IN
THE
WIND
P22
ROSSI LEADS FIRST DAY AT SEPANG
M
ovistar Yamaha's Valen-
tino Rossi topped the time
sheets on the first day at the
second MotoGP Sepang pre-
season test of 2015. A combina-
tion of high temperatures in the
a.m. and a thunderstorm in the
afternoon made for a difficult
beginning to the three-day IRTA
test at the Sepang International
Circuit in Malaysia, but that didn't
stop the former World Champion
Rossi from finding out the advan-
tages of the new seamless shift
gearbox on his YZF-M1.
"Everybody in our team was
curious about the updated gear-
box and the first impression is
quite positive, so I'm happy,"
Rossi said. "It doesn't make a
huge difference, but it's a small
help in a difficult point where we
need to improve. The bike is a bit
better in braking and corner en-
try and I think we need to work to
understand the maximal poten-
tial, but the first test was good.
I am happy to finish in the first
position because I was in P1 from
this morning, so it's a good first
day."
Track action was halted tem-
porarily due to a thunderstorm,
but Rossi was able to make use
of the time in the wet conditions.
"It's important for us to make
some kilometers on the wet,"
Rossi said. "I don't really like the
feeling with the bike on the wet
