Ben Spies - Photo Credit: MotoGP.com
Ben Spies believes the Yamaha team have a good base from which to work on after completing the latest test of their 1000cc challenger at Valencia. Despite riding alone without the help of injured teammate Jorge Lorenzo, the American managed to work through two differing engine specifications as well as a number of different frame and geometry settings, completing 57 laps in all.
Spies was third quickest overall, half a second behind Dani Pedrosa's pace-setting Honda, and is excited at the progress the Yamaha team plan to make.
“It's been a long two days. 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.”
Team Director Massimo Meregalli praised Spies for his commitment given the intense work load and looks forward to resuming pre-season testing in the new year.
“It's been a really good test. We got a lot of data, everything we were missing in the previous tests from cancellations and injuries etc. The work that we've done is good, the schedule is completed and we are quite satisfied. There is of course still some work to do but I think it's been positive. Now they'll check the data in Japan and we'll see the next step in January. Ben did a really good job; I've never seen him so focused in a test. It's the best way to start the new season.”
