MotoGP action kicked into gear again today as riders gathered in Malaysia for the second round of MotoGP winter testing. Unlike the last rainy session at Sepang , a hot and humid day meant conditions were ideal for teams to get in quality testing time.

At the end of the practice session, it was reigning MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi who stood atop the timesheets with a 2’01.068 lap, just off his best time of 2’00.925 set at the first winter test. Rossi’s Fiat Yamaha crew worked on dialing in the YZR-M1, testing different settings and electronic maps while The Doctor logged 47 test laps.

“We worked on two or three different settings and today we’ve more or less made a decision about the right way to go with balance, suspension , etc. so this is good progress. We also tried some new electronic maps, to try to improve acceleration, but we need to do more work on this again tomorrow. It’s good to be fast at this stage and now we’re really just waiting to go to another track, to see how this new M1 will perform there,” Rossi said.

He was followed on the timesheets by the man believed to have the best chance of dethroning Rossi this year, Marlboro Ducati’s Casey Stoner. Stoner was 0.151-seconds off of Rossi’s pace, but his best lap time today of 2’01.219 was faster than his best lap during the first winter test at Sepang. Stoner said that the team made a good step forward but is still looking for more traction and edge grip and would like to see some improvements in hard braking zones.

Andre Dovizioso was the fastest Honda rider with the third-fastest lap of the day. Dovi improved his lap times by almost six-tenths of a second in comparison to the first test. His Repsol Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, worked hard to get his suspension dialed in but was dissatisfied with his base set-up, and had one slow-speed crash when he folded the front on a hairpin turn, but fortunately he was uninjured. Pedrosa ended up seventh on the timesheets.

Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi put in a workman-like 52 laps and posted the fourth-fastest time of the session. Capirossi got to sample the new engine in the GSV-R and was immediately faster than the last outing at Sepang.
 
The fifth and sixth spots were claimed by the Yamaha Tech 3 duo of Ben Spies and Colin Edwards. The American rookie lapped consistently fast as his team worked on the geometry settings of Spies’s M1 in order to improve rear grip. Meanwhile, Edwards experienced electrical problems in the morning which cost him valuable test time, but he was able to return and logged 35 test laps while posting the sixth-fastest time.

Pramac Ducati Racing’s Mika Kallio gets the IronMan Award for putting in 76 laps today on the Sepang Circuit. Kallio finished with the eighth-fastest time while sampling a new fork on Pramac’s Desmosedici GP10.
 
Rizla Suzuki rookie Alvaro Bautista was the first victim of the Sepang course today, taking a spill on his GSV-R just after midday. He would return to put in 33 laps while getting a feel for the new engine and was able to better his time from the first winter test by over a second while lapping ninth-fastest.
 
San Carlo Gresini Honda’s Marco Melandri grabbed the final top-ten spot of today’s timesheet and matched Kallio for most test laps with 76. Despite dropping a second off his time from the first winter test, De Puniet said “There is still a lot of work to do.”

Marlboro Ducati’s Nicky Hayden is still recovering from arm surgery he had done two weeks ago, but still put in 22 more laps than teammate Stoner. Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo is also still on the mend from a hand injury and did not participate in today’s practice session.
 
MotoGP Sepang Test Two Day 1
1. Valentino Rossi, Fiat Yamaha 2’01.068 – 47 laps
2. Casey Stoner, Marlboro Ducati 2’01.219 – 43 laps
3. Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda 2’01.631 – 52 laps
4. Loris Capirossi, Rizla Suzuki 2’01.687 – 52 laps
5. Ben Spies, Yamaha Tech 3 2’01.843 – 42 laps
6. Colin Edwards, Yamaha Tech 3 – 2’01.897 – 35 laps
7. Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda 2’02.036 – 47 laps
8. Mika Kallio, Ducati 2’02.038 – 76 laps
9. Alvaro Bautista, Rizla Suzuki 2’02.078 – 33 laps
10 Marco Melandri, San Carlo Honda Gresini 2’02.086 – 52 laps
11. Nicky Hayden, Marlboro Ducati 2’02.221s - 61 laps
12. Hiroshi Aoyama, Interwetten Honda 2’02.419 - 57 laps
13. Aleix Espargaro, Ducati 2’02.449 – 35 laps
14. Hector Barbera, Ducati 2’02.485 – 62 laps
15. Randy De Puniet, LCR Honda 2’02.535 – 76 laps
16. Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Honda Gresini 2’03.254 – 53 laps

Rider's Quotes:

Valentino Rossi, Fiat Yamaha:
“We started well today and we’re already very fast, so we’re quite happy about this. We’ve confirmed that the work we did at the last test was good and it’s clear we’re in good shape at this track. We worked on two or three different settings and today we’ve more or less made a decision about the right way to go with balance, suspension etc so this is good progress. We also tried some new electronic maps, to try to improve acceleration, but we need to do more work on this again tomorrow. It’s good to be fast at this stage and now we’re really just waiting to go to another track, to see how this new M1 will perform there. Tomorrow we will do a long run, maybe not race distance but just quite a few laps together, which will be the final part of our work at this track.”

Ben Spies, Yamaha Tech 3:
“It was hot out there today but I'm happy with how I performed and I feel I've accomplished a fair bit. I automatically picked up where I left off here because my fourth lap today was only three-tenths slower than my best time at the first test. I'm close to half-a-second faster than the last test and I'm more consistent. My fastest laps were all on tires that had done race distance and that makes me happier than anything else. It's not so much that I got under the 2.02 barrier but I did it on worn tires and I think that will be one of my big strong points this season. I feel like I'm getting closer to finding the limit of the Bridgestone tires and I'm getting more comfortable on them, but we still need to do more work. Today we played around with the bike a bit more than previously just to understand a few things but it was nothing major. Some changes were good and some were bad and I feel we made some important progress and I definitely had more grip. Everyday I'm trying to learn something and go a little bit quicker and that's what I achieved.”

Casey Stoner, Ducati Marlboro Team:
“Today went really well, we have taken a good step forward since the last test three weeks ago. We didn’t make any major changes to the bike at the start, preferring to make small adjustments as the day progressed, working in particular on the swingarm. I’m satisfied – the bike feels well balanced and the characteristics of the new engine make it easier to ride in general. We definitely have room for improvement in terms of the set-up – we could find some more traction, for example, although we are still better off in this respect than we were here last year. We could also improve the bike under braking, especially in the hard braking zones, and find some more edge grip but it is a case of refining a few details. We have a good base to work from so I’m happy for today.”

Nicky Hayden, Ducati Marlboro Team:
“We started out with the setting from the previous test, working a little bit with the geometry, and in some parts of the track we got better but there is still plenty of room for improvement. We’ve been working on trying to solve a little front-end chatter and we did that a little by changing to the carbon swingarm. The arm is ok enough but I didn’t want to push it too hard.”

Colin Edwards, Yamaha Tech 3:
“After the small problem I had this morning I had to play catch up pretty quick to the rest of the guys but I managed to do some good laps and I'm happy with my pace. It was a productive day and I feel like we've learned a few things. Everybody is testing electronics and Yamaha has done another good job because what I tried definitely has some good points and they are moving in the right direction. Yamaha might have dominated last year but they definitely haven't just taken the easy option and sat back. They've worked really hard on improving what was already a great bike, and some of the improvements have really helped me. I did more work on the new swingarm and I like it. It seems to help the front and the rear of the bike and it gives me a lot more confidence. And it helps a lot with my front feeling, which I had an issue with a bit last year.”

Andrea Dovizioso, Repsol Honda:
“I’m very happy about this first day of testing, we have the third-fastest time but the most important thing is that we were able to consistently improve our pace. Every session out of the pits we improved and I could ride consistent and this is encouraging. Of course there is still a lot of work to do as we have to reduce the gap from the first riders, but I’m confident, and I’m very happy of the work done by Honda. Today we changed my position on the bike with a very positive feeling and then we tested some new electronic set up. Tomorrow we want to do more laps to confirm the race pace.”

Dani Pedrosa, Repsol Honda:
“We did a lot of work today and ran through quite a few machine adjustments but the bike was moving around quite a lot and we didn’t find the solution for that today. Tomorrow we will focus on increasing our speed in the corners and look to make a few improvements to the settings which should help us. I had a slow-speed crash in the hairpin because basically I braked too late but didn’t want to run off the track - and the front folded. Testing time is important for us because there’s not too much time left before the season starts, so we’ll be looking for a productive day tomorrow.”

Marco Melandri, San Carlo Gresini Honda:
“It was a good day. We did change the weight distribution as we found a good set up last time and we focused more on the suspension. I’m still not able to be fast with soft tires but I’m not worried as this year we will have different tires and tomorrow we will try the new soft tire.”

Hiro Aoyama, Interwetten Honda:
“After the first Sepang test, my team analyzed the data and today we started with a different set up. I could feel immediately an improvement so this is a good point. During the day we made other changes but we were not able to make another step forward. We are struggling especially with the front and the rear. Now we will analyze the data and tomorrow we will focus on these two points to improve my feeling.”

Randy de Puniet, LCR Honda:
“Today we didn’t improve so much compared to the first test session that we did here in Sepang at the beginning of February. Today we worked mainly on suspension but there is still a lot of work to do. We need to study the data with my team and decide the direction of work for tomorrow.”

Marco Simoncelli, San Carlo Gresini Honda:
“If I look at the lap times of course I cannot be happy, but now it’s not the moment to look at lap times. We improved compared last time when we did the best lap time with a new tire while today I did my fastest lap with a tire that had 20 laps. The new category is new for me and my technicians but every day we learn something new so I’m confident: I have to improve my feeling with the bike, it’s not easy with such few days of testing.”