HRC Winter Testing - Sepang

Valentino Rossi was in scintillating form on the final day of the HRC RC211V test session at Sepang, Malaysia, today. The reigning 500cc World Champion got down to serious work at the 5.548km track setting a best lap time of 2m 03.61s on the V-5 Honda, 7/10ths of a second faster than his best time on the opening day of the two day test.

Rossi's HRC Team-mate, Japanese star Tohru Ukawa, was also faster than ever before at Sepang. Ukawa ended the day with a best lap at 2m 04.29s on his 990cc four-stroke. Ukawa crashed the RC211V twice today. The first a slide with minimal damage. The second, just ten minutes before the time set to end the test, badly damaged the RCV. Luckily Ukawa emerged unscathed from both.

Current 250cc World Champion Daijiro Katoh, riding the Fortuna Honda Gresini NSR500, was not to be outdone by the four-stroke riders. Katoh took half a second off his time of Saturday to end the test on a high note.

Tetsuya Harada was also faster than on the opening day. Harada, however, has only just started his testing programme with the Pramac Racing NSR500 and has wisely trodden carefully with the 185PS plus V-4.

Valentino Rossi: "The RCV is definitely very, very fast and I'm satisfied with the results of the test. Now we have a lot of data to work with before our next test at Barcelona, on March 9-10, and I'm looking forward to riding the RCV at that test.

"We also did an endurance test today, ran full grand prix distance at race speed and the results were very good. The RC211V is a prototype and there is still plenty of room for development. HRC have chosen a good direction to work in with this machine."

Tohru Ukawa: "Very, very satisfied with the two day test. Everything has gone well and the RCV is faster than before. I bettered my lap time again today. Unfortunately I crashed twice today but I'm OK, no damage.

"Overall the machine has improved and we have learned a lot at this test. Now it's back to Japan and study the data we collected here, then prepare for Barcelona next month. I cant wait to get there, this is an exciting project to be involved with."

Daijiro Katoh: "I feel much better on the bike now, I'm very relaxed and have a very positive feeling from the machine. We have worked on tyres and suspension here and the results have been satisfying. We are faster than the best lap times set by the NSR500 riders here at the 2001 GP and I'm content with that."

Valentino Rossi RC211V 67 laps. Time 2m 03.61s.
Tohru Ukawa RC211V 64 laps. Time 2m 04.29s.
Daijiro Katoh NSR500 53 laps. Time 2m 05.35s.
Tetsuya Harada NSR500 61 laps. Time 2m 08.72s.