Valentino Rossi still remains positive despite dropping back to the sevent spot in today’s second day of testing at Sepang, reporting that he’s following the work program that was set-up by his team and that’s why he did very short runs today.

The Italian also stated that 50% of the problems they had in 2011 have already been solved including corner entry and braking but they’re still working on the electronics package and tomorrow will start also start testing the new Bridgestone tires.

Nicky Hayden was forced to stop after sixteen laps due hampered by pain in his injured left shoulder that he sustained in a pre-season training accident, with test rider Franco Battaini taking his place and in tomorrow’s final day of testing Hayden will try to ride a few laps.

Valentino Rossi (Ducati Team) 7th, 2:01.886 (44 laps)

“It was another positive day, both because we achieved our goal of lapping at 2:01 and because we managed to make further progress with the bike’s setup. On the other hand, as is normal with a brand-new bike like the GP12, as we progress with our tests we also find other details that can’t be addressed with setup alone and that will therefore have to be perfected in the coming weeks. We had already identified those areas yesterday, acceleration and electronics, and we confirmed the progress made with the front end. Honda and Yamaha have been working on their bikes for a year, while we’ve just had two days, which makes our job particularly challenging, but we already knew that as well. Tomorrow will be important as well because we’ll be able to make an overall assessment of the three days, and we’ll have a clearer idea of where we stand compared to the others. If we manage to stay under one second from the top, I’ll be happy.”

Nicky Hayden (Ducati Team) 10th, 2:02.354 (16 laps)

“I was okay when I first went out this morning, and on my second lap I managed to make a pretty decent step from yesterday. After that I lost strength in the shoulder and wasn’t really able to ride fast or consistently enough to test much. I’m okay under braking because I can lock my shoulder out, but when the bike shakes I don’t have enough strength to hold on. I didn’t want to crash and cause bigger problems, so I just decided to chill out. It’s a bit of a bummer, but that’s how it goes sometimes. They’ve done a great job with the new bike, and you can see just from looking at it that it’s really slick. I just wish I could ride it closer to the edge and really see what it does and how it reacts to changes. Maybe I’ll do a few more exits tomorrow, but that’s about it.”

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After missing the first day of testing yesterday due to back problems (something he says he suffers from a couple of times a year since 2003) World Champion Casey Stoner enjoyed good track conditions on his first outing of 2012. Stoner who wanted to spend more time on the track - he did a total of 29 laps - did a chassis comparison between his two RC213V chassis’ and finished the day as the fastest rider of the day with a time of 2′00.895, but like everyone else freaked out when the the official timer had a glitch and briefly indicated that Spies had posted a terrifying 1.58.

Team-mate Dani Pedrosa and used his second day of testing to work on braking and to improve the stability of the new 1000cc bike in corner entry, and look for solutions to reduce the chattering. He finished the day 4th with a time of 2′01.508.

Casey Stoner:

“It was great to be able to ride today and everything went pretty well, although I would have liked to have done a few more laps. We spent most of the day on the new chassis comparing it back to back with the one we had in Valencia and we found a good direction and where we want to go. As usual it would be great to take some elements from one chassis and some from the other, but at least we found the direction we are happy to follow. We used the hard front tyre this afternoon but found we had more chattering with it so we have to work on this, there is still room for improvement. We didn’t get a chance to use the new spec tyres that Bridgestone have brought here, we’ll try them out tomorrow and go from there.”

Dani Pedrosa:

“Today we started to work well from the beginning; the track conditions were better than yesterday and it was hotter out there. We’ve been working on the setting of the bike, focusing mainly on the braking and reducing chatter, to improve the stability on the entry of the corners, that’s our main target right now. We made some comparisons between the two chassis’ and we will keep working with the bike and see what can we do before choosing. We have one more day, so we’ll try some other things with the shocks, this could help, and also different tyre pressures, we will see. I didn’t do many laps during the day, but now it’s time to test as much as possible and sometimes you have to spend more time in the garage, it’s normal. The new Bridgestone tyres are working ok, I just tried one hard on the rear but I didn’t have much grip and the soft ones are working better, even for the endurance they don’t look so bad.”

Continue reading: Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa on Day 2 at Sepang

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Yamaha Factory riders Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies continued to show promising form today in the second day of the Sepang test, the first official 1000cc MotoGP test of 2012. Having spent yesterday getting back into the rhythm of riding, today was spent focusing on comparative testing in a number of areas.

The team worked to gather data to optimise the balance of the 2012 YZR-M1 chassis whilst also working to refine the power delivery of the increased engine capacity through electronics and power delivery. Spies led the field for the majority of the day with team mate Lorenzo just behind, the Texan eventually knocked from the top spot by just 0.157 seconds by Casey Stoner. Tomorrow’s final day of testing will see a further shakedown by the Yamaha riders before they return in one month’s time for the second test of the season.

Ben Spies:

“We got going pretty well in the morning, then even when the track started to slow down the pace was still really good. We started to mess with the balance of the bike a little today and played with the electronics to find a good foundation with the bike. At Valencia we compared some stuff and got in the right direction. Now we’re here and taking the next step, trying some things to see how it affects the set up. There’s definitely some room for improvement and some areas we’re not struggling with at all.”

Jorge Lorenzo:

“Today I was much more tired than yesterday so it was tough to finish with a good pace but we managed it. We didn’t find any big improvements but some small details. Tomorrow we hope to make one big step. We improved our lap times a lot in the morning but in the afternoon when it was even hotter we managed to go faster which is very positive.”

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It took Casey Stoner just a handful of laps - he only did a total 29 and as usual less than everyone else - after sitting out yesterday’s first day of testing at Sepang due to a back problem, to continue his dominate form and show the rest of the field why he’s the reigning World Champion.

The Repsol Honda rider lapped in 2.00.895 and was the only rider to break the 2.01 mark, leaving the Yamaha duo lead by Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo adrift by 0.157s and 0.173s respectively, which seems to indicate that the 1000cc Yamaha M1 has caught up with Honda, as Cal Crutchlow on the Yamaha Tech3 branded M1 was fifth, making it three Yamaha’s in the top five.

Dani Pedrosa ended up in fourth after a flying lap at the end of the day, but he was a mere 0.057s faster than the British rider.

The surprise of the day was Hector Barbera on the Pramac Ducati. Barbera was sixth and he’s riding the Ducati GP12, which is really the first and slightly modified version of the Ducati GPZero that Valentino Rossi tested during the post season tests at Valencia. While Rossi on the GP12 Phoenix ended up in seventh and a little less than a second adrift from his arch rival Casey Stoner, who no doubt will be silently laughing under his helmet.

Ducati team mate Nicky Hayden as we mentioned earlier in the day, had to cut short his test due to a painful shoulder, while the other recovering rider Andrea Dovizioso on the second Yamaha Tech3 gritted his teeth to complete 42 laps and finish in ninth behind Alvaro Bautista on the Gresini Honda.

Closing out the top ten was MotoGP rookie Stefan Bradl.

At the back of the timesheet were the CRT bikes, with Colin Edwards on Forward Racing’s Suter/BMW who made shaved off more than two seconds from yesterday’s lap times, while Avintia’s FTR-Kawasaki’s are having immense technical problems and between the three riders, Ivan Silva, Jordi Torres and Robertino Pietro could only complete a total of 23 laps.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang test : Casey Stoner takes over on Day 2

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It’s boiling hot at Sepang for day 2 of MotoGP testing, and currently leading the charts at 3pm local time is Ben Spies, closely followed by team mate Jorge Lorenzo. Reigning World champion Casey Stoner is back on track after being forced to sit out day one due to a pulled muscle in his back and is now chasing the Yamaha duo.

Repsol Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa who is testing a slightly revised chassis is in fourth. Cal Crutchlow continues to impress on the 1000cc, while Alvaro Bautista has made a big jump forward in the timesheets.

Ducati test rider Franco Battaini is now riding Nicky Hayden’s GP12 as the American has been forced to withdrawfor the rest day due shoulder pain.The lap times listed for Battaini are actually Hayden’s first laps.

After yesterday’s probably premature excitement regarding the Ducati Phoenix, Valentino Rossi has dropped down into eighth and losing over 1.3 seconds from the top of the charts. MotoGP rookie Stefan Bradl binned his RC213V earlier in the day, but didn’t suffer any consequences.

Test MotoGP Sepang Day 2 - Test times at 3pm

01 Ben Spies 2:01.052 - - 20
02 Jorge Lorenzo 2:01.144 +0.092 +0.092 26
03 Casey Stoner 2:01.245 +0.101 +0.193 16
04 Dani Pedrosa 2:01.638 +0.393 +0.586 19
05 Cal Crutchlow 2:01.710 +0.072 +0.658 24
06 Alvaro Bautista 2:02.065 +0.355 +1.013 23
07 Franco Battaini 2:02.354 +0.289 +1.302 63
08 Valentino Rossi 2:02.400 +0.046 +1.348 23
09 Stefan Bradl 2:02.414 +0.014 +1.362 25
10 Andrea Dovizioso 2:02.506 +0.092 +1.454 24
11 Hector Barbera 2:02.597 +0.091 +1.545 27
12 Karel Abraham 2:03.050 +0.453 +1.998 39
13 Katsuyuki Nakasuga 2:03.323 +0.273 +2.271 22
14 Colin Edwards 2:06.819 +3.496 +5.767 18
15 Ivan Silva 2:10.297 +3.478 +9.245 9
16 Robertino Pietri 2:12.546 +2.249 +11.494 5

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With Day 2 testing all wrapped up, here are what several riders said about what they did today and we can tell you that suprisingly enough the rider who improved overall from Day 1 to Day 2 was Hector Barbera on the Aspar Ducati, who rose from 15th to 1oth.

The Spaniard sliced off a massive 1.674s from his Tuesday times, while Dani Pedrosa, the fastest rider of the day with his blazing lap of 2.00.770 took off 1.254s from the previous day. The rider who had less of an improvement over the two days was Casey Stoner, taking off only 0.140s.

Dani Pedrosa:

“I think it’s the first time I’ve ridden so fast on this track, but you’re just fresh in the morning and I did four very good first laps. I was not looking for a time, but I saw that the track conditions were good and I pushed. The closer you get to the limit, the clearer the changes you are doing on the bike become, which lead you in the right direction. Today I tried the new engine, which has improved from Valencia, some chassis configurations and rear shocks. Tomorrow the plan is to continue comparing both bikes and it would be great to come away with the chassis and engine decided for the next test.”

Continue reading: Rider quotes from Day 2 testing at Sepang

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The MotoGP riders are finally on track, shaking off the winter blues and back in action in a hot -32°C and humid - 60% Sepang, and fortunately the weather forecasters were partially wrong, because it started to rain only in the final minutes of the test session.

Valentino Rossi was the fastest in today’s testing with Casey Stoner just under 0.5 sec behind the reigning World Champion and Colin Edwards, on his Tech 3 Yamaha, posting the third best time. They were the only three riders that were able to go under the 2′02 mark, but only earlier in the afternoon before the heat began to take its toll on the riders.

Lap Times at 3pm:

1 #46 Valentino Rossi 2′01″411
2 #27 Casey Stoner 2′01″902 +0″491
3 #5 Colin Edwards 2′01″932 +0″521
4 #65 Loris Capirossi 2′02″102 +0″691
5 #99 Jorge Lorenzo 2′02″596 +1.185
6 #4 Andrea Dovizioso 2′02″630 +1.219
7 #69 Nicky Hayden 2′02″792 +1.381
8 #36 Mika Kallio 2′03″078 +1.667
9 #26 Dani Pedrosa 2′03″176 +1.765
10 #11 Ben Spies 2′03″ 302 +1.891
11 #41 Aleix Espargaro 2′03″412 +2.001
12 #19 Alvaro Bautista 2′03″558 +2.147
13 #58 Marco Simoncelli 2′03″563 +2.152
14 #33 Marco Melandri 2′03″609 +2.198
15 #7 Hiroshi Aoyama 2′03″651 +2.240
16 #40 Hector Barbera 2′03″657 +2.242
17 #14 Randy De Puniet 2′03″722 +2.311
18 #100 Yamaha T 2′05″732 +4.321
19 #101 Yamaha O 2′06″206 +4.795

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang Test: Thursday -Riders in Action - Rossi Leads

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On the second day of MotoGP testing at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, Casey Stoner still struggling with pain in his left wrist posted the fastest time 2.01.483.

Managing to complete only 29 laps because of the pain and even with a relatively small number of laps was just enough to be the fastest man on the grid beating out Suzuki rider Loris Capirossi who clocked in at 2.01.555

Valentino Rossi, third on the charts, is also struggling with injury, ended the second day with a best time of 2.01.626 in a 40-lap stint and trying out new electronics designed to help with acceleration.

Continue reading: MotoGP Sepang Test - Day 2

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