Jerez IRTA Test

Circuito de Jerez, Spain
Sunday 12th March 2006

PRE-SEASON TESTING DRAWS TO A CLOSE IN JEREZ

Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards completed their final pre-season test in Jerez
today in front of hordes of Spanish fans, after riding thousands of kilometres
during a total of fifteen days' testing since January. Following a strong
showing at the Barcelona Test last week, the Camel Yamaha Team's preparations
have suffered something of a set back here and both riders have been hampered by
vibration problems throughout the three days of this test. Despite not making as
many improvements as they had hoped today, important information has been
gathered over the three days which will hopefully enable the Yamaha engineers
and Michelin to come up with a solution for the impending race.

The time-sheets were topped today br Ducati duo Loris Capirossi and Sete
Gibernau, with Capirossi lapping under Rossi's pole-time from 2005 with a lap of
1'39.411. Rossi, Edwards and the Camel Yamaha Team now have the chance to relax
at home for ten days before they return to this circuit for the season-opening
Spanish Grand Prix on 26th March.

COLIN EDWARDS (7th, 1'40.721, 82 laps)

"It would be nice if I could say that we've solved all our problems today, but
sadly it's just not the case and we're still struggling a bit. I think we've
really gone in circles a bit here. We've changed a lot of things and we haven't
really concentrated on a race simulation or the endurance of the tyre, we've
just been trying to find ways to dial out the problems we have. To be honest our
pace isn't bad but it's certainly not a winning pace, which is frustrating when
we saw in Barcelona last weekend how great our package is when it's all working!
Yamaha and Michelin have more than enough information after three days and I am
confident that they will come back with something to solve our problems. Anyway,
that's it for testing! I'm heading home for ten days to chill out a little bit
and let's hope that the new stuff we have when we come back for the race will
help us out so we can challenge for a win."

VALENTINO ROSSI (10th, 1'40.907, 83 laps)

"There were so many people here today, it was like a race!  Of course it's
really nice to have so many spanish fans, but today it's been quite difficult
for me even to go from the hospitality to the team truck! Yesterday I was
confident that we could find some big improvements today but honestly that
hasn't happened and now I am quite worried. The vibration has remained and at
the moment we don't know how to solve it. Yamaha and Michelin have done a lot of
good work today and we've tried many different tyres and settings, but we are
still slow.  This is the last test and throughout the whole pre-season period
we've always been fast and the bike has felt good, but this test has been
completely different. At the moment I am not sure what will happen in the race,
we'll have to wait and see. I hope that Jeremy, together with the Japanese
engineers and the Michelin technicians, can use all the data they have now to
understand the problem and see how to solve it."

DAVIDE BRIVIO - CAMEL YAMAHA TEAM DIRECTOR

"After this test we don't know how the race will go, but it's been very
important to have this chance to test before it. As the riders say, we've tried
many different things and collected a lot of information. Now our engineers will
have ten days to work on this and come up with some new ideas and solutions.
This is the end of winter testing and we've seen that our bike can work very
well at different tracks. We need to understand why this hasn't been the case
here, but we're convinced we can find a way forward and we know that we still
have a very good package."

Lap Times:

 1. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Ducati Marlboro Team,   1'39.411
 2. Sete Gibernau (SPA) Ducati Marlboro Team,     1'39.663
 3. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki Racing Team,     1'39.776
 4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team,         1'40.416
 5. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki Racing Team,   1'40.468
 6. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team,         1'40.570
 7. COLIN EDWARDS (USA) Camel Yamaha Team,        1'40.721
 8. Toni Elias (SPA) Fortuna Honda,               1'40.732
 9. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP,    1'40.750
10. VALENTINO ROSSI (ITA) Camel Yamaha Team,      1'40.907
11. Carlos Checa (SPA) Tech 3 Yamaha,             1'41.134
12. Marco Melandri (ITA) Fortuna Honda,           1'41.208
13. John Hopkins (USA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP,       1'41.208
14. Makoto Tamada (JPN) Konica Minolta Honda,     1'41.380
15. Kenny Roberts (USA) Team Roberts,             1'41.673
16. Jose Luis Cardoso (SPA) D'Antin Pramac,       1'41.761
17. Alex Hofmann (GER) D'Antin Pramac,            1'42.034
18. James Ellison (GBR) Tech 3 Yamaha,            1'42.686
19. Vittoriano Guareschi (ITA) Ducati,            1'42.759
20. Tadayuki Okada (JPN) HRC,                     1'43.513

Jerez Lap Record: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 - 1'40.596
Jerez Best Lap: Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2005 -   1'39.419