched his attention to yet another form of motorsport – following a recent Ferrari F1 drive and his latest MotoGP test for Camel Yamaha – by driving a Maserti MC12 sports car (of the type shown in the top picture) at Misano yesterday (Friday).

Motograndprix.it states that the seven times motorcycling world champion was invited to a secret test for the Racing Box FIA GT/ALMS team at the Italian circuit – and was able to lap just a few tenths of a second from the team’s regular driver, Marco Cioci, after only 15 laps in the car.

The Doctor’s latest outing means that, since the end of the 2005 MotoGP season, he has shown impressive pace in a Subaru WRC car, world championship spec go-kart, Ferrari F1 car and now a race spec Maserati!

Qatar, Losail
8/2/2006

Valentino Rossi

The Camel Yamaha Team finished their third day of testing at the Losail International Circuit with the track to themselves today, all other teams having begun testing one day earlier and finished yesterday. Alone on the track, Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were quickly able to complete the remaining Michelin tyre work they needed to do, before concluding the test with long runs in the afternoon.

Neither Rossi nor Edwards improved on their times from yesterday of 1’56.53 and 1’56.81 respectively, and these remain the fastest times from the three days of testing. However both riders still lapped under lap record pace today, Rossi setting a best time of 1’56.78 after 49 laps and Edwards 1’57.07 from 57 laps.

The Yamaha riders and team members now have a five day break before they rejoin the rest of the MotoGP paddock for the final ‘winter’ test in Sepang, Malaysia on 14th, 15th and 16th February.

Valentino Rossi

Valentino Rossi (1’56.78, 49 Laps)
“Today was not quite as good as the last two days, mainly because the condition of the track was slightly worse and we didn’t have such good grip. I think that last night there was a lot of wind and with only two bikes on the track today it wasn’t enough to clean the surface properly. Anyway we continued to work, did our long run and found out some more information about the new M1 in different conditions. We have some vibrations and our top priority now is to find a way to fix this; I hope we can do that in Sepang. Anyway, in general this has been a good test and we have made some more improvements. The times have been quite good and we’ve done some important work with Michelin. Now I go home for a few days to rest before we start again in Sepang next week.”

Colin Edwards

Colin Edwards (1’57.07, 57 Laps)
“Overall I am really happy with this test and I am looking forward to the season ahead. I am especially pleased with the setting of the bike, which we seem to be improving all the time. Both Yamaha and Michelin have worked really hard over the winter and, together with the new tyres, we’ve got a really good package. My long run was not bad this afternoon and the encouraging thing was that my times were consistent, even later on as the tyres started to go off slightly in the heat. It’s difficult to compare to last year’s race since the conditions are so different, but this year’s Qatar race is only two months away now, so we hope that the work we’ve done at this test will put us in a good starting position for that weekend. The general progress of the bike has been great over just two tests this year so now we will hopefully be able to keep working like this in Sepang next week.”

Davinde Brivio – Camel yamaha Team Director
“It was interesting to come here in very good conditions and we got some good information which we can work on for the start of the season. It’s good to now go immediately to Sepang to check again the settings that we found there at the first test in January. Sepang is the last really important test for us before the start of the season.”

Unofficial Lap Times:
Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 1’56.78
Colin Edwards(USA) Yamaha, 1’57.07

Qatar Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 – 1’57.903
Qatar Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 – 1’56.917

Ambient temperature: 28.1 degrees
Track temperature: 44.0 degrees
Humidity: 50.3%

Qatar, Losail
6/2/2006

Valentino Rossi

Testing for the first time at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar, Camel Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were pleased to get back in the saddle on their new 2006-specification YZR-M1s today. Both riders made the most of good temperatures to put in some fast laps at a track where both of them enjoy riding. Although they are only joined on the track here by the MotoGP Teams of Suzuki and Tech 3 Yamaha, as well as test riders from Ducati and Kawasaki, Rossi and Edwards were encouraged to finish the day at the top of the time sheets and are looking forward to more improvement over the next two days.

Both Rossi and Edwards were inside the lap record of 1’57.903; the World Champion with a time of 1’57.36 after just 48 laps and his American team-mate just behind after 77 laps with a best time of 1’57.52. Suzuki rider John Hopkins was third fastest with a time of 1’57.66 and Tech 3 Yamaha pilot Carlos Checa, making a return to Yamaha after a year’s absence, was fourth with a lap of 1’57.94.

Valentino Rossi (1’57.36, 48 Laps)
“It’s always nice to be fastest, although of course here we don’t have Honda or Ducati. Everything went very well today and I am pleased with this first day of work. As we’re quite close to home I have no problem with jet-lag, unlike at Sepang, so I feel like I have plenty of energy for these three days! The temperature is about 15 degrees cooler than at the race last year and so we are able to have quite good grip and to use the tyres at 100%, enabling us to go quite fast. Anyway with the new bike we have much more grip than with the old M1, but as in Sepang we have a tiny bit of chatter, so we are doing a lot of work with Michelin to fix that. Michelin have come here with many new tyres and so we are working a lot with them to test as much as possible. The new bike is already at a good level and now we are working hard on finding the right settings for it. I’m looking forward to the next two days.”

Colin Edwards (1’57.52, 77 Laps)

Colin Edwards

“Unlike Valentino I get pretty bad jet-lag here, coming from the US, so I felt pretty tired today! I hope to get a good night’s sleep tonight and to have a bit more energy tomorrow. The track is getting cleaner by the minute as more rubber gets laid down, so the grip is improving all the time; it’s already much better than in the race last year. Michelin have a lot of new tyres here so we’re spending a large part of our time on testing the new stuff with them. I really like this track, I’ve always gone good from the first time I came here so it’s an enjoyable place for me to test, plus the weather is great. The new bike really is better in every way and now I’ve just got to build my confidence with it. At the moment I am feeling stronger with every lap. It was a good first day and I was pleased to be able to get going so well so quickly.”

Daniele Romagnoli – Colin Edwards’ Crew Chief
“We very quickly found a good base-setting here today, much better than what we had at the race here last year. We’ve improved the front-end grip a lot and therefore Colin has much more confidence already in the front. It seems the new bike works well at this track and the lap times were good today. We made a good start.”

Unofficial Lap Times:
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha, 1’57.36
2. Colin Edwards(USA) Yamaha, 1’57.52
3. John Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 1’57.66
4. Carlos Checa (SPA) Yamaha, 1’57.94
5. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Suzuki, 1’58.62
6. S. Ito (JPN) Ducati, 1’58.90
7. James Ellison (GBR) Yamaha, 1’59.81
8. Olivier Jacque (FRA) Kawasaki, 2’00.43

Losail Lap Record: Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2005 – 1’57.903
Losail Best Lap: Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2005 – 1’56.917

Ambient temperature: 24.7 degrees
Track temperature: 38.0 degrees
Humidity: 73%

A motorcycling rivalry has spilled into the world of formula one, with Max Biaggi mockingly offering to teach MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi how to drive a four wheel racer.

”Going from two wheels to four, we’ve seen in the past that this can be done,” Schumacher said.

MotoGP hero Valentino Rossi was again testing for Ferrari on Wednesday at the Cheste circuit in Valencia.

Having impressed in private testing sessions in Italy over the past two years, Rossi made headlines of the wrong kind on Tuesday in his first public outing in a Ferrari when he spun on a wet track.

Former MotoGP rival Max Biaggi was among those to criticise Rossi after his spin on Tuesday, but the 26-year-old now had another chance to showcase his ability on four wheels in a modified version of Ferrari’s 2004 car.

Defending the title

The prospect of one of Italy’s most popular sportsmen driving the famous red cars in Formula One has been widely predicted ever since Rossi first tested at the team’s Fiorano test track in April 2004.

The motorbike ace tested for Ferrari again in August and November last year, but insists that he is fully committed to defending his MotoGP title this season.

But his contract at Yamaha expires at the end of 2006 and speculation is rife that he will join Ferrari in 2007.

Only John Surtees has won world titles in the premier category on two and four wheels, taking the Formula One world championship with Ferrari in 1964.

Rossi could well emulate him, but even he will admit he has a lot of work to do if he is to achieve that monumental feat.

Poor record

The other piece of history Rossi would have to battle against is the notoriously poor record of Italian drivers at Ferrari.

Alberto Ascari was Ferrari’s last Italian world champion in 1952 and many of his successors have spoken of the unbearable pressure that comes from driving for The Prancing Horse.

But that is all for another day and Rossi would have done his future prospects no harm with his performance on the track.

Despite spinning twice, he completed 53 laps and clocked a fastest time of one minute 12.851 seconds, just over a second slower than Schumacher in his new Ferrari 248 V8.

Defending world champion Fernando Alonso topped the timesheets, but Rossi can be content with ninth place on the day ahead of respected names such as David Coulthard, Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli. (AP)