MotoGP back in action at Sepang Test

MotoGP back in action at Sepang Test

Friday, 29 January 2010
The first official MotoGP Test of the year starts in Malaysia on Wednesday, with the riders who will contest the 2010 World Championship taking to the track on Thursday.

The eagerly awaited first on-track action of 2010 takes place next week, as the MotoGP riders arrive at the Sepang International Circuit. The Test, scheduled to run from February 3-5, will see the 17 riders who will contest this year’s World Championship in attendance.

With Wednesday allocated as a day for Test riders only, the MotoGP field will spend Thursday and Friday getting to grips with the evolving prototypes they will race in this year’s competition.

2009 World Champion Valentino Rossi and runner-up and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo will continue to work on the new version on their M1 bikes, which they first experienced in the post-season Valencia Test last November. Rossi commented on his satisfaction with the new throttle and speed of the 2010 machine at Valencia, whilst Lorenzo was also pleased with the developments. The Fiat Yamaha team will unveil its final 2010 livery at the Test on Thursday, with both Rossi and Lorenzo displaying it.

Another factory pairing in Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso will be eager to see how their new bikes shape up. Pedrosa targeted improved stability on the RC212V for 2010 and Dovizioso is looking forward to seeing how electronic and chassis developments will adapt. LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet is also excited at the prospect of the new machine, which he expects to be closer to the factory prototype.

Ducati unveiled the Desmosedici GP10 at the start of January and factory riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden will enjoy the benefits of a redesigned engine. Pramac Racing duo Aleix Espargaró and Mika Kallio and Team Aspar’s rookie Héctor Barberá will all also ride.

Rizla Suzuki will see how the GSV-R – on which they have been working hard throughout the winter to make more competitive than last season – fares for MotoGP veteran Loris Capirossi and rookie Álvaro Bautista.

Another experienced/rookie combination will be San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli, with 250cc World Champion Hiroshi Aoyama also on the RC212V of the Interwetten Honda MotoGP team. And the all-American pairing of Ben Spies and Colin Edwards for Monster Yamaha Tech3 will start work in earnest.

motogp.com

The first official MotoGP Test of the year starts in Malaysia next Wednesday, with the riders who will contest the 2010 World Championship taking to the track on Thursday.

The eagerly awaited first on-track action of 2010 takes place next week, as the MotoGP riders arrive at the Sepang International Circuit. The Test, scheduled to run from February 3-5, will see the 17 riders who will contest this year’s World Championship in attendance.

With Wednesday allocated as a day for Test riders only, the MotoGP field will spend Thursday and Friday getting to grips with the evolving prototypes they will race in this year’s competition.

WEATHER LOOKS GOOD IN THE HIGH 90'S

LOCAL TIME IS +8HR ON GMT.

SO ITS WEDS 6.20 AM IN SEPANG AS I POST THIS NOT LONG TILL TRACK TIME

The first pic from #Sepang,2010 Honda RC212V #MotoGP

still looks Pedro style





more pics soon

http://twitter.com/Tobymoody

The official 2010 Fiat Yamaha Team launch will take place at the Sepang circuit on February 4th at 10 in the morning (local time) before the official MotoGP tests that kick off on the same day.

2am (GMT) Thu 4th Feb

1 Kosuke Akiyoshi JPN Honda Test Rider 2min 4.43 sec
2 Wataru Yoshikawa JPN Yamaha Test Rider 2min 6.38 sec
3 Nobuatsu Aoki JPN Suzuki Test Rider 2min 6.90 sec
4 Norihiko Fujiwara JPN Yamaha Test Rider 2min 7.34 sec
5 Vittoriano Guareschi ITA Ducati Test Rider 2min 8.00 sec

2009 Malaysian Grand Prix - 25/10/2009:
Pole position (dry):
Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha 2min 0.518sec
Fastest race lap (wet):
Valentino Rossi ITA Fiat Yamaha 2min 13.694sec

Guareschi i hope the bikes better than this. and you manage even better

New Ducati Marlboro team manager Vittoriano Guareschi proved his promotion won't stop him having a hands-on role by personally shaking down all ten of the factory's 2010 MotoGP race bikes at Sepang on Wednesday.

Following Livio Suppo's surprise decision to quit as Ducati's MotoGP project director for a senior marketing position at HRC, Guareschi was moved to the newly created role of team manager, while Alessandro Cicognani assumes the title of project director.

Suppo was present at Sepang in HRC colours on Wednesday, while Guareschi got back in his leathers and joined factory test riders from Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki out on track.

With race riders not allowed to test until Thursday, Guareschi's main task was to make sure the new Ducatis were functioning properly - and he checked not only the factory machines of Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden, but also the satellite GP10s of Mika Kallio, Aleix Espargaro and Hector Barbera.

“I was the only person riding the Ducatis today and I rode all of them!” a smiling Guareschi told Crash.net on Wednesday evening. “And not one bike is similar to the others. One is long, one is short, one has a brake lever here - the controls are all completely different!

“All the bikes were built at Ducati last month, but had not been tested,” he continued. “So I did two laps on each of them to make sure the brakes, clutch, electronic systems and everything is working ok.

“It is my first time riding at this track - I rode it on the two-seater but that is totally different - and it's fun. It's a technical track and difficult to understand the line because it is hard to see the end of the corners.

“I did a best lap time of 2min 8sec, not bad as I only did one quick lap with each bike and then into the pits. I also only used one set of tyres, because the test team don't have a lot of tyres available for the year.”

As a long-time Ducati MotoGP tester, Guareschi is perfectly placed to comment on the difference a rider feels between the new-for-2010 'big bang' engine and the former 'screamer' design.

“The big-bang has more drivability and it is easier to 'understand' the power,” he replied. “The old engine released full power all at once, like a turbo! The new engine is much friendlier and it is much easier to control the engine with the throttle.

“In terms of the best lap time there is not a big difference, but during a race - when the grip from the tyres goes down - the 'big bang' has an advantage.

“I think everyone in MotoGP is using 'big bang' now,” he added.

Guareschi also revealed some of the new parts Stoner and Hayden will evaluate during the first 2010 test.

“Nicky has two different fairings to try; one big and one smaller, while Casey has two different swingarms; one carbon and one aluminium. But there are also different swingarm designs as well as different materials.

“The difference between them all is in terms of stiffness and how that translates in terms of feeling and rear tyre grip. In hot conditions with low grip, like here, it is important to have flexibility in the swingarm.

“I helped to develop the new swingarms myself as the test rider.”

Testing at Sepang continues on Thursday and Friday.