Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team Test
Sepang, Malaysia
Wednesday, 24 November, 2004

GAULOISES FORTUNA YAMAHA TEAM FINISHES 2004 WITH POSITIVE TEST IN SEPANG

The Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha Team rounded off its championship-winning 2004
season today with a third and final day of testing in Sepang. Valentino Rossi
and his 2005 team-mate Colin Edwards enjoyed another hot and dry day at the
Malaysian circuit and now head off for a well-earned winter break.

World Champion Valentino Rossi completed 44 laps, once again spending time
refining the set-up of the 2004-spec M1. He also completed a long distance run
on the new 2005-spec prototype version of the bike. Rossi posted his fastest
time of the three-day test today with a lap of 2'02.35s.

Speaking after the test, Rossi said, "We've been working on the new bike lots
during these three days; it seems we do more and more testing every year, and
start even earlier! Yamaha has put in a lot of effort to bring this bike here
and enable us to start work on it in the right direction for next year, so it
was very important for me to be here.

"Not every part of this prototype bike is new, but Yamaha has changed a lot. We
are aiming for more stability in the rear end, but we want to keep the sweet
handling. We are also looking for a little more horsepower; as everyone knows,
which is one area we need to improve on. We're still not quite there yet, but
Yamaha's engineers will continue this work during the winter and then I am sure
we will be nearer our goal when we meet again in January. I'm now looking
forward to a long holiday!"

Colin Edwards rode just 13 laps today on the 2004-spec bike, finishing his day
early having completed the work he set out to do during the test. He posted a
best lap of 2'04.31s.

Team Director Davide Brivio commented, "We are pleased with the progress we've
made during this test. In January we will start to work more specifically on
set-up of the new bike. We were fortunate to be able to enjoy good weather
during this test; at 6pm today it started to rain heavily, so we were very lucky!

"The team has been working very well together during this test. We are looking
forward to continuing the work we have begun here when we reconvene in January.
It has been a fantastic season for all those involved in the project, and
everyone has worked very hard to make it a success. Now I hope that they all
enjoy a very relaxing holiday, before we arrive back here in January to continue
the hard work!"

The team will return to the Sepang circuit to recommence its winter test
schedule on 22 January.

TIMES:

Valentino Rossi (Yamaha)  2'02.35 (44 laps)
Colin Edwards (Yamaha)    2'04.31 (13 laps)