Returning to Sepang after a successful first test, Honda had no problem putting its top rated riders on top of the classification, as following Stoner was none other than Honda “veteran” Dani Pedrosa. The Spaniard was however almost 4 tenths of a second slower than his new teammate, while still more than one tenth ahead of reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo.
“We managed to work on set-up but we are still doing a chassis comparison, finding strong points and weak points on both,” explained Stoner after the test, during which he used both Honda chassis options at hand.
“It's difficult to choose one or the other, whatever set-up we throw at them we seem to be able to run pretty similar lap times. We're very happy with the progress we made today and everything and everybody seems to be working well.”
Lorenzo had to settle for the 3rd fastest time – approximately half of second behind Stoner – while followed by another Yamaha rider, Tech 3's Colin Edwards. Andrea Dovizioso made it 3 Hondas inside the Top 5 for the Japanese manufacturer, ahead of the second Yamaha works rider Ben Spies and Gresini Honda duo Hiroshi Aoyama and Marco Simoncelli.
Ducati's first bike in the timing sheets was the one ridden by 7-time world champion Valentino Rossi, who came in 9th place a little over a second off Stoner's pace. Finally, the Top 10 was completed by Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista, returning in the saddle of his bike after an illness at the end of the first Sepang test.
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