Brivio: “Let’s see the races!”

With Yamaha the standout constructor at last week’s MotoGP Official Test in Catalunya, factory team director Davide Brivio has much to be pleased about. Speaking in an exclusive interview with motogp.com before the BMW M Award timed session on Sunday- an event which brought him more joy as a result of Colin Edwards’ win- the Italian talked about the Official Test, preseason as a whole and the development of the M1.

“It’s just testing, we know that, but we were able to do what we needed. This Test, and also those in Sepang and Qatar, are a good sign….let’s see the races!” said the Italian in the interview.

Asked whether he expected the Yamaha’s to be so far ahead of the pack this early, Brivio compared the M1’s evolution with other bikes.

“We knew that the 2006 bike was an improvement on the 2005 model, which was a new project. We expected it to be a better bike, but maybe also that our rivals would be better prepared.”

The biggest surprise of the Official Test, according to voting thus far in the motogp.com survey, was Carlos Checa’s outstanding performance on the M1. Happy for the experienced Spaniard, Brivio paid tribute to the combination of both rider and bike.

“We were very happy and pleased to hear Carlos’ comments about the M1. In the past month he has tested nearly all the available bikes in the paddock! To receive such positive compliments from a rider like Carlos Checa means our engineers obviously did a good job.”

The Camel Yamaha Team Director will have another chance to assess the progress of riders Rossi and Edwards onboard the 2006 Yamaha from this Friday, when the MotoGP teams take part in the Official Test in Jerez.