MotoGP Sepang test, Biaggi wins the first round against Rossi....

MotoGP: Biaggi fastest in Sepang

Rossi is third at four tenths
The first round of the MotoGP challenge was won by Max Biaggi. The
Roman centaur was in fact the fastest in the Sepang tests
which sees all the best of the next Motorcycling World Championship on the track.
Valentino Rossi took his Yamaha to third place, 4 tenths behind.
The second half was set by Colin Edwards' Honda,
while his teammate, Sete Gibernau, is fourth ahead of
Loris Capirossi.

There was a Grand Prix atmosphere in Sepang, as all the MotoGP teams
participate in this test session which will move next week
also in Australia. Even if they are only tests, the general attention was
all aimed at Valentino Rossi who, riding his M1, demonstrated his ability
keep pace with Honda which in turn fielded the new version of the
RC211V, entrusted to official pilots Nicky Hayden and Alex Barros. The Pesaro native
on his second outing with Yamaha, he achieved the third fastest time of the day,
trailing by four tenths.

“Valentino made a good impression on me – said Carlo Fiorani,
HRC team manager – went quite strong. These though
they are tests in which many new things are tested on the bikes. It's too early for
get an idea of ​​the real forces at play”. Second half for Colin Edwards
on Honda of the Gresini team, his teammate Sete Gibernau was fourth.
Fifth Loris Capirossi riding the new Ducati Desmosedici. At Honda,
instead, Alex Barros made his debut, returning to the House of the golden wing afterwards
a bad year at Yamaha. Barros covered several laps (52, best time
of 2'05"980) with ease, but has yet to recover full functionality
of the shoulder operated on in recent months.

The Pesaro native commented on the session as follows: “It was very hot
– said the Pesaro – Things went quite well, but we still have
lots of work to do. It was interesting to have a first direct comparison
on the track with Hondas. The main things we need to work on are the engine
and the front. Today we worked a lot, especially on the engine,
making good progress. But we're taking things slow, not going
at the limit. Thursday I'll try another engine spec, a setup
different and new tyres”.

Max Biaggi is very satisfied with the behavior of the bike: “We have
shot with the new bikes which, since they are like the ones we shot with
three weeks ago, they didn't need a long and painstaking search for the
development – ​​said the ormano – They are beautiful, effective, with some
slight modification of the air intakes and the hull but, indeed, substantially
the same ones, so we quickly found the adjustments and we were able to
dedicate to testing Michelin tires. We worked on both measures
of the front but I did the fastest time with the 16,5 ones with which
I must say that I felt at ease."

Source: Tgcom.it