Test riders complete opening day at Sepang

Conditions were close to what was expected at Sepang on Wednesday as an air temperature of 30ºC and track reading of 60ºC met test riders, ahead of what will be a busy Thursday when the official MotoGP riders take to their 2010 bikes.

Norihiko Fujiwara and Wataru Yoshikawa (Yamaha Factory), Kosuke Akiyoshi (Repsol Honda Team), Nobuatsu Aoki (Rizla Suzuki MotoGP) and Vittoriano Guareschi (Ducati Marlboro Team) were present as they all took out the respective official 2010 prototypes.

Also present in Pit Lane and the Paddock, but not riding, were Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa, Loris Capirossi, Nicky Hayden and MotoGP debutants for 2010 Héctor Barberá, Álvaro Bautista and Hiroshi Aoyama, who all watched the day’s activities with great interest.

No official times were provided as the primary objective was a focus on the set-ups of each bike, but the Yamaha box indicated that between Fujiwara and Yoshikawa a best lap of 2’07.34 was recorded.

For Honda, Akiyoshi took out the bikes of both Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa to ensure that the basic set-up on each was functioning properly ahead of Thursday, as well as new developments. Dovizioso and Pedrosa will both be testing engines which have been evolved to meet the new regulations, and will also try out new electronics.

Guareschi, Team Manager of the official Ducati structure and also test rider, was on track until 2.30pm local time, and in the afternoon held meetings with the satellite teams.

“We have a few different things to test,” commented Guareschi. “We have three forks of varying rigidity for the riders to choose the best from. It is very important because here it is very hot and that results in much tyre wear.”

He continued: “We also have two different fairings that Nicky will test tomorrow (Thursday), which are very similar to the 2009 ones and which we started to use in the final four races of last season. We also have to keep working on the tuning of the set-up and the suspension.”

Some light rain fell at 4pm local time, although it did not disrupt the work being undertaken, and the official MotoGP team riders will take to the track on Thursday.