Rain ruins Rossi’s return to Yamaha

The much anticipated return of Valentino Rossi to to Yamaha and the debut of Marc Marquez with Honda has been upstaged by poor weather during the opening day of testing Valencia in Spain.

Rain and cold temperatures ruined any chances of fast times with Rossi undertaking a few shakedown laps on the Yamaha in the morning, but did not head out for fast laps until the rain had arrived.

After two winless seasons with Ducati, the Italian has rejoined the Japanese squad at which he spent seven years, winning four premier class titles and 46 grands prix along the way.

Rossi completed a total of 28 laps, but the team has decided to take the Italian and his 2013 M1 Yamaha to anticipated better weather at the Aragon circuit which is hosting a World Superbike test.

At least Rossi got some track time with his teammate and world champion Jorge Lorenzo staying dry in the garage, while Honda deciding not to run Casey Stoner’s replacement Marquez in the poor conditions. In fact Honda also kept Dani Pedrosa off the track, as did tech3 Yamaha who also didn’t run Cal Crutchlow and new boy Bradley Smith.

“It’s better to be patient and wait as it’s important to test the bike in the best conditions possible,” said Marquez.

“I know the power will be very different and also the electronic controls, also the carbon brakes and tyres will be something I need to adapt to, but step by step we will learn. I’m really excited to get started but we we agree that it’s best to test the bike in the dry for the first time, I just hope the weather will improve tomorrow!”

The other notable rider not to appear was world champion Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)

Fastest on the day was Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista who made the most of a dry but cold track.

Ducati recruit Andrea Dovizioso was third fastest behind Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda).

TIMES

Position	Rider	Team	Time
1	Alvaro Bautista	Gresini Honda	1:35.936
2	Stefan Bradl	LCR Honda	+0.262
3	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	+3.670
4	Hiroshi Aoyama	Avintia FTR-Kawasaki	+6.303
5	Nicky Hayden	Ducati	+6.635
6	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	+7.800
7	Michele Pirro	Pramac Ducati	+8.361
8	Claudio Corti	Forward Suter-BMW	+9.878
9	Randy de Puniet	Aspar Aprilia	+10.109
10	Aleix Espargaro	Aspar Aprilia	+10.124
11	Colin Edwards	Forward Suter-BMW	+10.490
12	Karel Abraham	Cardion Aprilia	+11.056
13	Andrea Iannone	Pramac Ducati	+11.836
14	Hector Barbera	Avintia FTR-Kawasaki	+13.521
	Danilo Petrucci	Ioda Suter-BMW	No Time
	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	No Time
	Cal Crutchlow	Tech 3 Yamaha	No Time
	Bradley Smith	Tech 3 Yamaha	No Time
	Shane Byrne	Paul Bird Aprilia	No Time
	Marc Marquez	Honda	No Time
	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	No Time