Alvaro had his very first crash with the Rizla Suzuki early in the session, but it was at low speed and he walked away from it unharmed. Regardless of this he already managed to improve his laptime from the previous test at Sepang substantially and was listed as 8th fastest early in the day. With only about half as many laps as the rest of the Rookies he’s still doing really well in 10th as of 1PM local time.

Unofficial laptimes at 1PM local time:

1. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2’01.068
2. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 2’01.268
3. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 2’01.753
4. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 2’01.897
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 2’01.899
6. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 2’02.042
7. Marco Melandri (Honda) 2’02.086
8. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 2’02.399
9. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) 2’02.419
10. Alvaro Bautista (Suzuki) 2’02.449
11. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 2’02.485
12. Randy de Puniet (Honda) 2’02.807
13. Nicky Hayden (Ducati) 2’02.946
14. Mika Kallio (Ducati) 2’03.262
15. Marco Simoncelli (Honda) 2’03.338
16. Aleix Espargaro (Ducati) 2’03.371

UPDATE: Alvaro keeps improving his laptimes as is now 9th fastest as of 6PM local time, only a blink away from Pedrosa’s laptime in 7th! He’s now also the fastest of the “real” Rookies. Looking good so far.

Unofficial laptimes at 6PM local time:

1. Rossi (Yamaha) 2.01.068
2. Stoner (Ducati) 2.01.219
3. Dovizioso (Honda) 2.01.631
4. Capirossi (Suzuki) 2.01.687
5. Spies (Yamaha) 2.01.843
6. Edwards (Yamaha) 2.01.897
7. Pedrosa (Honda) 2.02.036
8. Kallio (Ducati) 2.02.038
9. Bautista (Suzuki) 2.02.078
10. Melandri (Honda) 2.02.086
11. Hayden (Ducati) 2.02.221
12. Aoyama (Honda) 2.02.419
13. Espargarò (Ducati) 2.02.447
14. Barbera (Ducati) 2.02.485
15. De Puniet (Honda) 2.02.535
16. Simoncelli (Honda) 2.03.254