American Ben Spies has taken some big steps forward with the rear suspension settings on his YZR-M1 on the last day of MotoGP testing at Sepang in an effort to reduce the corner exit problems he and the rest of the Yamaha riders have so far been experiencing.

The new setup, combined with an alternative set of data for the electronics, meant that Spies was able to further assess the bike's podium potential and he say she can go forward into the Jerez test at the end of this month with growing confidence.

"Today was good, we unfortunately had a small crash but we learnt a lot and got to test some new electronic settings which were a big improvement. We also tried some different shock settings which were a big step forward. It’s a shame we crashed but we know from this test that the bike has great potential so we can go to Jerez with confidence," he said.