It was the first time the nine-time World Champion had posted the fastest laptime since last season's first free practice session at the British Grand Prix. The dry conditions in the afternoon allowed Rossi to experiment with a different bike setting, which will hopefully benefit his riding style.
“Today's test session was very positive for us," the number 46 rider explained. "I’m so happy, especially because we used a different style of setting. It is very important for us to understand this setting, which can help and effect my riding style to ride the bike in a better way and stay more constant, especially with good lap times on old tyres."
"To make the first position with a time of 1m39.5secs is good and also being as fast as Jorge. Me and my team are very happy with the pace and I think we will try to continue to work on this way.”
| 1 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'39.525 |
| 2 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | 1'39.540 |
| 3 | Cal Crutchlow | Yamaha | 1'39.574 |
| 4 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'39.630 |
| 5 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'40.322 |
| 6 | Alvaro Bautista | Honda | 1'40.686 |
| 7 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'40.714 |
| 8 | Stefan Bradl | Honda | 1'40.783 |
| 9 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | 1'41.088 |
| 10 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati | 1'41.325 |
@valeyellow46 and @lorenzo99 hit first and second fastest times in Jerez. Check today's full report bit.ly/10BrsVw
— Yamaha MotoGP (@YamahaMotoGP) March 24, 2013
Fans waiting for Yamaha's champs @valeyellow46 and @lorenzo99 twitter.com/YamahaMotoGP/s…
— Yamaha MotoGP (@YamahaMotoGP) March 24, 2013
