From a press release:

Team Yamaha Belgarda Newsletter
Date: Tuesday 28th January 2003
Circuit: Ricardo Tormo, 4.005 kms, Day 2

VAN DEN GOORBERGH ATTACKS THE RECORD
Team Yamaha Belgarda successfully concluded their test at Valencia with their riders Jurgen van den Goorbergh and Simone Sanna on the 2003 YZF-R6s. Today Dutchman van den Goorbergh completed 60 laps, with a best of 1:38.2, half a second off the official Valencia lap record. His teammate Simone Sanna carried on his good work on the new YZF-R6, but was only able to complete seven laps due to a technical problem. Nevertheless the Tuscan, on his Supersport debut, finished the test with a promising time of 1:39.3.

PROBLEMS FOR SIMONE
The Italian had a small get-off in the morning session on one of the new YZF-R6 Yamahas and as they only had one completely new bike for the Tuscan, they decided to allow him to sit out the final session. The more experienced van den Goorbergh then continued working on the remaining 2003 YZF-R6, testing different rear shocks and a variety of rear Pirellis. Van den Goorbergh put in a superb string of laps in the afternoon session and he and team were able to collect vital information about the bike in preparation for the first race of the year on 2nd March – at Valencia.

PROGRESS FINALLY
“After our bad experiences in the November tests and Paolo Casoli’s crash, I was beginning to wonder how or when we would begin our development of the new bike properly,” said Yamaha Belgarda Sporting Director Massimo Meregalli. “But in these three days we have made really good progress and I’m very pleased with the performance of both our riders. They’ve worked really hard and given the team a lot of really good feedback and now we are starting to go forward. After Casoli and Whitham’s departure, we were all very downhearted, but the performance of van den Goorbergh has lifted us all up again. He’s worked very hard and given the team a lot of very good information. He has been fast, consistent and his ability to adapt to this new class has been a revelation to us all. Simone Sanna has also surprised us by getting on the pace so quickly, despite this being so different to what he has been used to. Despite being new to four strokes and new to Supersport, his time of 1’39″3 has given us a great deal of satisfaction and promises a lot more to come. Van den Goorberg really put in the time today and he was still on the track late in the day, when he could’ve easily stopped.”

The team will spend the next few days analysing all the data gathered by van den Goorbergh and Sanna in preparation for the start of the season. The next test will take place (again at Valencia) on 21st and 22nd February and will be the first official test with all the teams present. The season then kicks off on 2nd March on the same Spanish track.