Gibernau and Ducati lead day two in Sepang

The second day of pre-season tests for the FIM Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix (MotoGP) held at the Sepang circuit of Kuala Lumpur belonged to the Ducati Marlboro Team with Sete Gibernau and Loris Capirossi taking the top two places.

As it happened yesterday, the rain was present once again at the Malaysian track after 4 o'clock local time when hot sunny conditions gave way to a tropical rainstorm that cut short scheduled tests.

"Today we began to make the most of the work that we're doing on suspension and engine set-up. The times that I set, but above all the pace that I did during the day, are good but I mustn't get too excited! There are still lots of things that we can improve and we're doing everything to get them done as quickly as possible", Gibernau stated.

The Spaniard kept working in his feeling with the Ducati after his time with Honda. Gibernau completed 49 laps and set 2m01.66s, an unofficial new track record.

Capirossi continued with the development of the new G6 also rigiding the old G5 and taking important data for the crew of Ducati.

"Despite the rain, today was positive. I started to lap with the GP6 and after a while we did another back-to-back test with the GP5 to check on a few things we had seen at Jerez", Loris said.

About the new project of Ducati for 2006, the Italian shown satisfied: "We had the confirmation that the GP6 is already at the level of last year's bike but it has greater potential, so tomorrow we'll concentrate only on the new bike".

The brand-new Camel Yamaha Team stayed focused working in the new 2006-spec YZR-M1 in hands of Champion Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, who set best third today.

The American rider could get a good pace with the Yamaha and was close to break the 2m00.000 barrier.

"Today went really well and I'm excited about the progress we're making already. Usually with a new bike you have to compromise in some areas to improve others, but it seems that with this bike they've improved it all over", Edwards explained. "Tomorrow we will probably do a long run and hopefully we will also get the chance to try some new Michelin tyres".

Rossi worked on a race distance adding kilometres with the new Yamaha  .
The Italian finished the day on nith spot                              .

Repsol Honda Team made solid progress ahead of the 2006 MotoGP campaign. The atention of the day was not outright lap times yet both riders made useful improvements from yesterday. Nicky Hayden continued to lead the development of the 2006 factory RC211V, concentrating today on fine adjustments to the chassis of his Honda to improve stability into corners.

"We've been trying some different options on the chassis geometry to try and make the bike more stable under braking. And then we got into testing some Michelin tyre compounds, but rain cut us short. It's been awesome working with my new data- logging guy Ramon [Aurin] and he's been a big help for me", Hayden mentioned.

Pedorsa spent the day tuning his riding position and suspension settings as he became more familiar with the MotoGP machine.

"We are not making big changes to the bike. Today we re-tested all the things that we improved yesterday so that I get a good idea about how the Honda works and have a clear idea of what will happen when I push the bike. I feel tired, but less tired than yesterday so I am happy with this.

When the rain came down and the rest of the pitlane rushed for shelter, Pedrosa took the opportunity to gain experience of riding the Repsol Honda in wet conditions, riding alone on the track for 25 minutes. A sample that the Spaniard doesn`t want to give advantages on his first season in MotoGP.

A strong performance had another two MotoGP rokkies as Randy de Puniet set best seventh with the Kawasaki and Casey Stoner eighth riding a Honda of LCR team.

Tomorrow will be the final day of the Sepang test session and the category will later move to Phillip Island, in Australia on January 31st and February 1st and 2nd to continue the preparation for 2006 season.