It didn’t take long for Casey Stoner to shake off the rust after the long test ban, because the new Honda Repsol rider ended up the fastest rider at the end of Day 1 testing at Sepang, starting well as he did in the Valencia test back in November.
Stoner laid down a best lap of 2’01″574 that took him to the top of the charts ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa, leaving both behind by more than four tenths, with all three riders were under the 2′02 mark.
The RC212V’s are a certainly working well at Sepang, because the platoon of Honda riders, except for Toni Elias (17th) were in the top ten; with Marco Simoncelli in fourth, Hiroshi Aoyama in seventh, while factory rider Andrea Dovizioso was eighth.
Ben Spies after loosing the front of his M1 this morning, but not picking up any physical consequences was a solid fifth.
Rizla Suzuki’s Alvaro Bautista took 6th on the one track where Suzuki has always historically gone well.
Randy de Puniet was the first Ducati rider who rounded out the top ten, while Valentino Rossi continues to struggle with his shoulder problems and able to only few laps at a time on the GP 11 and ended up in the 12th spot and a massive 1.
791 s behind Stoner’s best time and was still behind All Japan Superbike champion Kousuke Akiyoshi, who is testing for HRC.
Nicky Hayden in his third year with Ducatiwas 13th and marginally slower than team mate Rossi.
Rookies Cal Crutchlow was 16th and getting to know the track, while fellow rookie Karel Abraham was 18th.
Testing continues tomorrow and Thursday.
Sepang Test Times Day 1:1- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – 2’01.
5742- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
4033- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
4504- Marco Simoncelli – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 0.
7215- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
7586- Alvaro Bautista – Rizla Suzuki MotoGP – Suzuki GSV-R – + 0.
8487- Hiroshi Aoyama – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC212V – + 0.
9098- Andrea Dovizioso – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC212V – + 0.
9339- Colin Edwards – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
94010- Randy De Puniet – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
57811- Kousuke Akiyoshi – HRC Test Team – Honda RC212V – + 1.
65012- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP11 – + 1.
791
