Ducati's Casey Stoner climbed the bike for the first time after recovering from his wrist surgery and came only 0.169 second behind the Italian. He was the only driver to test for Ducati's works team this morning, as Nicky Hayden is yet to debut the 2009 bike.
Valentino Rossi, on the other hand, came to Malaysia with a slight leg injury – which he picked up after felling through a glass table at his home in Italy earlier this week – that clearly affected his on-track testing. Although he had another accident just before the testing session, he insisted on getting the grips on his new bike. Despite all the medical problems, his time was only 0.455 seconds slower than Capirossi's.
Fourth overall was Capirossi's teammate Chris Vermeulen, followed by Gresini Honda's Toni Elias. Andrea Dovizioso outscored teammate Dani Pedrosa in the morning session, scoring the 6th best time of the day (as compared to Pedrosa's 8th place).
Sete Gibernau's maiden test in the MotoGP (after announcing his comeback with Onde Ducati) only brought him the 9th best time of the day, some 1.881 seconds slower than Capirossi. Last during yesterday's testing was Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo, who ran his new YZR-M1 on Bridgestone tires for the first time since making his MotoGP debut
Sepang testing results:
1. Loris Capirossi (Suzuki) 2:01.869
2. Casey Stoner (Ducati) 2:02.038 + 0.169
3. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2:02.324 + 0.455
4. Chris Vermeulen (Suzuki) 2:02.803 + 0.934
5. Toni Elias (Honda) 2:02.886 + 1.017
6. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda) 2:03.088 + 1.219
7. Colin Edwards (Yamaha) 2:03.254 + 1.385
8. Dani Pedrosa ( Honda) 2:03.312 + 1.443
9. Sete Gibernau (Ducati) 2:03.750 + 1.881
10. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2:03.894 + 2.025
Google News