From a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

MotoGP test Sepang, Malaysia. January 21, 2004.

Scorching second day for Honda men in Sepang

As on the first day of tests yesterday, any trace of the overnight rain was dissipated by the time the Honda riders made it to the Sepang International circuit at nine o’clock this morning, local time. Blazing sunshine sent the mercury rising once more, with temperatures reaching 36º Celsius, with the track surface itself a baking 56ºC at times, as Honda completed day two of three in their current MotoGP test session at the Malaysian track.

The six Honda men here this week continued in the same vein as yesterday, working with their respective teams testing material for the upcoming 2004 season. Fastest rider out on the track today was once again Camel Honda’s Max Biaggi, who set a blistering time of 2:02.96 in his 59 laps, after focusing on getting a good set-up of his machine on 17-inch front tyres before moving to the smaller 16.5-inch tomorrow to see the difference.

Telefonica MoviStar rider Sete Gibernau, meanwhile, also improved his time from yesterday and continued his work on the 16.5-inch front as requested by Michelin.

Camel Honda’s Bridgestone equipped rider Makoto Tamada could in turn be proud of his performance today, going under the circuit race record time on his Japanese tyres, and still managed to squeeze in some testing of major changes to his motorcycle, to find out what effect they had on the bike as a whole.

Colin Edwards wasn’t as happy with his performance today, and is feeling the effects of the long journey over to steamy Malaysia after a few weeks in the cold Wyoming Mountains, despite having improved his time from yesterday considerably. HRC tester Tohru Ukawa continues to get quicker on the Honda development bike, and judging by comments from his Honda colleagues, as well as Ukawa himself, it seems as though the bike is another step forward on the already dominant machine. Finally, Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden continued his work re-acclimatising himself to the RC211V, after a long rest break since the last race of 2003 in Valencia.

Max Biaggi – 2:02.96. 54 laps

I have tested only 17-inch front tyres since my arrival here, it was my choice because I wanted to get a good set-up first before testing the 16.5-inch tomorrow. Now my set-up is good I will feel the difference tomorrow, and it will all be coming from the tyres. This newer bike is definitely one step ahead of the 2003 machine, with better power-delivery and more of it. However, we are two or three months from the start of the season, and the key is getting the new material as soon as possible.

Sete Gibernau – 2:03.30. 64 laps

Michelin requested that I try the 16.5-inch tyre for them today. I was having problems with it until now, and I still think after today that the tyre does need some more work on its construction perhaps to be more suited to the Honda. The problem is that the tyre is used in four or five laps, and for the next test they must try to make some new developments. Otherwise though I am happy to be riding fast consistently, this bike is even smoother than before and has a clutch that works better, so the factory is going in the right direction.

Makoto Tamada – 2:03.40. 54 laps

This morning we tried some major part changes to see what it did to my bike and performance. We changed things like the wheelbase or the linkages, because you don’t get time to do that normally in a race weekend. The results were as we expected, but it was worthwhile nonetheless to know that. In the afternoon I worked on some endurance tyre testing with the Bridgestones.

Colin Edwards – 2:03.60. 54 laps

Today we went everywhere but the right way perhaps. I lost a bit of confidence in the 16.5 inch tyre that I have been riding for so long now, just because we were chopping and changing it with the 17 a lot. Today was the first time I have got good laps in on a 17 in a while, and there is some good and bad in both types of tyres. I just think I was a little off-kilter today, the first time for a long time, but I think I’m just tired from the travelling over here and the change in conditions.

Tohru Ukawa – 2:03.63. 87 laps

It’s getting better and the lap times are better too, so that’s good to see. Today I tyre tested with the new machine – it has a different engine character so there is a different feeling in the rear, that’s where we worked today. I found a good tyre and some good settings, yesterday we had a bit of gearbox confusion, and I chose a new one today, which worked better. Also I tried a new injection setting, we’ve done a lot of laps today. Tomorrow is endurance, and we will work on engine mapping, it’s going to be a difficult day.

Nicky Hayden – 2:03.69. 84 laps

I wanted to put a lot of laps in today to get comfortable again with the bike; I also tried the 16.5-inch Michelin front, which has its plus points, but I’d like to wait to say more on it. Today I went faster than in the race here which was pleasing; we did some work with the chassis too, which helped me get back into the groove. There’s lots to work on for us now still though, the new engine I have tried is good, it’s got a very different feel when you put the power down, but I made good advances with suspension ride height settings which has helped me go better.