Rossi ends Le Mans test on top

The Italian, who scored his second consecutive victory of the season on Sunday, continued testing tyres with Bridgestone and also trying out some new settings for his Yamaha.

Rossi was 0.333 seconds quicker than the fastest lap in Sunday's race.

"It was a nice quiet day on track today and it was good to have the chance to work in such a relaxed atmosphere, without so many other riders around," said Yamaha team boss Davide Brivio.

"We finished quite early but we managed to get a lot of important work done, both on tyres with Bridgestone and on the general set-up of our bike with the next few races in mind.

"We tested more different tyres and also made some experiments with different settings, trying to collect as much information as possible to help us to continue to improve. The next eight weeks brings six races in close succession and so we need to be at the top of our game!

"Valentino did a very good time with a race tyre this afternoon so it's clear we're working well, and now we're leaving Le Mans with some great memories and with everyone feeling positive and motivated for the busiest stage of the season.

"Thanks to Valentino and the team for staying on and working so hard over these two days; now I hope everyone can have a good break before our home race."

World champion Casey Stoner was second quickest after his Ducati team decided to end their session early in order not to damage any more engines following the discovery of a faulty component.

Despite that, the Italian squad managed to complete the majority of their programme over the two days.

Stoner's teammate Marco Melandri completed just a handful of laps and finished at the bottom of the times, behind HRC test rider Erwan Nigon.

Pos  Rider              Team                         Time          
 1.  Valentino Rossi    Fiat Yamaha Team             1:33.882
 2.  Casey Stoner       Ducati Marlboro              1:34.068
 3.  Erwan Nigon        HRC Test Team                1:36.341
 4.  Marco Melandri     Ducati Marlboro              1:38.536