YAMAHA FACTORY RACING FINISH JEREZ TEST IN TOP 4

Lorenzo put in 84 laps on the final day, joining Stoner as the only rider to drop under the 1'39" mark. At the end of the session, the Mallorcan's gap to Stoner was only 0.173 seconds. In an impressive race simulation, Lorenzo showed his trademark lap time consistency over the distance.

Team mate Ben Spies also covered some distance, putting in 61 laps as he worked on final set-up solutions for his 1000cc YZR-M1. The Texan ended the Jerez MotoGP test as the fourth fastest rider, 0.715 seconds from the front. Spies also worked on a race simulation earlier in the Test and was satisfied with a competitive pace.

Jorge Lorenzo:
"I'm really happy because we tried to make some good lap times so we put new tyres on the rear this morning to make the 1'38.9 which is a good time. This afternoon we improved the bike for a race simulation which went really well. In general we are very happy, it's not just me, Ben is also very close to the competition as are Cal and Andrea. We need to improve our braking a little, if we can do that we could gain some more tenths of a second."

Ben Spies:
"I'm happy with how the Test went. Both Jorge and I worked really methodically on getting through a number of different things, I think we're quite happy with the bike going to Qatar, it's been good here and good in Sepang. A couple of the areas where we had problems last year seem to be a lot better. We can't say if they are completely fixed until we go to more tracks but we are happy with the balance of the bike and I think we have a very competitive bike for 2012."

Best overall time from the march 23 - 25 session was recorded by Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner, followed by Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda), Spies and Cal Crutchlow (Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha).

The MotoGP paddock now moves to Qatar where the first race will be played out under the floodlights in the desert on April 8th. With the gap to their rivals much closer than last year in testing, both Yamaha factory riders are keen to get the season started.