It was all Valentino Rossi during the second session of MotoGP pre-season testing. A repeat of the first session, the defending MotoGP Champion posted the fastest lap time after completing the first of two days of testing at Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia Thursday.
The Doctor’s best time on the Fiat Yamaha YZR-M1 was a 2:01.068 as the Italian continued to refine his set-up; he completed 47 laps. Three weeks ago during the first series of pre-season tests, which were reduced for 2010 to cut costs, Rossi posted the fastest of a 2:00.925.
“We started well today and we’re already very fast, so we’re quite happy about this," Rossi said. "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.”
A mere 0.151 seconds slower than Rossi was Casey Stoner. The Ducati Marlboro rider also took the second fastest times during both days at the first series of testing. The team tested new swingarms on the Desmosedici GP10 during 33 laps of testing, and Stoner had said before he’s enjoying the set-up.
In third is Repsol Honda rider Andrea Dovizioso with a 2:01.631. The Italian did 52 laps to achieve the time, and crashed once (unharmed) while testing.
Also completing 52 laps was Rizla Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi, who posted the fourth-fastest time of 2:01.687. This is a significant improvement for Rizla Suzuki, as they fine-tune the new GSV-R engine and further work on the suspension.
Rounding out the top five was the American Ben Spies on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3. The MotoGP rookie and ’09 World Superbike Champion posted a best time of 2:01.843 after tweaking his riding position. His teammate, fellow Texan Colin Edwards, was sixth fastest after having problems with electronics on his YZR-M1.
Due to an injury, Rossi’s teammate Jorge Lorenzo missed out on the sessions, and may possible miss the third and final session of pre-season testing at Qatar March 18-19. The Spaniard broke his right hand during a motocross wreck in Barcelona.
Riders will resume testing for the final day of this tests Friday morning. The first of 18 races begins in Qatar April 11.
Day 1 of Second Pre-Season Tests at Sepang:
1. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Fiat Yamaha Team, 2:01.068 (47 laps)
2. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team, 2:01.219 (33 laps)
3. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Repsol Honda Team, 2:01.631 sec (52 laps)
4. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, 2:01.687 sec (52 laps)
5. Ben Spies (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3, 2:01.843 sec (42 laps)
6. Colin Edwards (USA) Monster Yamaha Tech 3, 2:01.897 sec (35 laps)
7. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team, 2:02.036 sec (47 laps)
8. Mika Kallio (FIN) Pramac Racing, 2:02.038 sec (76 laps)
9. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP, 2:02.078 sec (34 laps)
10. Marco Melandri (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini, 2:02.086 sec (52 laps)
11. Nicky Hayden (USA) Ducati Marlboro Team, 2:02.221 sec (61 laps)
12. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) Interwetten Honda MotoGP, 2:02.419 sec (57 laps)
13. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Pramac Racing, 2:02.447 sec (35 laps)
14. Hector Barbera (SPA) Paginas Amarillas Ducati, 2:02.485 sec (62 laps)
15. Randy de Puniet (FRA) LCR Honda MotoGP, 2:02.535 sec (76 laps)
16. Marco Simoncelli (ITA) San Carlo Honda Gresini, 2:03.254 sec (53 laps)
