The 2005 MotoGP teams and riders returned to the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, for the second winter test of the year. Seven riders, racing in the colours of four Honda teams took to the 5.548km grand prix circuit eager to test the 2005 version of the RC211V 990cc V-5 four-stroke machines that they will race in the 17-round world championship series.

All seven RCV riders started the test with basically the same equipment, the chassis and engine configurations that were confirmed as optimal for the RCV from the technical data gathered during the test at Sepang last month.

The Repsol Honda factory team machines of Max Biaggi and Nicky Hayden, plus the Telefonica MoviStar liveried machine of Sete Gibernau featuring more advanced. electronic systems to those employed on the RCV’s tested by the satellite team riders.

With an ambient temperature of 35’, high humidity and a track surface temperature over 50’ (43’ in January) that offered less grip than at the previous test held at the circuit the MotoGP riders faced a tough shakedown test day.

The Honda rider least affected by the energy sapping heat and poor track conditions proved to be Sete Gibernau who claimed the honour of fastest Honda man on the day. Spaniard Gibernau was immediately at home on his new mount and quickly found a base set up to work from. Once established he used the set up to test chassis and suspension settings before moving on to test new race rubber from tyre supplier Michelin. His best lap time of 2m 01.765s was half a second off his fastest time set in the January test.

Gibernau’s new Telefonica MoviStar Honda teammate Marco Melandri shared Gibernau’s impression of the 2005 RCV. The young Italian immediately felt comfortable on the new bike and despite the oppressive heat he soon found a good rhythm. Melandri worked from the set up he was happiest with at the last Sepang test, tried several alternative electronic adjustments before reeling off a series of consistently fast laps.

Repsol Honda factory riders Max Biaggi and Nicky Hayden had an eventful day. Biaggi slid off his RCV at turn 11 escaping injury. The RCV was not so lucky sustaining crash damage. Later in the day as he exited his pit box the Italian collided with teammate Nicky Hayden who was entering his pit.  Both riders emerged from the incident unscathed Biaggi particularly happy not to hurt himself as he is now close to full fitness following his winter recuperation from a broken ankle sustained in November.

Biaggi treated his day as a shakedown test trying various small adjustments to the rolling chassis in a bid to find the optimum base setting to suit his style. He was not looking for a fast lap ending the day 8/10ths of a second off his best time set during the January tests.

Hayden worked in the same direction as his teammate before concentrating his attention on the suspension of his RC211V in preparation for chassis testing tomorrow. The former American Superbike Champion put in a marathon 87 laps the track temperature so high he could not get within one-second of his best time at the last Sepang test.

Camel Honda teamsters Alex Barros and Troy Bayliss emerged from day one of the three-day test in very different moods. Brazilian Barros used his vast experience of the RCV to continue where he left off in January and despite the poor conditions out on track was quick to find a good base set up to work from. He spent his day working on the front forks in combination with new front tyres from Michelin.

By contrast teammate Bayliss admitted he was disappointed with his days work and ended the first day of three one and a half seconds slower than he had been at the January tests. The Australian, a former World Superbike Champion, was unable to find his rhythm and a late afternoon crash did not help matters. Bayliss has an optimistic view of life and is confident his chief mechanic, Santo Mulero, will find solutions to his difficulties with the base set up of the RC211V.

Japanese star Makoto Tamada arrived at Sepang suffering from a bout of flu but still managed to put his Konica Minolta Honda RC211V through a grueling 60-lap stint. Working from data gleaned at the last test and changes to the electronics Tamada slowly lowered his lap time on the poor surface. The popular Japanese rider ended the day in positive mood with a lap time half a second faster than on his previous visit.

Honda rider lap times and quotes:
Sete Gibernau - Telefonica MoviStar Honda: 2m 01.765s - 64 laps: "I'm very satisfied of the work we did today. We worked on the chassis, forks and suspensions both front and rear. We also did some tyre testing requested by Michelin because of the extremely hot temperatures of the tarmac.”

“I think that we have made a step forward, because we have understood more about the bike and above all because we, the team, Honda and Michelin are working in the same direction and this is the most important thing. Today we focused on the chassis, tomorrow I think we will work on the electronics."

Marco Melandri - Telefonica MoviStar Honda: 2m 02.691s - 75 laps:"Today I could finally test the bike I will use during the coming season. I'm happy because I have found immediately a good feeling with the bike and I lapped with a constant pace. Despite the new bike and the hot temperatures my rhythm is improved compared to the times of the last test session here in Sepang. I have never pushed to make a fast lap, because I'm focused on the race rhythm. During this test session I'd like to make an endurance test of
21 laps. Today we tested the electronics in order to see the different possibilities of regulations that we have at disposal.

Max Biaggi – Repsol Honda: 2m 02.60s – 41 laps: "We started some important work today, trying and testing new materials. It is a delicate job, it takes time and patience to get to the definitive bike. Today I'm satisfied with the little improvements we have made which all indicate important things for the future. We don't care about the lap time today as it counts for nothing. The crash this morning happened when I lost the front wheel and the pit-lane accident happened when I was leaving the pit garage, Nicky returns to his pit very close to the garages and I didn't see him."

Nicky Hayden - Repsol Honda: 2m 02.67s – 87 laps: "I started the day just with a shakedown on the two brand new 2005 bikes. They didn't feel too much different to the last test here a couple of weeks ago but we knew that would be the case. I tried a few suspension changes and some were good but I got into a bit of a rut this afternoon. We knew that, for the first day, we wouldn't be giving too much focus to any one area of the machine. I've got some chassis changes to try tomorrow so I'm sure I can get going better than today. The pit-lane incident was one of those things, Max pulled out of his pit garage right in front of me as I was heading back into mine, we hit each other, it was nothing more than an accident."

Alex Barros- Camel Honda: 2m 02.08s - 68 laps: “It was really hot today, and humid too, so it was a challenging day from a physical point of view.
I’m still very satisfied though. We worked in the first part of the morning getting the bike set-up, seeing as a few of the electronic components have changed, but despite the track conditions being really bad, I went quick straight away. Obviously we already have a good base and that is really positive. In the afternoon we made some more adjustments to the forks and then I tried three new front tyres from Michelin. They are still just prototypes which their engineers made after the work we did three weeks ago, and tomorrow we will try some more, whilst we will also test some rear tyres which I was unable to try out during the last tests.”

Troy Bayliss - Camel Honda: 2m 04.45s - 59 laps: “I’m a bit disappointed, I can’t deny it, because just a couple of weeks ago I left Sepang in good shape, yet today things just didn’t go too well. On a positive note, basing things on my experiences at the last test, I know that working with this team we will eventually find the right direction for the set-up, because that’s all that’s missing – the bike is strong and it goes well. Today to make matters worse the track was in poor condition, I didn’t have a good feeling and towards the end of the day I crashed as I opened the throttle and was going rather quick. But I’m fine and I have already agreed with Santi Mulero (crew chief) the changes we will make tomorrow.”

Makoto Tamada – Konica Minolta Honda: 2m 02.34s -60 laps: “I was glad to begin to work on the new version of the bike, even if from a few days I have the flu and in my conditions, this tropical atmosphere doesn’t help me out to do my job. But if we put aside my physical situation, I consider my self more than satisfied on how things have been going today: in fact, after a few technical adjustments, my lap times have gotten better and better, and this gives me positive hopes for the next days of test.”