2006 rider's Sepang test results

[Bluefly]

Unofficial times from yesterday's sessions:

1. Marco Melandri Fortuna Honda 2.02.95
2. Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda 2.03.20
3. Carlos Checa Honda Pons 2.03.58
4. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 2.03.75
5. Colinh Edwards Gauloises Yamaha 2.03.78
6. Valentino Rossi Gauloises Yamaha 2.03.80
7 Toni Elias Fortuna Honda 2.04.05
8. John Hopkins Suzuki 2.04.13
9. Casey Stoner Honda Pons 2.04.29
10. Shinya Nakano Kawasaki 2.04.90
11. James Ellison Yamaha 2.05.10
12. Chris Vermuelen Suzuki 2.05.56
13. Randy de Puniet Kawasaki 2.05.60

Quoted from article:

"All the Honda MotoGP teams are gathered at the Malaysian venue for this test, with the exception of Makoto Tamada's Konica Minolta Honda team. Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa resumed his work on a tailor-made version of the RC211V, with a smaller tail, foot pegs anchored differently and even an isolated exhaust tube as the Spaniard was previously bothered by the excessive heat.

Suzuki's John Hopkins was the first rider to hit the track, riding the new version of the GSV-R while Chris Vermeulen lapped on the 2005 machine. The Australian should test the latest version of the Japanese prototype tomorrow.

In the Yamaha camp, Valentino Rossi focussed on tyre testing, before riding the new M1 which was plan to debut on Tuesday. Yamaha test riders Norihiko Fujiwara and Wataru Yoshikawa were the first riders to test the new bike.

Elsewhere, this first day of testing saw James Ellison make his debut with the Tech3 team on a Dunlop-shod Yamaha. French rookie Randy de Puniet continued his adaptation to the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-RR, while Shinya Nakano started to work on the 2006 version of the bike.

[Strika]

Day 2 test results

1. ROSSI (ITA) Gauloises Yamaha Team, 2’02.61
2. Melandri (ITA) Honda, 2’02.65
3. Elias (SPA) Honda, 2’02.78
4. EDWARDS (USA) Gauloises Yamaha Team, 2’02.94
5. Checa (SPA) Honda, 2’02.96
6. Hayden (USA) Honda, 2’03.05
7. Hopkins (USA) Suzuki, 2’03.10
8. Pedrosa (SPA) Honda, 2’03.15
9. Nakano (JPN) Kawasaki, 2’03.52
10. Stoner (AUS) Honda, 2’03.56
11. Vermuelen (AUS) Suzuki, 2’04.50
12. du Puniet (FRA) Kawasaki, 2’04.50
13. Ellison (GBR) Yamaha, 2’05.52

[icebreaker]

It's pretty scary.. But stoner could have an f'ing good rookie year in MotoGP if he plays his cards right...

[Strika]

Apart from the usual suspects i tend to believe Ellison may be a surprise this year. All the other racers seem to rate him

[Simmo_ZX9R]

Sepang test – day two:

1. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing 2min 2.61 secs
2. Marco Melandri ITA Fortuna Honda 2min 2.65 secs
3. Toni Elias SPA Fortuna Honda 2min 2.78 secs
4. Colin Edwards USA Yamaha Factory Racing 2min 2.94 secs
5. Carlos Checa SPA Honda Pons 2min 2.96 secs
6. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda Team 2min 3.05 secs
7. John Hopkins USA Team Suzuki MotoGP 2min 3.1 secs
8. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team 2min 3.15 secs
9. Shinya Nakano JPN Kawasaki Racing Team 2min 3.52 secs
10. Casey Stoner AUS Honda Pons 2min 3.56 secs
11. Chris Vermulen AUS Team Suzuki MotoGP 2min 4.5 secs
12. Randy de Puniet FRA Kawasaki Racing Team 2min 4.5 secs
13. James Ellison GBR Tech 3 Yamaha 2min 5.52 secs


Fastest day one time:

Marco Melandri ITA Fortuna Honda 2min 2.95 secs

2005 Malaysian GP - 25/09/2005:

Pole position: Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro 2min 1.731secs

Fastest race laps (by manufacturer):
Honda: Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda 2min 2.993secs
Yamaha: Valentino Rossi ITA Gauloises Yamaha 2min 3.328secs
Ducati: Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro 2min 3.435secs
Suzuki: John Hopkins USA Team Suzuki MotoGP 2min 3.681secs
Kawasaki: Olivier Jacque FRA Kawasaki Racing Team 2min 5.289secs
WCM: James Ellison GBR Blata WCM 2min 7.378secs

Having been left just sixth fastest on the Honda dominated day one timesheets, MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi restored order on the second day of testing at Sepang in Malaysia.

Rossi spent most of the day testing Michelin tyres and getting to grips with Yamaha's new prototype 2006-spec YZR-M1, which he rode for the first time yesterday, before switching back onto the 2005 bike towards the end of the day to continue working with Michelin.

The Doctor set a best time of 2mins 2.61secs today, which was 1.19secs faster than his best Monday time and 0.383secs quicker than Nicky Hayden's race lap record during September Malaysian Grand Prix.

Rossi's closest rival today was Monday pace setter Marco Melandri, who improved by 0.3secs over yesterday to get to within just 0.04secs of the #46. Melandri's Fortuna Honda team-mate Toni Elias was third, and a mere 0.13secs slower than Marco.

"I am really happy with what we did today on the new bike and I am feeling quite positive about it," declared Rossi after his 60 Tuesday laps. "I have a good feeling on it and more stability than with the old M1, so this is very encouraging considering that it's just the first (proper) day of work.

"Today we did a lot of work with Michelin while trying to understand and gather data for the new bike. At the end of the day I changed back to the old bike and continued testing tyres. Yesterday the feeling was not perfect with the 2005 bike but we changed some settings and today it began to feel much better.

"We had some problems here in the race and so it's good to make these improvements. Tomorrow we have some more things to try with the new bike before we fly home for the holidays!"
Rossi's Gauloises Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards also tested several new tyres as he continued to work exclusively on the 2005-spec bike, before he tries the new prototype tomorrow afternoon.

The Texan, who was fifth fastest - and marginally ahead of Rossi - on Monday, increased his pace by 0.84secs today as he set the fourth fastest overall time and lapped within 0.33secs of Rossi's best.

"During my first run this morning I went over half a second quicker than yesterday and then went even faster later, so it was a good day," confirmed Colin, who completed 67 laps. "We mostly concentrated on testing tyres in the morning and then the afternoon was spent trying out some other stuff for Yamaha.

"This new style is not so much about my position on the bike - there are small changes to that but I think only a serious 'Edwards fan' could notice - its more about my style of controlling the bike before and during a corner. My technique has definitely changed and it's feeling better each day as I get more used to it.

"Tomorrow I think I need to do a long run and then I hope to get on the new bike in the afternoon. I am really excited about trying it out; Valentino seems very positive about it so I can't wait to have a go myself!" concluded Edwards, whose best Tuesday lap was 1.2secs quicker than his best race lap in the grand prix.

The third and final day of testing at Sepang will take place tomorrow (Wednesday) with the winter test ban then starting on December 1. The ban lasts until January 20, after which many teams will return to Sepang.

[icebreaker]

Well it looks like De Puniet is faster than Hoffman already.....

Could be looking at a better team effort in 06...

[Barrabob]

Looks like moving into positive ground but it is testing not racing.

I would reckon that valenttino would probably rather been running around in a ferari than a yamaha by day 3 and cant see setes name on the list, did he get a ride?


1. Dani Pedrosa - Honda, 2’02.77
2. Nicky Hayden - Honda, 2’02.79
3. Marco Melandri - Honda, 2’02.86
4. Shinya Nakano - Kawasaki, 2’02.93
5. John Hopkins - Suzuki, 2’03.10
6. Carlos Checa - Honda, 2’03.39
7. Colin Edwards - Yamaha, 2’03.61
8. Casey Stoner - Honda, 2’03.70
9. Valentino Rossi - Yamaha 2’03.85
10. Toni Elias - Honda, 2’03.95
11. Randy du Puniet - Kawasaki, 2’04.27
12. Chris Vermuelen - Suzuki, 2’04.50
13. James Ellison - Yamaha, 2’05.00

The MotoGP test held at Sepang came to an end on Wednesday after a day of mixed weather conditions. In the morning rain forced the riders to switch to wet weather tyres, but the track improved quickly and was completely dry by the afternoon.

Briton James Ellison was the first rider to take to the track riding the Dunlop-shod Yamaha M1 for the Tech 3 team. Other riders who lapped in the wet included Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa, Kawasaki's Shinya Nakano and Randy de Puniet and Australian riders Casey Stoner and Chris Vermeulen, although the latter didn't test the Suzuki GSV-R '06 prototype as previously planned as his team-mate John Hopkins indicated that it required further development.

All the riders made it out on to track in the afternoon with Yamaha's Colin Edwards having the opportunity to test the new version of the YZR-M1 on which Valentino Rossi has worked for the past two days. However, Rossi was unable to complete a race simulation on Wednesday as had been scheduled and the MotoGP World Champion now heads to Japan to visit Yamaha Motor's headquarters before flying back to Europe.

Marco Melandri, one of the fastest riders at the three-day test at Sepang and Honda's best-placed rider in last season’s World Championship, revealed that he was looking forward to testing the latest evolution of the Honda RC211V which should be available when testing resumes in late January.

[greenmeanie]

Pics from Sepang(Nakano):

[Lucas]

Ok i might be reading to much into this
but have Kawasaki finally figured out that the BLACK ones are faster

GO TEAM BLACK

[Blackzxr]

I know it's only testing, but the results are looking promising. Roll on 2006.

Btw: I think they are taking the team green a bit far.. All i see is a big frog faring Sorry, i looked again and i think it's Nemo

[red_dave]

I can't wait for Season 06 to start...


aaarrrrggghh!

[icebreaker]

Your not the only one..

No NRL and No bike racing.. I'm last for weekend TV.. Wish I could just pay for Foxtel 6 months of the year.. lol

[Neka79]

Your not the only one..

No NRL and No bike racing.. I'm last for weekend TV.. Wish I could just pay for Foxtel 6 months of the year.. lol

wouldnt that be good..half the other crap they have isnt worth watching..only reason i got fox was for NRL and moto gp...tho they use to also show AMA sbk but last yr i didnt see ne of that...