Rossi relieved to solve braking issues

Valentino Rossi was pleased for two key reasons on Tuesday, as he finished the first day of the Sepang MotoGP™ test in second place as well as rectifying braking issues that plagued the nine-time World Champion in 2013.

Rossi shot up to second place on the timesheets during the final half hour of running time, with the Yamaha Factory Racing rider ending proceedings second only to Repsol Honda Team’s World Champion Marc Marquez.

“I am happy and satisfied with the first day,” the Italian confidently stated. “Fast all day long and always in the first three. The laps times are already at a good level and I am also happy because we tried some different stuff to improving my braking problems from last year and we found something positive. I feel more comfortable in stopping the bike and that is very important because it was a big issue last year. I wanted to do a lap under 2’01 and was able to do a 2’00.8. This is positive.”

However, there was one niggling issue for Rossi.

“The only problem today, for everybody, is Marquez!” Rossi laughed, with the Honda rider having finished half a second quicker. “He was very strong, very fast and already with a very good lap time, but we will try to go closer over the next days.”

Also on Tuesday, Rossi revealed a special ‘eyes in the back of your head’ helmet design, which contains an illustration of the Italian’s eyes on its reverse side.