Sepang Day 1: Rossi fastest

The MotoGP teams were back on track at Sepang today for the second pre-season test at the 5.548 km Malaysian grand prix circuit. The teams got a late start because the track was not in good shape after the overnight rain. Nobody was in a hurry to go out. When they did they all went together and cleaned up the track a little.

Valentino Rossi picked up just where he left off at the same track 12 days ago. After several teams opted to test at Phillip Island last week, it was a somewhat depleted MotoGP field on track today.

Rossi topped the time sheets today with a blistering best lap of 2’00.300, over 0.3 seconds faster than the existing best lap of Sepang, which the Italian set himself back in 2006. Rossi set today’s time on a Bridgestone qualifying tire on his 62nd of 64 laps.

Valentino Rossi
“Today was a positive day for us and I really enjoyed myself. We started to work more on the bike and to adjust the suspension and balance to suit our tires. I have a very good feeling and the lap times have improved compared to last time, both with race tires and with the qualifying tire. It’s a big deal changing tires – not as big as changing bikes but all the same I have needed time to understand how to ride the bike differently and now I’m learning more and more how to get the best from the Bridgestones. My fitness has also improved compared to last time and this is also helping me to ride better, so I think that we’re in good shape at the moment."

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