2008 challenge gets underway for Valentino Rossi in Sepang

The Italian completed 44 laps and finished in sixth place

It was a typically hot and humid Sepang day and the track surface caused some problems with several riders, including Rossi's new team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, also hitting the gravel at some point. Rossi and his team concentrated on a variety of things throughout the day as they continued to work on the development of the 2008 YZR-M1, recording positive results with a new 2008 specification pneumatic-valve engine, new electronics and of course some tyre work with Bridgestone.

Rossi's time of 2'02.490, recorded on his final lap of the day, put him in sixth place, while Lorenzo was just behind in ninth with a time of 2'02.563. The time sheets were topped by Randy de Puniet, who posted a best lap of 2'01.377.

"It feels good to be back on the bike after the winter break, and me and all my team are feeling very motivated about the task ahead," commented Rossi. "I still have some pain in my hand but I had it checked out again last week and the fracture is okay, so I know it's not a problem to ride. Today we continued where we left off with Bridgestone and it seems we're making good progress, we did many laps with the same tyre and I'm pleased with things so far. Unfortunately I had a crash today; I was on an out lap and maybe I pushed a little bit too hard, too soon, with not enough temperature in the tyre and I lost the front. Luckily I was not hurt, my hand is okay and I was able to continue with the day's work! As well as tyres we tried a new-spec engine and I was quite pleased with this, as well as with some new electronics. The surface wasn't good today and it wasn't possible to go so fast but I hope tomorrow it will improve and we will be able to keep improving in all areas."

Team manager Davide Brivio added: "It was unfortunate that Valentino crashed, as well as quite a few other riders, but he is fine, the bike was okay after some work and it didn't interrupt things too much. The surface was quite poor and this caused problems for everyone but anyway we were able to get quite a lot of work done and overall it's been a good first day, despite Valentino's problem! Of course we're working a lot with Bridgestone, continuing from the work we did in Jerez, and so far we seem to be going well. Tomorrow we might try a long-run and check the situation with the tyres over many laps, so this will be interesting."

Tiempos de la primera sesión:

1. Randy DE PUNIET (Honda) 2:01.377
2. Dani PEDROSA (Honda) 2:01.864
3. Chris VERMEULEN (Suzuki) 2:02.074
4. Loris CAPIROSSI (Suzuki) 2:02.416
5. Casey STONER (Ducati) 2:02.457
6. Valentino ROSSI (Yamaha) 2:02.490
7. Colin EDWARDS (Yamaha) 2:02.549
8. Nicky HAYDEN (Honda) 2:02.558
9. Jorge LORENZO (Yamaha) 2:02.563
10. Shinya NAKANO (Honda) 2:02.622
11. John HOPKINS (Kawasaki) 2:02.628
12. Andrea DOVIZIOSO (Honda) 2:02.783
13. James TOSELAND (Yamaha) 2:03.264
14. Alex DE ANGELIS (Honda) 2:03.301
15. Anthony WEST (Kawasaki) 2:03.387
16. Olivier JACQUE (Kawasaki) 2:03.863
17. Toni ELIAS (Ducati) 2:03.954
18. Marco MELANDRI (Ducati) 2:04.414
19. Niccolo CANEPA (Ducati) 2:05.580
20. Sylvain GUINTOLI (Ducati) 2:06.000
21. Tamaki SERIZAWA (Kawasaki) 2:23.590