Biaggi fires back.

It may have been only his second day of riding since badly breaking his ankle last November, but newly announced Repsol Honda rider Max Biaggi proved he's already a force to be reckoned with as he cut over a second from his Sunday lap time to sit third on the Monday timesheets.

In temperatures nudging 35 degrees, Biaggi and team-mate Nicky Hayden spent the day testing various new parts on the base 2004 RCV in order to give valuable feedback to HRC technicians, who will be preparing the 2005 machines over the coming weeks. The 2005 RCV will make its debut at the 5.54km Malaysian track in a fortnight.

Biaggi set a best time of 2mins 2.29secs (according to Repsol Honda - although other sources put it as 2mins 2.35secs) from his 43 laps, which would put the Roman just 0.31secs slower than Monday pace setter Loris Capirossi.

"There must be a mistake; I was not expecting to ride this fast right after the injury and on last year's bike," smiled Max. "We scored excellent laps even if we were not working for it.

"I really like the team spirit," continued the Roman. "HRC people are very motivated to do good. Erv Kanemoto and my crew chief Hideki Iwano are collecting precious information for the new bike and I'm so happy to have two perfectionists like them on my side. Furthermore, Repsol orange really makes me want to ride."

Team-mate Nicky Hayden clocked 81 laps and knocked nearly 0.8 off his fastest time of yesterday and was relatively happy with the performance, which saw him sit seventh overall. The American spent much of the day testing for Michelin and was encouraged by some of what he found.

"Not a bad day," he shrugged. "We spent a lot of time testing a bunch of new Michelins and found some stuff we really liked. Both fronts and a few rears that really seemed to give some pretty good grip levels.

"We looked at testing several different suspension settings with the Showa guys and basically it all went pretty well. It was nice to see some lower laps times today; not yet where I want but definitely a step in the right direction," added the former AMA SBK champion.

As well as the on track action, a press conference was held today and attended by Saturo Horiike (HRC managing director), Tsutomu Ishii (new general manager of HRC), Koji Nakajima (former general manager of HRC), Makoto Tanaka (Repsol Honda team manager) and Kyoichi Yoshii (leader of the RC211V development team).

Before the attendant press they pledged a huge commitment to win back the rider's world title, spearheading the challenge with the two official factory riders in the Repsol Honda Team.

"Personally I need to get up to speed fast with the RC211V," said new Repsol Honda technical director Erv Kanemoto at the end of day two. "I need to completely understand the machine and the minute effects that the changes we make to it have on the package.

"I am looking and learning at the moment - there is really no point my making any major changes until I have gathered much more data but I am encouraged by what we have achieved in a short time," he explained. "I am under no illusions - we have a lot of work to do but we have a very strong spirit in the team and we have a big goal."

Testing continues tomorrow...

Sepang test times - Monday:

1. Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro 2min 1.98secs
2. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Gauloises 2min 2.16secs
3. Sete Gibernau SPA Telefonica Movistar Honda 2min 2.20secs
4. Max Biaggi ITA Repsol Honda 2min 2.29secs
5. Alex Barros BRA Camel Honda 2min 2.30secs
6. Kenny Roberts USA Team Suzuki 2min 2.38secs
7. Colin Edwards USA Yamaha Gauloises 2min 2.48secs
8. Nicky Hayden USA Repsol Honda 2min 2.49secs
9. Makoto Tamada JPN Konica Minolta Honda 2min 2.69secs
10. Marco Melandri SPA Telefonica Movistar Honda 2min 2.70secs
11. Toni Elias SPA Fortuna Yamaha Tech 3 2min 3.20secs
12. Shinya Nakano JPN Fuchs Kawasaki 2min 3.40secs
13. Ruben Xaus SPA Fortuna Yamaha Tech 3 2min 3.40secs
14. Alex Hofmann GER Fuchs Kawasaki 2min 3.50secs
15. Troy Bayliss AUS Camel Honda 2min 3.91secs

John Hopkins USA Team Suzuki No time released

Comparative lap times:
Malaysian Grand Prix - 10/10/2004:

Pole position: Valentino Rossi ITA Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha 2min 1.833secs

Fastest laps: Yamaha: Valentino Rossi ITA Gauloises Fortuna Yamaha 2min 3.253secs Honda: Max Biaggi ITA Camel Honda 2min 3.281secsDucati: Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro 2min 4.048secsKawasaki: Shinya Nakano JPN Fuchs Kawasaki 2mins 4.264secsSuzuki: John Hopkins USA Team Suzuki 2min 4.879secs

Pre-season testing:

(23/01/2005) Loris Capirossi ITA Ducati Marlboro 2min 2.18secs