2012 Yamaha M1 better suited to Crutchlow's Superbike style
Crutchlow was head down on his way to fourth fastest time
Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow was able to set the fourth-fastest time on day two of MotoGP testing at Valencia yesterday as the new, 1000cc Yamaha M1 combined with a new generation of Bridgestone tyres give him a package that suits his style far more than the 800cc bike.
Crutchlow was only a second slower than timesheet topper Dani Pedrosa who set a 1'31.807 compared to the Briton's 1'32.550. Better news for Crutchlow was that Ben Spies was only two-tenths quicker on the full factory bike. Bridgestone's new generation of tyres are a little closer to the Pirellis Crutchlow spent two years on in that they warm up faster and the construction is less stiff so will move around more than this year's hoops.
“This was a very important test to get used to the new 1000cc YZR-M1 and thankfully the weather was in our favour and we could get in a lot of laps to understand the early potential of the bike. The 1000 seems to suit my style a little better and I have to say that Yamaha has done a very good job and we are already working from a strong base," said Crutchlow.
"The bike feels quite similar to the 800 YZR-M1 but Yamaha has managed to keep the strong points of this year's bike. You can immediately feel the extra horsepower, which is impressive, but I'm happy because I could keep a very consistent pace. I'm looking forward to the winter break now.
"I learned a lot in my first season in MotoGP that will help me be much stronger in 2012. I'd like to thank all my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew for their efforts this year. They've given me their maximum support and I am grateful for that.”
Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow was able to set the fourth-fastest time on day two of MotoGP testing at Valencia yesterday as the new, 1000cc Yamaha M1 combined with a new generation of Bridgestone tyres give him a package that suits his style far more than the 800cc bike.
Crutchlow was only a second slower than timesheet topper Dani Pedrosa who set a 1'31.807 compared to the Briton's 1'32.550. Better news for Crutchlow was that Ben Spies was only two-tenths quicker on the full factory bike. Bridgestone's new generation of tyres are a little closer to the Pirellis Crutchlow spent two years on in that they warm up faster and the construction is less stiff so will move around more than this year's hoops.
“This was a very important test to get used to the new 1000cc YZR-M1 and thankfully the weather was in our favour and we could get in a lot of laps to understand the early potential of the bike. The 1000 seems to suit my style a little better and I have to say that Yamaha has done a very good job and we are already working from a strong base," said Crutchlow.
"The bike feels quite similar to the 800 YZR-M1 but Yamaha has managed to keep the strong points of this year's bike. You can immediately feel the extra horsepower, which is impressive, but I'm happy because I could keep a very consistent pace. I'm looking forward to the winter break now.
"I learned a lot in my first season in MotoGP that will help me be much stronger in 2012. I'd like to thank all my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 crew for their efforts this year. They've given me their maximum support and I am grateful for that.”
Abraham satisfied with Test outcome
The Cardion AB Motoracing rider put in two solid days of work at the Official MotoGP Test at Valencia and is now looking forward to a deserved winter break.
Karel Abraham’s debut season in the premier class of the MotoGP World Championship came to a conclusion at the Official Test at Valencia on Wednesday, where the Cardion AB Motoracing rider finished the second day seventh fastest with a best time of 1’33.433.
Searching for a suitable set-up on the new Ducati Desmosedici GP12, the 21 year-old completed 72 laps and was 1.626s off fastest rider Dani Pedrosa.
Karel Abraham:
“During the first few laps we solved most of the problems we had and then we tried many things and focused on the set-up of the motorcycle. I’m quite satisfied with the result of the Test, but I think I could have set an even better lap time. I spent most of the time on track in the morning and then I was quite tired in the afternoon, but I’m happy with the way I ended my first season in the premier class and now I’m looking forward to winter break.”
Ben Spies tests for two
“We had a lot of work to do with Jorge not being here but we've got through everything" – Ben Spies.
Yamaha's Ben Spies rode more laps than any other rider during the two days of 1000cc testing at Valencia.
Third fastest behind Repsol Honda riders and on both days, Spies improved his best lap time by a second to finish 0.5sec from Pedrosa at the close of 2011 track action.
"This is testing so we never got close to the limit with the bike; it's about riding at 90% consistently to test the motorcycle," said Spies after day one. "When we get the full package next year in Sepang we'll go closer to the limit. I can't complain about the engine power though, we don't need any more…"
Despite team-mate missing the test, Spies' workload - 73 laps on day one, then 75 laps on day two - meant that the factory still got through its entire test programme.
Spies spent the sessions working through two differing engine specifications and a number of frame and geometry settings.
“It's been a long two days,” said Spies, who narrowly lost out to Stoner in Sunday's season finale. “We had a lot of work to do with Jorge not being here but we've got through everything. I think we got the guys working in the right direction, we're still quite a way from Qatar and what we'll be racing with, but we've got a good idea of what we need to work on.
"There's a lot of potential in what we have so they'll go back to Japan now to work on it for a couple of months and we'll see what we have as a package next year. The team and engineers have worked really hard for the last couple of days so a big thank you to them.”
“Ben did a really good job; I've never seen him so focused in a test," commented Team Director Massimo Meregalli. "It's the best way to start the new season.”
'1000cc suits my style' - Crutchlow fourth
at Valencia test
"You can immediately feel the extra horsepower, which is impressive, but I'm happy because I could keep a very consistent pace" - Cal Crutchlow.
2011 Rookie of the Year Cal Crutchlow finished his debut test on a 1000cc grand prix bike with the fourth fastest lap time after two-days at Valencia.
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider, who has won races on 1000cc machinery at World Superbike level, set a best lap time 0.743sec behind (Honda) and only 0.212sec from top M1 rider Ben Spies.
“This was a very important test to get used to the new 1000cc YZR-M1 and thankfully the weather was in our favour and we could get in a lot of laps to understand the early potential of the bike," said the Englishman.
"The 1000 seems to suit my style a little better and I have to say that Yamaha has done a very good job and we are already working from a strong base. The bike feels quite similar to the 800 YZR-M1 but Yamaha has managed to keep the strong points of this year's bike.
"You can immediately feel the extra horsepower, which is impressive, but I'm happy because I could keep a very consistent pace.
"I'm looking forward to the winter break now. I learned a lot in my first season in that will help me be much stronger in 2012."
New team-mate was one place and 0.7sec behind Crutchlow on the 16-rider timesheet.
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