Times drop but more rain taunts Yamaha.

The pre-season testing programme of Gauloises Yamaha duo Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, plus satellite Fortuna backed riders Ruben Xaus and Toni Elias, was again interrupted by rain today at Australia's Phillip Island circuit - during day two of a planned three day test.

However, after a wet morning, higher temperatures than yesterday at least made for more effective testing conditions this afternoon. Both factory riders continued to test tyres for Michelin and work on settings and it ended as a useful day despite the poor weather.

World champion Rossi was the fastest man on track, the Italian completing 74 laps with a quickest time of 1min 30.65secs. That was a significant improvement on his 1min 31.38secs best recorded yesterday, and well within lap record pace (1min 31.102secs), but still almost a second shy of the 1min 29.68secs he set at the circuit three weeks ago in warmer, drier conditions.

"Unfortunately it was raining again and we lost all of the morning," confirmed Vale. "We did some good work in the afternoon, but the conditions were not really right for us to do effective testing. We continued to work on the bike settings but it was difficult to judge our progress in these bad conditions. I really hope tomorrow will be better as we still have to fix some settings on the bike."

Team-mate Edwards completed 71 laps with a best lap of 1min 31.00secs - again, slower than the 1min 30.60secs the American recorded last month but 0.27secs faster than he'd been on Wednesday.

"We woke up to more rain and the track was soaked in the morning. I did a couple of laps in the wet just to check settings. It then dried up and we actually did some good work, spending most of the afternoon testing front tyres and a few rears," commented the Texan. "It was a good day despite the weather and the bike was working well; I feel a lot happier than I did two weeks ago."

But despite Colin's optimism, team director Davide Brivio couldn't hide his frustration at the disrupting weather conditions.

"Another wet day! We really hope that tomorrow will be better, as it's a long way to come for most of the time to be useless!" he said. "We got some work done, but not as much as we expected. Colin did some laps in the wet and then it dried out a little, but the track never got dry enough to allow us to do really good work."

Behind the factory riders, Spaniard Xaus was third fastest, setting a best time of 1min 32.32secs from 68 laps, while team-mate and countryman Elias completed 90 laps with a best time of 1min 32.70secs as he continues to adapt to the MotoGP class and the YZR-M1.

Testing concludes tomorrow...

Phillip Island test times - Thursday:

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Gauloises Yamaha 1min 30.65secs
2. Colin Edwards USA Gauloises Yamaha 1min 31.00secs
3. Ruben Xaus SPA Fortuna Yamaha 1min 32.32secs
4. Toni Elias SPA Fortuna Yamaha 1min 32.70secs

Comparative lap times:

Pre-season testing - fastest time:

19/2/2005: Valentino Rossi ITA Gauloises Yamaha 1min 29.68secs

Australian Grand Prix - 17/10/2004:

Pole position: Sete Gibernau SPA Telefonica Movistar Honda 1min 30.122secs Fastest lap: Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro 1min 31.102secs