Sepang Tests
FIRST DAY OF TESTING FOR MARCO AND TONI AT SEPANG
The 2006 championship started today for Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki
and Suzuki. The teams of the four Japanese manufactures came
back to action at Sepang, Malesia for the last test of the
year, three days before the winter break, providing one last
opportunity for the riders to continue preparations for next
season before the end of 2005. It will be the final chance
until next year as teams are not permitted to test between
the 1st of December until the 20th of January. The first day
of testing was very hot and humid (30 degrees the air temperature
and over 70% of humidity). Because of the overnight rain,
the track was wet in the morning and the Fortuna Honda riders
could start testing only from 12.00. Both Marco Melandri and
Toni Elias worked hard out there and were very positive. Marco
worked mainly on set up and tyre testing while Toni, at his
second debut on the RC211V after the test in Valencia, lapped
in order to gain confidence with the bike.
 MARCO
MELANDRI (61 laps, 2’02”96):
"It's only three weeks since I raced the bike I felt
good and did a lot of
laps. The track today was not in very good condition but I
could find a decent rhythm. We spent
the day working on the general bike settings for the bike
before we started
testing tyres for Michelin. I was injured when the race was
held here so we needed to fix the best setting before testing
several front and rear tyres. Unfortunately I had to stop
my test one hour early. I ’m not 100% well, I was
quite sick while I was in Japan last week so I didn't want
to get too tired because we have two more days testing.”
TONI ELIAS (49 laps, 2’04”059):
"I like the bike and I’m very happy of today’s
test session. The conditions were not ideal today because
the track was quite wet in the morning but we got in a lot
of laps. I made a lot of kilometres today and found a good
riding position. I didn't get crazy with the set up by trying
to many things, just little adjustments. I felt more comfortable
on the bike today than I did at the first test in Valencia.
I was very calm and comfortable and lapped without forcing.
I am very happy with this team and my chief mechanic,
Antonio Jiminez. Everybody has been very helpful and it has
given me a lot of confidence for this test and the future.
"
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