Took a brand new BMW

Get Your Rudebox!!

Valentino Rossi will leave Jerez tonight with a brand new BMW M car and, more importantly, a crucial psychological advantage over his title rivals after winning the 40 minute qualifying session at Jerez this afternoon.

The five time MotoGP World Champion took the 2007 BMW M Award with scorching 138.394 lap, clocked with just five minutes to go in the session. It is the second time that Rossi has won the award, and an excellent end to a preseason where the 800cc Yamaha M1 has shone brightly.

The Italian had to work for it though, and a vintage display was required to edge out early pacesetter Dani Pedrosa. Repsol Hondas Spanish star had laid down the gauntlet early on by breaking first the 140 then the 139 barrier as he pushed for the top spot.

After seeing Rossi clock his eventual winning time Pedrosa completed a perfect lap at the death, beating his best times at all four timed sections of the circuit. His final fastest lap was 138.527, under two tenths of a second slower than his World Championship rival.

Day Three Combined Official Times
1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Racing) - 1'38.394
2. Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) - 1'38.527
3. Colin Edwards (Yamaha Factory Racing) - 1'39.300
4. Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda) - 1'39.556
5. Randy de Puniet (Kawasaki Racing Team) - 1'39.832
6. Casey Stoner (Ducati Marlboro Team) - 1'39.873
7. Loris Capirossi (Ducati Marlboro Team) - 1'39.887
8. Chris Vermeulen (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) - 1'40.043

Set new record

Five times former world champion Valentino Rossi threw down the gauntlet to his rivals in this year's title race when he set the fastest ever lap at the Jerez circuit in official pre-season testing on Sunday.

The Italian, who lost his crown when he finished as runner-up to Nicky Hayden in last year's championship, smashed the existing circuit best lap with a time of 1 minute 38.394 seconds on his Yamaha.

The new mark was set despite the fact that this season the bikes in the MotoGP class have been reduced in capacity from 990cc to 800cc. The previous best lap was 1:39.064 set by Loris Capirossi on a Ducati in 2006.

Rossi's main title rival Dani Pedrosa of Spain was second quickest, 0.133 down on the Yamaha rider, while the Italian's team mate Colin Edwards clocked the third fastest time.

Champion Hayden, who is still regaining confidence after shoulder surgery, was fourth in the rankings, 1.112 seconds behind Rossi.

"It's magnificent, but of course it doesn't count towards world championship points," Rossi said. "It is the first battle won.

"The new Yamaha is already faster than last year's model and it seems to be effective at every circuit. It is a good starting point for 2007."

Pedrosa told Spanish state television: "I'm delighted, I didn't expect to go this fast. I'm very impressed."

The last official test turned into a shoot out between Rossi and Pedrosa, with the two riders seeking a psychological edge ahead of the season-opening grand prix in Qatar on March 10.

Marco Melandri, who was fastest in testing on Friday and Saturday, dropped down the rankings on the final day. He clocked the 14th fastest time on his Honda.

Rossi set fastest time in Sepang

Former five-times world champion Valentino Rossi completed the first MotoGP test of 2007 in style on Wednesday, by putting his new Yamaha on top of the timesheets with the fastest ever 800cc lap of Sepang.

Although Rossi and Factory Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards finished the final day a little earlier than usual, both completed their full agenda of work, once again trying several new tyres for Michelin, with Rossi also concentrating on improving the balance of the bike when braking.

Rossi's best time of 2mins 0.936secs was set on a qualifying tyre and is close to his pole position time from last year's grand prix, when he was riding the old 990cc machine. The Italian's nearest rival was Suzuki's John Hopkins, fastest on the opening two days, who clocked a time of 2mins 1.026secs. Edwards, who did not use a qualifying tyre, was eighth fastest with a lap of 2mins 2.266secs.

"Today was another good day for us," declared Rossi at the end of testing. "We concentrated a lot on braking and definitely made some improvements, although I think we can still make it even better and this is something we will work on when we come back here. We had an important technical meeting today and came to some interesting conclusions, which will help Yamaha's engineers to continue to improve our new bike. We've got through our entire programme for this test, including testing many new tyres for Michelin.

"Today I also had the chance to try a qualifying tyre and I was able to go below 2.01; I think that Michelin have done a very good job over the winter. We tried the 16" tyre again and I am still sure that it's good for us, although we still need more time to work on it with Michelin. Overall it's been a very positive test for us."

But whilst most teams will now head straight to Phillip Island for another test, Yamaha has instead elected to miss the Australian outing and instead return to action for the third and final Sepang test on 5th, 6th and 7th February.

"Most of the other teams will go to Phillip Island now, but we will return here in ten days with more new things to test," confirmed Rossi. "We still need to work on the engine, although for this early stage it's very good. So far we have concentrated on power delivery, rather than on the power itself, but this is only the first test of the year so there is plenty more time!"

Edwards also left Malaysia with a smile on his face, having solved his day two concerns by adopting a set-up similar to his team-mate's.

"I'm heading home feeling really happy after three excellent day's work. We didn't do so much today, 22 laps, but it was enough to back up what we've learnt this week and finish feeling sure about everything. We changed direction with tyres a bit today and went towards the package Valentino's been using and that definitely improved things even more; my fastest lap was on a race tyre similar to the one he's been using quite a bit," said the Texan. "We didn't try a qualifier, but I really felt that I got into the 'zone' on the race tyre and that was when my best time came. We tried a new front and a new rear as well and they were both great, the tyre situation in general is really good. We played around a bit with the setting too and tested a few things Valentino's been using, but actually I preferred my setting so we came back to that. So that's it for the first test and it's been really encouraging. A quick rest now and then we'll be back for more!"

"The final conclusion of this test is very positive but we need to keep working hard; we have clear ideas about what we need to do," added team director Davide Brivio. "We're coming back here again soon and we will have new items to test, especially tyres, and we will be able to continue to fine-tune the set-up of the new 800. 10th March is getting closer and closer so we have to just keep on working!"

Happy with new bike

Valentino Rossi declared himself happy with the progress made by Yamaha on their new 800cc bike, despite searing heat on day two of the Moto GP test at Sepang in Malaysia.

With temperatures peaking at a scorching 39 degrees Celsius, the 20 riders present could have been forgiven for staying in the relative cool of their air-conditioned garages. But with heavy rain predicted for the Wednesday, there was little option but to maximise running while the track remained dry.

Five-time world champion Rossi was no different, and completed more than two race distances on his new bike. Rossi said: "Today I made my first long-run with the new bike, because I was worried about the weather for tomorrow. It was important to be able to see the level of the bike over a long distance, so we didn't want to risk waiting for the last day. The temperature at noon was very high and the sun felt like a sword beating down on my helmet, but it was still great fun and I really enjoyed myself!"

The 27-year-old Italian added that the team still had some work to do on both the bike's braking system and on it's reaction to Michelin's new 16 inch front tyre. His American team-mate Colin Edwards went second fastest - only headed by John Hopkins' Suzuki - but found that a radical new set-up he tried during the afternoon did not bear fruit.

Edwards said: "This afternoon was much harder [than the morning] and it was pretty hot out there too. The package I used for the long-run wasn't so good, it definitely wasn't the right direction for the rear tyre and it was hard work for me. Anyway Valentino's package worked well and that's why we're here after all – to work out what does work and what doesn't!"