Valentino Rossi back on top in the third session at Sepang test

Posted: 28 Feb 2014

Factory Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi continued his return to form by concluding the third session of this week's MotoGP pre-season test at Sepang with a blistering best time of 1:59.999 – the best lap of the three-day test. The multi-World Champion was joined at the top of the time sheet by yesterday’s fastest rider, Dani Pedrosa, who also posted an identical best lap.

After yesterday’s session, Rossi had vented his frustrations at being unable to get the maximum from his Yamaha YZR-M1 with the new specification Bridgestone tyres – apparently having used 2013 rubber in the first session on Wednesday and posted a better time. The Italian had stated: "The main thing at this test is to adapt the M1 to work well with the new Bridgestone tyres. We’ve worked a lot and tried many things but at the end of the day we are not very happy…

“We’re suffering because with this tyre our bike becomes difficult to manage. Tomorrow we will try again but we don’t have much that we can do."

However, like many of the other riders in the field today, Rossi did manage to shave his time down from the 2:01.349 best lap he posted in the opening session.

Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso posted the third quickest time, with Yamaha’s Aleix Espargaro and Honda’s Stefan Bradl in fourth and fifth respectively. Brits Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith are leaving Sepang with the eighth and ninth quickest times today – their best times of the three-day test being seventh and ninth – while Bennetts-backed Scott Redding leaves Malaysia with 18^th.

Testing resumes at Qatar early next month.

Test results – day 3

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