The official MotoGP Test at Brno on Monday saw the on-track debut of Yamaha’s 2012 machine, which both factory riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies had ridden by the time the midday interval arrived.
Spies was the first out on the prototype shortly after 10.30am local time as conditions began to warm up, and the American had completed 24 laps on the bike by 1pm local time. Spies’ best lap was a 1’56.306, just 0.046s off Casey Stoner who was top of the timesheet at the end of the first session in his second Test of the Honda 1000cc bike. Spies also completed 15 laps on his current M1 machine, and was just under nine-tenths of a second quicker on the 2012 version. He finished his day’s work when the one-hour break came.
His team-mate and reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo also had his first taste of the new bike, running 12 laps on it after first working on the present-season M1 for the majority of the morning. Lorenzo put in a best lap of 1’56.892 on the 2012 bike, 0.165s slower than his fastest effort on the M1.
Whilst Stoner led the way in terms of lap times, his Repsol Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa rode the 1000cc machine for the first time. The Spaniard was 1.004s down on his team-mate as he got to grips with the more powerful machine, running two bikes with different set-ups.
Elsewhere Valentino Rossi worked tirelessly on the Desmosedici GP11.1 throughout the morning, putting in 36 laps as he compared different riding positions. On the other side of the Ducati Team garage team-mate Nicky Hayden rode a short stint on the GP11 before spending the rest of the session on the GP11.1 on which he was faster, putting in a best effort of 1’57.616.
Mika Kallio and the Marc VDS Team are also present at the Test, working with Suter on the Swiss manufacturer’s 2012 machine. The Finn’s best time was a 2’00.626 from 46 laps, as he made steady progress throughout the session.
source: MotoGP Official Website
