Valentino Rossi once again led testing on the first day of official testing in Sepang, resuming where he left off three weeks ago.
The Italian’s led both the morning and afternoon sessions topping the chart with a 2.
01.
068, which was slightly higher than his best time in the previous test.
Casey Stoner was second, just 0.
151 from Rossi and testing different swingarms including a new and updated carbon fiber swingarm.
Andrea Dovizioso had a positive day with his third place.
His best lap was 2.
01.
063 which was a big improvement from his previous test where he finished in a lowly th place and a best lap of 2.
02.
272.
Loris Capirossi , fourth and just 0.
056 from Dovizioso with his new GSV-R engine, continued testing numerous new parts that Suzuki brought from Japan.
The Texas Two, Ben Spies and Colin Edwards were 5th and 6th respectively and separated by a mere 0.
054s.
and the last riders to finish inside the 2.
02 mark.
Dani Pedrosa with the other Honda RC212V was seventh with a best lap of 2.
02.
036, but suffered a crash earlier in the day at turn 9.
Mikka Kallio was first Ducati satellite rider to get into the top ten with his 8th position and the last rider to finish within one second from Rossi.
Rookie Alvaro Bautista was 9th, he too suffered a crash, but his lap time was a massive improvement from three weeks ago.
Closing the top ten was Marco Melandri followed by Nicky Hayden in 11th, still nursing his arm after his recent surgery.
Hiroshi Aoyama (Interwetten Honda MotoGP) was 12th followed by Aleix Espargaro and Randy DePuniet, Hector Barbera.
Marco Simoncelli was last rider on the charts and the only one who did not improve his lap times from the previous test.
Jorge Lorenzo was absent from these tests after being injured in motocross training accident two weeks ago.
Tomorrow (Friday) will be the final day of testing in Sepang.
Sepang 2 Day 1 Test Times:01- Valentino Rossi 2′01.
068 (47 laps)02- Casey Stoner + 0.
151 (33 laps)03- Andrea Dovizioso + 0.
563 (52 laps)04- Loris Capirossi + 0.
619 (52 laps)05- Ben Spies + 0.
775 (42 laps)06- Colin Edwards + 0.
829 (35 laps)07- Dani Pedrosa + 0.
968 (47 laps)08- Mika Kallio + 0.
970 (76 laps)09- Alvaro Bautista + 1.
010 (34 laps)10- Marco Melandri + 1.
018 (52 laps)11- Nicky Hayden + 1.
153 (61 laps)12- Hiroshi Aoyama + 1.
351 (57 laps)13- Aleix Espargaro + 1.
379 (35 laps)14- Hector Barbera + 1.
417 (62 laps)15- Randy De Puniet + 1.
467 (76 laps)16- Marco Simoncelli + 2.
186 (53 laps)17- Wataru Yoshikawa – Yamaha Test Team + 3.
613 (51 laps)18- Norihiko Fujiwara – Yamaha Test Team + 3.
899 (43 laps)