--- Marlboro Yamaha ---

Marlboro Yamaha Team YZR-M1 riders Max Biaggi and Carlos Checa completed this afternoon's opening Malaysian GP qualifying session sixth and 11th fastest, looking for more high-speed cornering performance from their YZR-M1s.

With dark storm clouds threatening at Sepang, the pair worked tirelessly in oppressive heat and humidity, and are now consulting their technicians to find a new direction for the rest of the weekend.

"Today has been difficult," admitted YZR-M1 project leader Ichiro Yoda. "Both Max and Carlos are losing a lot of time through the T3 section, which is mostly high-speed corners. Neither of them feel very comfortable through these corners at maximum lean angle, and it seems we have a lot of rear-suspension movement through these turns. We will now analyse our data and compare it to the data from our tests here last December. Even though the bikes are very different now, maybe we can learn something from that, especially regarding rear-suspension movement."

Pole sitter three times so far this year, Max Biaggi was sixth at Sepang  this afternoon, 0.805 seconds off provisional pole position. The Marlboro Yamaha Team rider, who lapped faster during winter team tests, spent much of the session around tenth, moving up to a provisional second-row slot during his traditional end-of-session charge.

"I don't really understand why we're not running as fast as we did when we tested here last December, because the bike is much changed and much better now," said the Italian. "We tried various different settings this afternoon, so far without any dramatic improvement. It's too early to predict how the race will go for us, but I hope to cut the gap to pole by at least half tomorrow. Then we'll see if we can be competitive on Sunday."

Carlos Checa had a rather more difficult day, ending up provisional 11th fastest. But the Marlboro Yamaha Team man is confident that his crew will be able to take a new direction with settings to get him back on the pace for Saturday and Sunday. So far this year Checa has qualified on the front two rows at 12 of 13 GPs.

"It was impossible to go really fast today," said Checa. "I tried hard all through the session, with both bikes, but they both pushed the front. We made many changes but only found small improvements to front-end stability and grip. It's difficult to keep the bike on angle, especially at speed. But I know we can improve from here. We just need to keep working and find a different direction."

Tohru Ukawa was quickest today, just ahead of Honda team-mate Valentino Rossi. "Our bikes were down on power this morning, which knocked out our gearbox and suspension settings that worked so well here during winter tests," said Ukawa. "But the team worked very hard for this afternoon and things are much better now."

Olivier Jacque and team-mate Shinya Nakano are the latest four-stroke converts at Sepang where four-strokes account for more than half the MotoGP grid for the first time. "Riding the 500 had been very frustrating," said Jacque, who's still adjusting to the M1 and was 16th quickest. "The four-stroke is very fast, though it doesn't feel as quick as the 500 because the power delivery is smoother. It's also easier to control wheelspin with the four-stroke."

--- Red Bull Yamaha ---

Red Bull Yamaha's Garry McCoy defied popular opinion by slotting his two-stroke YZR500 into fifth place on the provisional grid for Sunday's Malaysian GP.

The Australian finished top two-stroke rider, and his performance went against expectation that the 990cc four-strokes would be dominant at the ultra-modern Sepang circuit.  The superior power of the four-strokes is a significant advantage on the long 3.447 miles lap, particularly on the two long straights running either side of the huge main grandstand.

McCoy elevated himself up to fourth just after the halfway mark, using the extra grip of Dunlop's qualifying tyre to get himself in a challenging position with a tropical storm threatening to engulf the circuit. With huge lightning strikes illuminating the gloomy skies above, McCoy's best time of 2.05.743 almost saw him claim a place on the front row.

A late charge by Pacific GP winner Alex Barros relegated him to fifth. McCoy's time was 0.2s faster than his previous best at Sepang when claimed a front row start a year ago. Despite the overcast conditions, air temperatures still reached a gruelling 35 degrees, with the track temperature peaking at 49 degrees, making the track slick and grip hard to find.

Team-mate John Hopkins will be hoping for better fortunes tomorrow after he ended up 19th fastest. As if the punishing heat and humidity wasn't a difficult enough challenge to contend with, McCoy and Hopkins find themselves trying to make an impression against a fresh influx of four-strokes. Three more appeared today, taking the number to 13 out of the 22-strong field for round 14 round of the MotoGP series.

Garry McCoy ­ 5th - 2.05.743 - "It's my fastest ever lap at this circuit but I was actually hoping to go even faster. It's good to be where I am but I'm actually disappointed to be only 0.2s faster than my previous best ever time here. At most other tracks I've been a second faster and that was what I was hoping for here. It turned out to be a bit of a race against the rain. I put a qualifier in early to get myself up there and I got up to fourth. I don't have a lot of good options for a race tyre though. I tried another qualifier at the end of the session to go quicker but it didn't happen."

John Hopkins ­ 19th 2.07.761 - "I was working through a load of race tyres but if we want more grip we've got to keep trying a load of different suspension settings, even though there was more grip than this morning. When I put a qualifier in I made a couple of mistakes in T1 and aborted the lap. I feel in good shape, the conditions are not having a major effect on me and I'm looking forward to a big improvement tomorrow. It's getting really frustrating now seeing everyone getting four-strokes. There are more coming every weekend and I've just got to keep my focus, go day-by-day and concentrate on the weekend."

Peter Clifford - Director - "That was an epic ride from Garry. It just shows there's life in the old dog yet, and I'm not talking about our Australian. We have to say a big thanks to Dunlop and I'm sure John will not be far behind tomorrow."