Rossi leads at Sepang
Reigning seven time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi began 2010 MotoGP te💃sting on top of the ⛎timesheets by a comfortable 0.491sec at Sepang on Thursday.
The Fiat Yamaha rider was fastest for m😼uch of the day, having recorded his best lap time ꦚof 2min 1.411sec on lap 15 of 54.
"Today was ve🌊ry ꦺimportant because this year we have just six days of testing in which to set the bike, so we can not waste any time," said Rossi.
Reigning seven time MotoGP world champ🅘ion Valen♏tino Rossi began 2010 MotoGP testing on top of the timesheets by a comfortable 0.491sec at Sepang on Thursday.
The Fiat Yam🧸aha rider was fastest for much of the day, having recorded his best lap time of 2min 1.411sec on lap 15 of 54.
"Today was very important beca😼use this year we have just six days of testing in which to set the bike, so we can not waste any time," said Rossi.
"This first day was very positive, we tri🌃ed the new bike for 2010, with a different chassis 🙈and a new engine, which can do more kilometres, and it is quite fast.
"Yamaha has worked very well over the winter. Now we need to spend time on setting some electronics and other things. Thi🦩s is only the start but it seems we'🐎re already in good shape."
♉Ros🐬si's nearest rival was 2007 world champion Casey Stoner, who also set his best lap time early in the day, the Ducati star's best coming on lap 12 of 42. Stoner will be seeking a cure for chatter tomorrow.
Third fastest was satellite Tech 3 Yamaha ❀rider Colin Edwards, who claimed to be delighted with the latest edition of the YZR-M1, with which he lapped just 0.03sec slower than Stoner and 0.170sec ahead🍷 of Suzuki's Loris Capirossi.
Fift🔜h fastest and the final rider within one second of Rossi was the Italian's team-mate and 2009 title runner-up Jorge Lorenzo.
Repsol's Andrea Dovizioso was the top Honda rider in sixth, while Nicky Hayden (Ducati Marlboro), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and Mika Kallio (Pram🐓ac Ducati) occupied places 𓂃seventh to ninth.
Hector Barbera caused a surprise by being the fastest of the 201༒0 rookies in tenth place. The Spaniard steered his Aspar Ducati around the Malaysian Grand Prix circuit in a be✱st time 1.6sec slower than Rossi.
A visibly jet-lagged Ben Spies was twelft🌼h fastest (+1.732sec) and the World Superbike champion claims a good night's sleep, rather than any radical set-up changes, will take him nearer to the front.
Thursday saw intensive heat and humidity at Sepang, with rain finally arriving 20-minutes befor🐈e the eight hours of scheduled track action had concluded.
Testing continues on Friday.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come🐓 and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
