Nakano in a rush on first Sepang factory bike outing

That Shinya Nakano was in something of a rush was apparent in the afternoon run at Sepang, as he almost immediately bettered his morning lap time onboard the San Carlo Honda Gresini RC212V. The Japanese rider finished fourth overall on Friday, and explained afterwards that his haste owed much to a combination of an intense workload and unpredictable weather.

`I wanted to try all the rear tyres for the race, because you never know what the conditions are going to be like tomorrow,´ said Nakano. `I was in a hurry to try everything, and finally I managed to test all the rears. The fronts are already decided, because there are not many choices, but we have two options that are working well for the rear.´

Nakano is well-versed in negotiating the Malaysian track through both his raceday exploits and extensive testing visits, but was today making his first run with a factory spec Honda RC212V at the circuit. Luckily for the MotoGP veteran, he found his previous data transferable to the task at hand.

`I was a bit worried, because I was using the old bike before, but it seems to be working well. Fourth is good enough,´ reviewed Nakano.