GAULOISES YAMAHA TEAM TEST

Phillip Island, Australia
Friday, March 11, 2005

Ambient temperature: 25 degrees
Track temperature: 34 degrees
Humidity: 66%

ROSSI AND EDWARDS COMPLETE OVERSEAS PHASE OF TESTING

Gauloises Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards completed the
last day of a three-day test in Phillip Island, Australia today, both improving
slightly on their times from yesterday. They took advantage of an improvement in
the weather with some sunny, if windy, conditions today. But the rain that the
team has had to cope with for the last two days left a legacy of poor grip at
the picturesque track south of Melbourne.

Sharing the circuit again with fellow Yamaha riders Ruben Xaus and Toni Elias,
Rossi and his new team-mate Edwards worked hard throughout the day on settings
and tyre testing and were able to complete 83 and 79 laps respectively. Rossi
set the fastest time of the day with a lap of 1'30.44; two-tenths faster than
his time from yesterday but still slower than the 1'29.68 he recorded at the
last test in Phillip Island when conditions were better.

Edwards set a best lap of 1'30.50, one-tenth of a second faster than his best
time from the last test and a half-second improvement on his time from
yesterday. Spaniard and MotoGP rookie Toni Elias completed 73 laps with a best
of 1'31.85 and his fellow countryman and last year's MotoGP Rookie of the Year,
Ruben Xaus, finished the day with a best lap of 1'32.61 from 118 laps.

The Gauloises Yamaha Team now returns to Europe for the first time since the
Valencia Grand Prix last November for two official IRTA Tests in Barcelona from
18th to 20th March and Jerez from 25th to 27th March. This will be the first
time the bikes will run in their new 2005 livery, which was unveiled by the
riders and Yamaha senior management on Monday at a press conference in Tokyo..

Valentino Rossi (1'30.44, 83 laps)

"Today the weather was better but the track conditions were still not very good.
The track has been so affected by all the rain before on the previous days that
it was still quite difficult and this is why we didn't improve the lap times
much. We were able to do some good work however, and continue working on the
bike settings and testing tyres for Michelin, so it was a worthwhile day. Now
I'm really looking forward to moving on to Barcelona with everyone else and
continuing to develop the new bike as we move closer to the first race."

Colin Edwards (1'30.50, 79 laps)

"The sun shone today but the track still wasn't great. With all the rain and
just four bikes on the track for only a couple of days, there wasn't enough
rubber laid down to have a really good surface to test on today. Despite that
I'm really happy with my progress and we've had some really good stuff to work
with from both Yamaha and Michelin; I feel I'm going totally in the right
direction. This is the last 'quiet' test and from here on out it's getting
serious! It's now on to Barcelona with everyone else; I just need to buckle down
and start getting some consistently good lap times."

Davide Brivio, Gauloises Yamaha Team Director

"Unfortunately the weather has not been on our side during these three days, but
it's always good to test anyway and gather more information. Both riders have
definitely made some progress at this test despite the bad weather; we've
continued to improve the settings on the new bike and learn more about it. Now
we've completed 15 days in total of overseas testing since the end of last
season and it's time to move back to Europe and start the new season properly."

Unofficial Lap Times:

 1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)  1'30.44
 2. Colin Edwards (Yamaha)    1'30.50
 3. Toni Elias (Yamaha)       1'31.85
 4. Ruben Xaus (Yamaha)       1'32.61