Valentino Rossi ended the opening day of MotoGP testing at Sepang encouraged by his pace and feeling on Yamaha's 2018 chassis.
Both Rossi and team-mate Maverick Vinales struggled for most of the 2017 campaign with a lack of rear traction in hot and rain conditions, prompting numerous chassis updates throughout the season, which failed to fully rectify the problem.
Yamaha opted to race the 2016 frame – the same chassis the Tech3 team used last season – for the final round of the year in Valencia, which yielded promise, and as a result the Japanese manufacturer has based its 2018 frame on this two-year-old chassis.
Having enjoyed a strong private test at Sepang last November, Rossi once again felt strong on the new bike in both the wet and the dry, with the Italian able to complete his run plan for the day.
“The first impression (of the new bike) is positive, it was a good first day,” Rossi, who was sixth fastest and just over eight tenths off the pace, said.
“In the wet I was in fifth, but with a good feeling and I wasn't so far – also because it was starting to dry.
“It was difficult to understand the conditions, but not so bad. In the dry I was strong and I am happy because we finished our program and tested everything, and I was still able to make a good laptime.”
On top of the new chassis, Rossi tried two new engines and updates to the bike's electronics in a bid to find more speed in a straight line and further improve the M1's rear traction.
“The chassis is an evolution of the 2016, and I like it a lot because I can ride more easily,” he added.
“We've concentrated in other areas like the engine – we had two different engines to focus on acceleration, and on the straight we are quite fast.
“We worked on the electronics a lot to improve acceleration and tyre degradation. From what I understood after the November test, with the 2016 base it makes the bike better to ride for me.
“After this you can improve in other areas, but the important thing is that. When I push, the lap time is there and I feel good, and with lap times it's good too.”
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