Romagnoli basing Yamaha M1 potential on Rossi & Edwards’ Sepang times :: MotoGP.com

MotoGP.com



Fiat Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo was lower down the timesheet than might have been expected at last week’s test in Sepang, but results from two other Yamaha stars have convinced his Team Manager that the Japanese factory’s 2009 bike is a potential title-winning machine.

Daniele Romagnoli has been one of the key men behind Lorenzo’s adaptation to 800cc riding, and was supervising his charge’s first encounter with the full factory M1 over the course of the three-day stay in Malaysia. Lorenzo finished seventh in the combined standings from the trio of sessions, but the times clocked by his teammate Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards proved convincing for Romagnoli.
“Valentino and Colin showed that the bike is good and that it can do very good times,” said the Italian. “I think that this is positive, and that the machine can be competitive this year.”

As for Lorenzo’s being eight-tenths of a second down on Rossi and half a second on Edwards, Romagnoli was pragmatic in his analysis.
“Jorge had a little problem getting a good lap time from the beginning of the test. He just needs more time to adapt.”

Lorenzo’s fastest time of 2’01.917 came on the last lap of his Saturday race simulation.