Valentino Rossi silenced critics with a positive first Yamaha test this week.

Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi has concluded the Sepang tests in Malaysia in a positive mood, competitive throughout all three days in his return to Yamaha.

Rossi went from strength to strength having been reunited with the YZR-M1, the Italian again improving on his time from the day before by nearly half a second and finish in third place just over a tenth of a second from teammate Jorge Lorenzo in second.

Rossi eventually posted a best lap of 2:00.542, less than half a second off the pace of quick man Dani Pedrosa.

“I’m very happy, all three days were very good,” Rossi explained. “We worked hard on the bike and improved day by day.

“The third day was the best, we were able to stay less than half a second from pole position and the lap time is higher which is interesting.

“Today we finished third in the standings which is theoretically the front row so I’m very happy with this first test.”

Yamaha Factory Racing team director Massimo Meregalli was satisfied with the team’s progress at the conclusion.

“This has been a really important and positive test,” he said. “We have been able to work really well and our Japanese engineers have a lot of data so they are really happy.

“We can go home pretty satisfied and the engineers can continue working on the project, we will see what we can do in a few weeks.

“On Vale’s side he removed a lot of weight from his shoulders, I see him very happy because he is finally back riding a bike that he enjoys, which is what he was looking for. I can’t say more than that!”

The Japanese Yamaha engineers will now take the valuable data gained back to Japan to work towards the second Sepang test in a few weeks time.