John Hopkins (55 laps, Best: 2.01.874):
"We started out this morning by running through some tyres that Bridgestone have brought here, basically to try and identify what will work for the first race of the season in Qatar. It was a useful test, I felt pretty comfortable on the bike and I think it will stand us in good stead come Qatar. We've also continued the evaluation of the two chassis options we have here, and at the moment we've gone with the one closest to the 2007 spec. The other chassis option has some positive points, but we need to do some more work on a few areas before we go with it on the race bike. The engineers will now take this chassis back to Japan, together with the data on it that we've collected, and I guess we will be testing further revisions pretty soon. Tomorrow I'll do a long distance run, and then we'll be looking to refine the set-up of the bike to suit my personal preferences, which I'm looking forward to."
Anthony West (66 laps, Best: 2.02.579):
"This morning we kept the changes to a minimum and I just concentrated on improving my feeling with the bike, and also my lap time. I managed to improve with each run, so I was pretty happy about that. We also tested a new front tyre with a slightly different profile than I've used before, and there was some improvement in the front end feeling as a result. This afternoon we tried to do some rear tyre testing, but it was difficult to get a good feel for the different tyres, because the track lost a lot of grip as the surface temperature went up; I just ended up sliding around everywhere. Tomorrow will be a hard day, because I'm scheduled to do a race simulation, but it will be interesting to see how my lap time averages out over a long run."
Naoya Kaneko (Kawasaki Technical Manager):
"Both riders have mainly focussed on tyre testing with Bridgestone today, with positive results from some of the new front and rear options that we've tested for the first time here in Sepang. Anthony found a front that gave him more confidence, and John identified some improvements on turn in with a couple of the rear tyres. We've also continued with comparison tests of the two chassis options we have here, and we now have a pretty clear direction for future development. Finally, we've continued refining the engine braking system on the bike with some success, but we know there are further improvements to be had in this area."
Test Times:
1. Randy De Puniet (FRA) Honda LCR 2'01.139
2. Colin Edwards (USA) Yamaha Tech 3 +0.188
3. Valentino Rossi (46) Fiat Yamaha +0.298
4. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Fiat Yamaha +0.444
5. Casey Stoner (AUS) Ducati Marlboro Team +0.499
6. John Hopkins (USA) Kawasaki Racing Team +0.735
7. Loris Capirossi (ITA) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +0.778
8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) JIR Team Scott +0.867
9. Shinya Nakano (JPN) Honda Gresini +0.956
10. Nicky Hayden (USA) Repsol Honda Team +0.963
11. James Toseland (GBR) Yamaha Tech 3 +1.137
12. Chris Vermeulen (AUS) Rizla Suzuki MotoGP +1.232
13. Anthony West (AUS) Kawasaki Racing Team +1.440
