MotoGP Phillip Island test: Colin Edwards solves qualifier issues

A Michelin qualifying tyre used surprisingly early by Colin Edwards helped the Texan register the fastest lap on the opening day of testing at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia.

Edwards opted to run two qualifying tyres early on the first afternoon having encountered problems with soft rubber in last week’s three-day session at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.

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The Texan posted his best time of 1.29.566 on the first of two qualifying tyres he tried today, with his best time on race tyres 1.30.832 good enough to secure the third fastest time in race trim.

“It was a good day. I started with the same setting I finished in Malaysia and played around with that for the day. The bike feels good at this track compared to what I raced with a few months ago.

“Yamaha has been working hard and the new parts are definitely a step in the right direction, particularly with the electronics, which has helped on corner entry and exit.

“With a qualifying tyre in Malaysia my time didn’t get any better. I had a couple of handling issues with the qualifier in Sepang so once I got a good pace going I chucked a couple of qualifiers in.

“It is the first day but you never know what the weather is going to do down here, and it could be raining tomorrow. We wanted to make sure with the adjustments we were going to make for the qualifier that it was the right way.

“In Sepang I had too much weight on the rear. The rear was taking over and running me wide and we made a change to get more weight on the front and get it to turn a bit better. It seemed fine and I’m happy with the lap time.”