Jorge Lorenzo very satisfied, Rossi not 100% happy

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

During today’s second day of official testing at Sepang Jorge Lorenzo stopped the clock in 2’00.282, but it wasn’t this singular lap that became the new benchmark for the Sepang 2 test (Casey Stoner’s 2012 Sepang pre-season lap of 1.59.607 seems to be still a mirage) but it was his pace that was scary or as team mate Valentino Rossi quaintly put it, “The difference today was Lorenzo, especially his pace: 2 00s, 00, 00, 00, 00… F**k!”

The reigning World champion was able to go under the 2.01 mark 18 times compared to Pedrosa who did it only three times, or Cal Crutchlow’s one hot lap, so the fact that he hasn’t yet touched Pedrosa’s 2.01.100 best lap during the first test becomes less relevant, and tomorrow Lorenzo is planning a race simulation and that’s when we’ll see how more he has hidden up his sleeve.

“The track was much better than yesterday, which surprised me a lot right from the beginning. That allowed me to be stronger right from the beginning so we’re very satisfied with the improvements we’re making with the settings. On top of that, I feel stronger as a rider than the first Sepang test so I’m very satisfied,” said Lorenzo who believes that a second came from the improved tarmac conditions and the rest was a slightly improved acceleration and better riding from himself.

Valentino Rossi was a lot less happier regarding the gap that separates him from the two front runners. After having to use his 2012 spec machine yesterday following an electrical issue, he also had technical issues today, the Italian worked to increase grip and traction on the only bike that he had available, but the modifications made him lose in bike balance on worn tires and that will be step he’ll have to work on during the final day of testing.

“I’m happy, the feeling is quite good. Today was a very long day; I did more than 60 laps because we had a lot of work to do. We continued to work to increase the rear grip and traction, especially when the tyre has a lot of laps on it. We found something but we are still not 100% happy, as we lost a little of the balance in the bike. Tomorrow the target is to improve the traction without losing the balance and then the bike will be very good,”commented Rossi