MotoGP winter testing update

By Dan Moakes
April 7 2004

Will Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha consistently match the Honda and Ducati runners in 2004? Test sessions don’t necessarily prove such things, but the signs are already good for the Italian World Champion.

As ever, the MotoGP teams have been taking advantage of the off-season to get away from Northern Europe and test out their latest developments on the track. So far this winter, much of the action has been on the Sepang circuit, at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, where the Japanese manufacturers have done all the running*. Additionally, the Spanish Valência circuit has played host to a variety of runners, including some of the teams who weren’t present in Malaysia.

Honda’s RC211V remains the pace setter, with Max Biaggi leading the way on both tracks. However, Yamaha’s YZR-M1 was not far behind, as Valentino Rossi, making his début on the bike, was within two-tenths of his rival’s best times at Sepang. Ducati’s Desmosedici was on a par with Honda in Spain, and the Kawasaki, Suzuki, Proton and Aprilia machines have all turned laps in their efforts to catch the front runners. The Moriwaki-Honda also ran in Malaysia.

*Ducati joined the Sepang test during February.

Best times from Sepang:
Max Biaggi (Honda) 2:02.585
Sete Gibernau (Honda) 2:02.7
Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2:02.75
Colin Edwards (Honda) 2:02.93
Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2:03.2
Tohru Ukawa (Honda) 2:03.2
Makoto Tamada (Honda) 2:03.41
Carlos Checa (Yamaha) 2:03.57
Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 2:03.88
Shin’ya Nakano (Kawasaki) 2:04.38
Alex Hofmann (Kawasaki) 2:04.43
John Hopkins (Suzuki) 2:04.51
Norick Abe (Yamaha) 2:04.90
Marco Melandri (Yamaha) 2:04.90
Kenny Roberts Jr (Suzuki) 2:05.43
Andrew Pitt (Moriwaki) 2:05.5

Best times from Valência:
Max Biaggi (Honda) 1:32.8
Troy Bayliss (Ducati) 1:33.15
Sete Gibernau (Honda) 1:33.2
Colin Edwards (Honda) 1:33.4
Loris Capirossi (Ducati) 1:33.48
Makoto Tamada (Honda) 1:33.5
Rubén Xaus (Ducati) 1:34.59
Kurtis Roberts (Proton) 1:34.68
Shane Byrne (Aprilia) 1:35.1
Neil Hodgson (Ducati) 1:35.15
Nobuatsu Aoki (Proton) 1:36.2
Jeremy McWilliams (Aprilia) 1:36.2