Ellison impresses on Tech 3 Yamaha debut.
2005 WCM rider James Ellison impressed on the first day of his Yamaha Tech 3 'job interview', by putting his Dunlop shod M1 within 1.3secs of MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi around the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.
After a slight delay due to morning rain, Ellison - who also recently tested a d'Antin Ducati - set a best lap time of 2min 5.1secs, which was within 0.63secs of the fastest race lap by former Tech 3 Yamaha rider Toni Elias during September's Malaysian Grand Prix.
2005 WCM rider James Ellison impressed on the first day of his Yamaha Tech 3 'job interview', by putting his Dunlop shod M1 within 1.3secs of MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi around the Sepang circuit in Malaysia.
After a slight delay due to morning rain, Ellison - who also recently tested a d'Antin Ducati - set a best lap time of 2min 5.1secs, which was within 0.63secs of the fastest race lap by former Tech 3 Yamaha rider Toni Elias during September's Malaysian Grand Prix.
Elias, like team-mate Ruben Xaus, was riding with Michelin tyres - but Ellison's fastest Monday lap with Dunlops is already over 1.9secs quicker than the best Sepang race lap by Xaus, and 2.3secs quicker than his own fastest lap on a Dunlop shod WCM, indicating that an M1/Dunlop/Ellison combination would be competitive.
Overall, Fortuna Honda rider Marco Melandri set the fastest Monday test time, of 2mins 2.95secs (see separate story), with Ellison eleventh fastest - ahead of new Suzuki signing Chris Vermeulen and Kawasaki rookie Randy de Puniet.
Testing continues on Tuesday and Wednesday and it will be interesting to see how much more speed Ellison can extract from the M1 in the days that follow...
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
