After a long winter wait the Yamaha Factory Racing riders were finally back on track today for the first official ride of the 2014 season at the Sepang International circuit in Malaysia. The first day of the three-day IRTA test gave riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi a chance to blow off the cobwebs and stretch their muscles on a bike again as they worked through a number of test items for the 2014 YZR-M1.

Rossi, the first Factory rider to venture out on track, was also the first to find a quicker pace on his M1, slotting quickly into the top three and leading briefly before the lunch break. As the afternoon session continued the Italian was joined by his teammate Lorenzo who moved up into second, just 0.3 off front man Marc Marquez. A flurry of fast laps towards the end of the session re-shuffled the pack a little, Rossi ending the day in second, 0.518 from the top and Lorenzo in fourth, 0.796 seconds from first.

The Yamaha Factory riders were enjoying their 2014 bikes in full livery, featuring recently announced sponsors Eurasian Bank, Fiat Professional and SuisseGas.

The bikes also had a special sticker stating ‘Yamaha Lends a Hand to Yolanda Victims’ to promote Yamaha’s campaign to support victims of the typhoon in the Philippines.

The day’s testing was followed by a special press conference hosted by Yamaha Motor, introducing Yamaha’s Global 2014 Racing Program. The event was also attended by Takaaki Kimura, Senior Managing Executive Officer and Representative Director of Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd.

Valentino Rossi - 2nd / 2'00.804 / 61 laps

“I’m happy about the first day, it's a good start. I feel good and I’m in a good shape. I’m happy because we’ve been very fast and always stayed in the top three positions. We worked a lot on the bike and on the new stuff to try and improve my problems. We already found something. I’m happy because I feel good with the bike and was able to go into the 2’00 minute mark, that was my target. It's a positive day.”

Jorge Lorenzo - 4th / 2'01.082 / 47 laps

“As always it’s difficult to come back again in a good shape after the Winter, some months without training changes you a lot so the first day is always tough! The bike has changed quite a bit compared to last year. The new regulation of 20 litres fuel allowance makes us change quite a lot of electronics so the bike is not working exactly how I would like. I know we will find a solution in the next two days.”


Wilco Zeelenberg - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Manager

“The first day is done, we tried many things, some positive and some things also to solve. For sure it’s important to start the first day without crashing so we are happy that Jorge got back into his rhythm. Tomorrow we have to solve some problems as it’s not completely where we want to be. This is of course testing and we are going in the right direction.”

Massimo Meregalli - Yamaha Factory Racing Team Director

“It has been a good first day, we were able to complete the schedule. We are for sure looking for some adjustments but we were able to get a lot of information and good results. We will study the data now and tomorrow we will proceed with our test schedule.”



1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 2m 0.286s (Lap 52/62)
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 2m 0.804s | +0.518s (58/61)
3. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 2m 0.906s | +0.620s (73/75)
4. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing (YZR-M1) 2m 1.082s | +0.796s (26/47)
5. Alvaro Bautista ESP GoFun Honda Gresini (RC213V) 2m 1.240s | +0.954s (48/52)
6. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 2m 1.320s | +1.034s (10/25)
7. Aleix Espargaro ESP NGM Mobile Forward Racing (FTR-M1) 2m 1.419s | +1.133s (19/26)
8. Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 2m 1.538s | +1.252s (38/44)
9. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 2m 1.634s | +1.348s (42/48)
10. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 2m 1.876s | +1.590s (54/55)
11. Colin Edwards USA NGM Mobile Forward Racing (FTR-M1) 2m 2.483s | +2.197s (25/26)
12. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 2m 2.497s | +2.211s (21/27)
13. Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Test Rider (Desmosedici) 2m 2.552s | +2.266s (47/48)
14. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team (Desmosedici) 2m 2.860s | +2.574s (16/38)
15. Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing (Desmosedici) 2m 2.891s | +2.605s (28/49)
16. Katsuyuki Nakasuga JPN Yamaha Test Rider (YZR-M1) 2m 3.126s | +2.840s (14/35)
17. Nicky Hayden USA Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 2m 3.319s | +3.033s (53/56)
18. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Drive M7 Aspar (RCV1000R) 2m 3.328s | +3.042s (49/51)
19. Randy de Puniet FRA Suzuki Test Rider (XRH-1) 2m 3.893s | +3.607s (47/75)
20. Kosuke Akiyoshi JPN Honda Test Rider 2m 4.267s | +3.981s (27/64)
21. Scott Redding GBR GoFun Honda Gresini (RCV1000R) 2m 4.431s | +4.145s (41/48)
22. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki) 2m 4.922s | +4.636s (34/44)
23. Mike di Meglio FRA Avintia Blusens (FTR-Kawasaki) 2m 5.825s | +5.539s (50/51)
24. Broc Parkes AUS Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 2m 5.889s | +5.603s (32/40)
25. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (PBM-ART) 2m 6.070s | +5.784s (14/14)
26. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing (RCV1000R) 2m 6.755s | +6.469s (21/41)


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