Jerez test: Jorge Lorenzo confident with 2009 Yamaha

Jorge Lorenzo believes Yamaha has made big steps with the performance of its 2009 factory YZR-M1.

The Spaniard got his first proper chance to test the prototype M1 in Jerez and the double world 250 champion ended with the third best time.

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Lorenzo, who finished fourth in his rookie premier class campaign, posted a best time of 1.40.426, but he was still 0.997s slower than Fiat Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi.

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Lorenzo, who was also third quickest on the opening day, said: “Today we concentrated on the evolution bike, which has some prototype parts, with a new setting from Valentino.

“It seems we had a small advantage with this bike and I was able to improve my time, so I am happy about this. This ‘new’ bike is also more stable under acceleration, with less wheelie and the throttle is a bit easier to handle so these are important improvements.

“The final conclusion of these two days is very positive I think, although we know there is still a lot of margin to improve, both in the bike and in my riding style and of course we need to keep working to better understand the new tyres.”