Davide Brivio – Team manager
“It’s been a positive test because we’ve pretty much got through everything we needed to and at the end of the day we’re in good shape and we’ve made further improvements to our bike. Most importantly, Valentino’s race pace is now very good. It was unfortunate not to win the ‘qualifying’ session today because it’s always nice to start the season off on that note but Casey was very strong, so congratulations to him. We’re leaving here happy and satisfied; we have a few small things to work on for Qatar but we’re basically ready to race.”

Daniele Romagnoli -Team Manager
“After yesterday and this morning’s sessions we expected to be closer to the front, but we couldn’t get there today. We used the harder tyre that we selected yesterday, with which Jorge had his best performance, but unfortunately the weather was colder today and so the potential for a few fast laps was higher with the softer tyre today. Our race pace is good, but obviously we still need to keep working to keep up with Casey, because he is very fast. Next time it will be the real thing in Qatar, where we had a very good test, and we’re confident that Jorge can be at the top.”

Colin Edwards 10th, James Toseland in lucky escape
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 squad ended its 2009 MotoGP pre-season preparations with a day of contrasting fortunes for Colin Edwards and James Toseland in Jerez.

Edwards finished 10th quickest overall, the Texan posting his best time of 1.40.305 in the televised 45-minute BMW shootout that was cut short by heavy rainfall. Edwards was less than 0.2s off a top six finish with his main focus spent working on a front-end setting to help him maximise the potential of the Bridgestone front tyre ahead of the first race in Qatar on April 12.

British rider James Toseland had a lucky escape after he suffered a spectacular crash during the timed BMW session. Toseland fell heavily at Turn Three with 16 minutes remaining while he was in 15th position on the timesheets.

The 28-year-old underwent precautionary scans at hospital in Cadiz this afternoon after suffering concussion in the fall, but having been given the all-clear by doctors, Toseland returned to the Jerez paddock later this evening.

He will fly home to the UK tomorrow to rest and recuperate ahead of the season’s opening race under the Losail International Circuit’s floodlights.

Herve Poncharal – Team Manager
“It was obviously not the way we wanted to finish what has been a very positive winter for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team. Firstly, I’d like to thank the team for all their hard work and effort over the winter. I believe we are in a great position to have our best season for a long time, and with our new partner Monster, the future is looking very bright for Tech 3. Colin has done another excellent job for the team and Yamaha here. He never came here to win the car, but he wanted to get more of an understanding of the new bike and the Bridgestone tyres ahead of the first race. I think we can be very optimistic after Colin’s performance during the winter of a very good season. I am obviously delighted that James is going to be fit for the first race after another big crash today. It is a real pity for him because he was really looking like his old self this weekend after the crash in Sepang and making some big progress with the bike and the tyres. I’m sure he will be ready and determined to give 100 per cent again in Qatar. All of us can’t wait for the first race.”