MotoGP 2003 - January Testing Update

Intense preparations for the 2003 MotoGP World Championship continued apace on opposite corners of the Earth on Monday as factory teams began official tests at key destinations in Asia and Europe. Honda and Ducati were greeted by typically intense humidity and media interest at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia, whilst back in Spain the rain thankfully stayed clear of Jerez as Yamaha picked up the baton from Aprilia.

With some of the main MotoGP protagonists on show at Sepang, including World Champion Valentino Rossi, his rookie team-mate Nicky Hayden and eternal rival Max Biaggi back on a Honda, as well as Ducati new boy Loris Capirossi, it was no surprise to see a large gathering of international press at the state-of-the-art arena. Capirossi gave them plenty of material for the gossip columns on the first day, clocking the second fastest unofficial lap time behind Daijiro Kato to increase growing speculation over the title chances of the Desmosedici, which has also been impressive at Jerez and Phillip Island. Also testing at Sepang was Capirossi's team-mate Troy Bayliss and Honda RC211V riders Tohru Ukawa, Sete Gibernau, Shinichi Itoh and Makoto Tamada.

As the sun dipped in Sepang it was shielded by heavy black clouds as it rose at Jerez, where Yamaha colleagues Carlos Checa, Marco Melandri, Alex Barros, Olivier Jacque and Shinya Nakano tentatively took to the track. Although the expected downpour held off, the session was disrupted by an otherwise inconsequential crash for Nakano in the morning and inconveniently strong winds in the afternoon. Checa and Barros were both riding the fuel injected versions of the M1, as they look to make up for lost time spent at the same circuit a little over a month ago when track testing was restricted by heavy rain.

The Yamaha entourage were following in the tyre marks left by Aprilia riders Colin Edwards and Noriyuki Haga at the Spanish circuit, which had barely cooled after a three day test which finished on Sunday. The Italian factory continued development in the cycle part of the motor and also experimented with some new aerodynamic designs. The four-stroke RS Cube motorcycles shared the track with several smaller machines, including quarter-litre Aprilia debutante Manuel Poggiali and recent factory 125cc recruits Emilio Alzamora (Derbi) and Stefano Bianco (Gilera).

This week's flurry of MotoGP action at Sepang follows on from joint factory tests held there by Suzuki and Kawasaki last week. Suzuki took delivery of the 2003 model GSV-R for the first time and were able to lap with regular riders Kenny Roberts and John Hopkins alongside factory tester Kosuke Akiyoshi. Kawasaki also fielded a strong line-up, with Alex Hofmann working through a new batch of Dunlop tyres and Akira Yanagawa breaking in a new front fork and a new rear shock absorber as MotoGP men Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt lowered their best lap times aboard the Ninja ZX-RR.