The high temperatures and humidity that are typical in Malaysia welcomed the World Motorcycling Championship to the circuit of Sepang today.
The Repsol Honda Team MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa set the fourth fastest time in the free practice in the afternoon, when the French rider De Puniet was the fastest. Pedrosa, who was third here last year after a bad fall on the Friday, dedicated the day to preparing the set up on his Honda RC212V for the race on Sunday. The resurfaced track complicated the suspension and tyre work done by all the engineers today.
His teammate Nicky Hayden, after finishing the first free sessi.
In 250cc, a complicated day for the Japanese Repsol Honda Team rider Shuhei Aoyama, who did not feel comfortable on his bike during the whole day of free practice.
He was 24th in the morning and in the afternoon Aoyama was 15th but with a lot of problems on the front wheel of his Honda. More positive news came from Julián Simón, who although he set the 5th best time in the morning fell back to 9th place in the afternoon session.A positive performance from the young Repsol Honda Team 125cc riders. In the morning Bradley Smith set the 16th best time on his first ever ride at the Malaysian track.
The young Briton, who missed last year`s race because of an injury, had a satisfying first time out at what is a new track for him. His teammate Esteve Rabat, 18th in the morning had problems with his rear tyre on the final laps, was one of the riders fighting to set the best time in the first timed session of the afternoon. He was one of the three fastest riders on first two sections of the circuit, on the third section Rabat still has a lot of room for improvement, and this in the end stopped him from setting a better time. In the end Esteve Rabat was 8th and Bradley Smith 10th at the end of the first day`s work at the resurfaced track of Sepang.
