The MotoGP paddock was back in action today at Sepang and the usual scalding Malaysian temperatures greeted the riders as they made their first foray onto the track. The Fiat Yamaha Team made a strong start to the 15th round of the season, with Valentino Rossi finishing on top of the time sheets and Jorge Lorenzo not far off him in third.

The biggest problem facing the riders today was the lack of grip on track, with the circuit very slippery after a period of inactivity. It was therefore difficult for them to make their Bridgestone tyres work at full potential but despite this the Yamaha riders were quickly on the pace, rarely out of the top three for the whole session. It was Rossi who put down the best lap of the day but Lorenzo, who has his first championship title shot this Sunday, was less than two tenths off his team-mate. Both the Italian and the Spaniard are looking forward to making further improvements tomorrow as more rubber is laid down and the grip levels get better.

Valentino Rossi - Position: 1st Time: 2'02. Laps: 21

"It's been another good start for us here and we found a good setting straight away. I am feeling very comfortable on the bike and so far my shoulder is okay here. The track is quite dirty but that will get better and I love riding at this track, it's one of my favourites and I am always happy to be on the bike here. We are confident that we will be able to make some more improvements tomorrow and be in good shape to try for the front row tomorrow afternoon."

Jorge Lorenzo - Position: 3rd Time: 2'02.898 Laps: 22

"Today conditions were quite difficult, with the high temperatures and a dirty track. I'm happy though because I felt good on the bike, I rode fast and I was close to the first position. We rode with the old engine again today but maybe we will try the new one tomorrow. We need to work on the fourth sector, which is where we're losing time at the moment, so tomorrow we will concentrate on that and try to improve further."

Davide Brivio - Team Manager

"It's nice to start the weekend at the front again and this was a good session, with Valentino fast from the beginning. It seems he has a good pace here but of course it's only the first session and we have more work to do. The track isn't in great condition; it's quite slippery at the moment but this will improve throughout the weekend. Tomorrow we will work on our Bridgestone tyre choice and fine-tune the setting ahead of qualifying."

Wilco Zeelenberg - Team Manager

"The track hasn't been used for a while and our first impression is that there's not much grip and it's quite slippery. We tried two different settings to try to work around this but in fact they were both quite similar. We expect it to be better tomorrow but of course we can't just rely on the track improving, we need to work on our setting as well. Anyway we were still fast today, the speed is okay and we're close to the front so we're already competitive, we just need to improve our package a bit more tomorrow."


Edwards and Spies target improvements in hot Sepang

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Colin Edwards and Ben Spies are optimistic they can make big set-up improvements ahead of Sunday's Malaysian MotoGP race after an encouraging start in Sepang.

Boosted by a season best fifth place in Japan last weekend, Edwards spent the majority of a closely contested opening free practice session concentrating on improving front and rear grip with his YZR-M1 machine.

Edwards is a seasoned campaigner at the 5.548km Sepang circuit but he needed to call on all his experience to improve traction during a session that saw air temperatures peak at a gruelling 38 degrees. Scorching hot conditions mak e Sepang one of the most physically and mentally demanding challenges on the calendar with humidity and temperatures posing a serious examination of rider stamina.

Edwards made several set-up changes to the front and rear suspension of his YZR-M1 machine on his way to recording the sixth quickest time, a lap of 2.03.393 only 0.055s away from the top five.

Ben Spies arrived in Kuala Lumpur confident that he would be competitive from the off having impressed in two visits to the long and technical circuit during the winter testing campaign.

The 26-year-old quickly established himself in the top ten and like Edwards dedicated most of his time working on improving front and rear grip as a slippery track surface meant conditions were far from ideal this afternoon.

He occupied a place in the top four in the early stages before a la p of 2.03.477 left him ninth on the timesheets but less than a tenth away from the top six.

Today's session was a closely contested affair with less than a second covering the top 12.

Colin Edwards - Position: 6th Time: 2'03.393 Laps: 18

"It's nice to start the weekend at the front again and this was a good session, with Valentino fast from the beginning. It seems he has a good pace here but of course it's only the first session and we have more work to do. The track isn't in great condition; it's quite slippery at the moment but this will improve throughout the weekend. Tomorrow we will work on our Bridgestone tyre choice and fine-tune the setting ahead of qualifying."

Ben Spies - Position: 9th Time: 2'03.477 Laps: 24

"The track hasn't been used for a while and our first impression is that there's not much grip and it's quite slippery. We tried two different settings to try to work around this but in fact they were both quite similar. We expect it to be better tomorrow but of course we can't just rely on the track improving, we need to work on our setting as well. Anyway we were still fast today, the speed is okay and we're close to the front so we're already competitive, we just need to improve our package a bit more tomorrow."



1 Valentino Rossi Yamaha
2 Andrea Dovizioso Honda
3 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha
4 Casey Stoner Ducati
5 Alvaro Bautista Suzuki
6 Colin Edwards Yamaha
7 Marco Melandri Honda
8 Aleix Espargaro Ducati
9 Ben Spies Yamaha
10 Randy De Puniet Honda
11 Marco Simoncelli Honda
12 Loris Capirossi Suzuki
13 Hector Barbera Ducati
14 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda
15 Nicky Hayden Ducati