JAKARTA - Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi made his debut as a Petronas Yamaha SRT team in his new uniform when bulldozing the first day of the pre-season test session at the Losail Circuit, Qatar, Saturday, March 6.
A dusty track and strong winds welcomed Rossi and his team-mate Franco Morbidelli that day.
Rossi and Morbidelli consistently appeared in the top ten ranking in the first half of the seven-hour test.
After completing 54 laps and testing the new chassis, Rossi ended the day's test with a best time of 1: 55.584 seconds in the P14, or 0.897 seconds slower than Aleix Espargaro of the Aprilia team who topped the record for day one.
"It was a little strange at first because the winter break was longer than usual, so the start of the MotoGP bike always feels very impressive and very fast after three months of not riding it," said Rossi.
"This is the start of a new adventure today and I am very happy with my first day with the Petronas Yamaha SRT," he said.
"It was a good day, my pace was good throughout the day and I really enjoyed it," he added.
"At the end of the day my results were not fantastic but we did well and the atmosphere in the team was very good," said Rossi.
"Today we are basically working on a standard bike and we haven't tried a lot of things, just a few laps with the new chassis, which we want to keep testing in the next few days."
Meanwhile, Morbidelli, who uses a Yamaha A-spec motorbike, emerged as the fastest Yamaha rider when he finished P7 with a record of 1: 55,175.
"Of course there is still something to be developed, but we are not too far from the top riders so I'm happy with that," said Morbidelli.
"I'm also happy because the bike is the same but different, it feels the same as last year but we are faster on the straight.
"Tomorrow we'll try some electronic upgrades to test ... a very good first day."
The Losail circuit will return to the test ground on Sunday and the second session takes place on March 10-12 before hosting the season opener on March 28.
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