Around three o’clock in the afternoon on the second day of MotoGP tests at Sepang in Malaysia, a few drops of rain looked as though they would end the day’s work. Luckily the weather held out until just after the chequered flag brought the session to an end and riders were able to run until gone six o’clock. It was another positive day for the Camel Honda team, with Alex Barros riding strongly all day once more, going under two minutes and two seconds early on, and then remaining comfortably amongst the front runners as he kept up a fast pace whilst continuing with set-up and tyre tests. Troy Bayliss also made improvements, having worked devotedly alongside chief mechanic Santi Mulero and telemetrist Ramon Aurin he is beginning to get a better feeling for his RC211V.

Sito Pons – Camel Honda - “I’m happy with how things are going. We are exploring every possibility that this new bike offers and the times are improving every day. Alex looks confident, motivated and in perfect harmony with the engineers. He is constantly running at a fast pace and that’s important. Troy is working his socks off too and bit by bit he is getting used to this new bike, which is so different to the one he rode last year, especially as regards the engine-braking and the clutch. There are a few weeks left before the beginning of the season, and lots of test days left, at several tracks, and he will gradually get into a groove with his RC211V.”

Alex Barros – Camel Honda - 2’01.78 (84 laps) - “I’m completely happy with the work we are doing. Today we focused on tyres and I certainly think we’ve made steps forward. I didn’t stop for lunch until we did everything we had to on both the fronts and the rears because we were finishing off the work we started three weeks ago in these first two days: we’ve basically achieved the objectives we set ourselves in the first session here in Sepang. Perhaps there’s a few little things that could improve the front tyre, but I don’t think that will be possible for Australia, it’s too close; probably in the Qatar tests. In the afternoon we tried to change a few things in the bike settings but we haven’t really seen any particular changes we can make at the moment with the bike already going so well.”

Troy Bayliss – Camel Honda – 2’03.75 (77 laps) - “These tests are proving challenging because we still haven’t got the results we wanted. We’re exploring all possible solutions and we hardly took a break today. We’re working hard on the clutch, but I still don’t feel comfortable. We tried several different tyres, but until we get the set-up better the tyres won’t change the situation too much. We are analysing the telemetry with the team and the Honda technicians, and we hope to make a good step forward tomorrow.”