The first official MotoGP test of the season got underway in Sepang today with several factory test riders taking the new 2010 prototypes for a spin.
While Yamaha used two test riders with Norihijo Fujiwara and Wataru Yoshikawa, the other manufacturers worked with one test rider each; Akiyoshi Kosuke for Honda, new team boss Vittoriano Guareschi for Ducati and Nobuatsu Aoki for Suzuki.
Although they were sidelined for the first day of testing, many MotoGP riders used the opportunity to be in the paddock today and watch their new bikes out on track. Besides Alvaro there were also Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Loris Capirossi, Nicky Hayden, Héctor Barberá and Hiroshi Aoyama present in the pitlane and followed the proceedings of the day with interest.
Some light rain starting at around 4PM didn’t interrupt the work much and so every team could still follow their objectives for the day. While some manufacturers like Honda limited their testing to the basic setup and leave the testing of new parts to the official riders, others like Ducati already tested several new parts for the bikes which makes the laptimes hard to compare and interpret. Consequently there are no official laptimes for today, but instead the unofficial laptimes given out by each team individually, so these have to be taken with a grain of salt.
Unofficial Laptimes – Sepang, Day 1
1. Kosuke Akiyoshi JPN Honda Test Rider – 2’04.43
2. Wataru Yoshikawa JPN Yamaha Test Rider – 2’06.38
3. Nobuatsu Aoki JPN Suzuki Test Rider – 2’06.90
4. Norihiko Fujiwara JPN Yamaha Test Rider – 2’07.34
5. Vittoriano Guareschi ITA Ducati Test Rider – 2’08.00
Photo by motoblog.it
