Rizla Suzuki’s veteran Loris Capirossi showed his younger rivals how it was done at Sepang as the Italian topped the lap times as testing got under way for the MotoGP class in Malaysia.
Capirossi goes into his 20th season of grand prix competition on the updated GSV-R800 knowing he is not among the favourites to win the title.
Capirossi set a time of two minutes 1.869 seconds on the last of his 37 laps as the test got under way in sunny conditions.
Stoner, who underwent surgery on his left wrist at the end of last season, had been hoping to put those particular injury worries behind him after struggling with it in the second half of 2008.
“I really didn’t feel comfortable on the bike,” he said. “My wrist is still in a lot of pain and I honestly hoped it would be in better shape three months after the operation.”
“Even though the lap times were good from the start, the wrist is still giving me a lot of problems - it is weak and painful under braking, especially at the first left-hand turn. I can’t do more than four or five laps at a time.”
Like Stoner, Rossi was not in top shape - but came away from the first day of three at the circuit in positive mood.
“I am very happy because I was able to ride the bike today, despite the stitches in my hand and foot, and I was fast,” Rossi said.
“I am not 100 per cent because of the pain: after a few laps my finger was hurting and beginning to swell up.”
“I am pleased because the engine is better and I feel very comfortable with the new chassis. We are adapting our way of testing to the new tyre rule and it is not so bad so far, even though we have more work to do.”
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