MotoGP back in action at Sepang Test

The first official MotoGP Test of the year starts in Malaysia next Wednesday, with the riders who will contest the 2010 World Championship taking to the track on Thursday.

The eagerly awaited first on-track action of 2010 takes place next week, as the MotoGP riders arrive at the Sepang International Circuit. The Test, scheduled to run from February 3-5, will see the 17 riders who will contest this year’s World Championship in attendance.

With Wednesday allocated as a day for Test riders only, the MotoGP field will spend Thursday and Friday getting to grips with the evolving prototypes they will race in this year’s competition.

2009 World Champion Valentino Rossi and runner-up and Fiat Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo will continue to work on the new version on their M1 bikes, which they first experienced in the post-season Valencia Test last November. Rossi commented on his satisfaction with the new throttle and speed of the 2010 machine at Valencia, whilst Lorenzo was also pleased with the developments.

Another factory pairing in Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso will be eager to see how their new bikes shape up. Pedrosa targeted improved stability on the RC212V for 2010 and Dovizioso is looking forward to seeing how electronic and chassis developments will adapt. LCR Honda’s Randy de Puniet is also excited at the prospect of the new machine, which he expects to be closer to the factory prototype.

Ducati unveiled the Desmosedici GP10 at the start of January and factory riders Casey Stoner and Nicky Hayden will enjoy the benefits of a redesigned engine. Pramac Racing duo Aleix Espargaró and Mika Kallio and Team Aspar’s rookie Héctor Barberá will all also ride.

Rizla Suzuki will see how the GSV-R – on which they have been working hard throughout the winter to make more competitive than last season – fares for MotoGP veteran Loris Capirossi and rookie Álvaro Bautista.

Another experienced/rookie combination will be San Carlo Honda Gresini’s Marco Melandri and Marco Simoncelli, with 250cc World Champion Hiroshi Aoyama also on the RC212V of the Interwetten Honda MotoGP team. And the all-American pairing of Ben Spies and Colin Edwards for Monster Yamaha Tech3 will start work in earnest.