MotoGP – Sepang Test Day 3 – Stoner finishes at the top, Rossi 2nd and Capirossi 3rd

Casey Stoner ended the three-day MotoGP test in Sepang in command with a best time of 2:01.043. The Australian Ducati rider completed 38 laps and preceded multiple world champion Valentino Rossi by just 94 thousandths and Loris Capirossi's Suzuki by 219 thousandths, always the protagonist in these 3 days of testing. They will certainly be the announced protagonists in the 2009 Malaysian GP with possible outsiders like Colin Edwards, fourth today with a time of 2:01.413. Behind the American on this final day we find Toni Elias' Team Gresini Honda and Chris Vermeulen's Suzuki. The Australian got behind Jorge Lorenzo who improved compared to yesterday.

The Majorcan precedes the excellent Andrea Dovizioso on the Honda RC212V of Team Repsol (the only one on the track given Dani Pedrosa's withdrawal) and the Ducati of Team Pramac of debutant Mika Kallio. The Finn put Nicky Hayden behind him, the official Ducati rider who still hasn't managed to find the best setup for his GP9. Behind the former Honda rider we find the San Marino Alex De Angelis who precedes the returning Sete Gibernau on the Team Onde 2000 Ducati, Randy De Puniet on the LCR Team Honda and the Scot Racing Team rider Yuki Takahashi.

The Japanese made his debut in MotoGP and put the other debut behind him. Niccolò Canepa, the British James Toseland, and the Yamahas of the two test riders Fujiwara and Yoshikawa.
Summing up these three days, we can say that Rossi is always going strong, Stoner equally if not more, but the problem with the wrist he underwent surgery on 3 months ago is giving him more than a few worries and we hope for the good of MotoGP that it will be resolved soon; Loris Capirossi was also a great protagonist and during the winter he had always declared that he was sure he could aim high. Dovizioso and Honda in general also did well while Nicky Hayden still has to adapt to the Ducati who is still unable to use the Desmodedici GP9 with the hard Bridgestone compound. Yamaha's goodness is instead confirmed by Colin Edwards' performance. Finally, Mika Kallio was an excellent rookie and allowed himself the luxury of preceding the aforementioned Hayden.

MotoGP Test Sepang Day 3 – Saturday 07 February – The times

1 Casey STONER Ducati MarlboroTeam 2:01.043 – – 38
2 Valentino ROSSI Fiat Yamaha 2:01.137 +0.094 +0.094 43
3 Loris CAPIROSSI Team Suzuki 2:01.262 +0.125 +0.219 60
4 Colin EDWARDS Tech3 Yamaha 2:01.413 +0.151 +0.370 22
5 Toni ELIAS San Carlo Honda Gresini 2:01.560 +0.147 +0.517 43
6 Chris VERMEULEN Team Suzuki 2:01.666 +0.106 +0.623 48
7 Jorge LORENZO Fiat Yamaha 2:01.907 +0.241 +0.864 61
8 Andrea DOVIZIOSO Repsol Honda 2:01.955 +0.048 +0.912 54
9 Mika KALLIO Pramac Racing 2:02.386 +0.431 +1.343 61
10 Nicky HAYDEN Ducati Marlboro Team 2:02.497 +0.111 +1.454 62
11 Alex DE ANGELIS San Carlo Honda Gresini 2:02.523 +0.026 +1.480 32
12 Thirst GIBERNAU Guinea Ecuatorial 2:02.727 +0.204 +1.684 42
13 Randy DE PUNIET LCR Honda 2:03.418 +0.691 +2.375 50
14 Yuki TAKAHASHI Scot Racing Team 2:03.474 +0.056 +2.431 58
15 Niccolo CANEPA Pramac Racing 2:03.901 +0.427 +2.858 41
16 James TOSELAND Tech3 Yamaha 2:03.953 +0.052 +2.910 36
17 Fujiwara Yamaha Factory 2:04.328 +0.375 +3.285 38
18 Yoshikawa Yamaha Factory 2:04.614 +0.286 +3.571 33