Progress continues for rookie pair despite rain

Second test day for Aoyama and Simoncelli in Sepang

Tuesday, 22 December 2009

Hiroshi Aoyama and Marco Simoncelli’s second day of testing at the Sepang International Circuit on Tuesday was affected by rain, but did not prevent the duo from improving their lap times.

After a positive first day of a test which has been scheduled to allow both Hiroshi Aoyama and Marco Simoncelli further time to acclimatise to their respective Honda prototypes, both riders continued on track in Malaysia on Tuesday.

Taking to the asphalt at 10.30am with cloud overhead, Interwetten Honda MotoGP Team rider Aoyama and San Carlo Honda Gresini man Simoncelli continued their work on their respective RC212V machines, focusing primarily on their individual electronic set-ups.

Both were forced to stop at 2pm due to a heavy rain downpour, but a final hour of riding was commenced at 4.30pm.

Aoyama clocked a fastest lap of 2’03.25 while taking in 43 turns, thus improving his time from the previous day by over a second. Simoncelli’s 56 laps produced a best time of 2’03.70, also a marked improvement on his first day’s work, with Wednesday the scheduled final day of the programme.