From a press release issued by Honda Racing Information:

MotoGP test Sepang, Malaysia. January 22, 2004.

Endurance the big test on final day for Honda in Malaysia

Honda completed their third and final day of testing at the Malaysian Sepang circuit today, with temperatures slightly cooler than the previous two days, a bonus for the riders, many of whom set about riding endurance sessions to finish off. There was a slight breeze around the circuit throughout the day, and with it came a little bad luck for a couple of the Honda set, with the most dramatic incident of the day undoubtedly going to Camel Honda’s Makoto Tamada who suffered a tyre problem while travelling down the main straight, effectively ending his day early.

Sete Gibernau of Telefonica MoviStar Honda also had an engine problem which threatened to do the same for him, however the Spaniard had his team put in his previous day’s engine, to go on to set some fast laps during a race simulation session. Max Biaggi (Camel Honda Team) was quick once more, and began to look even more at home on the RC211V as he did more endurance tests with Michelin tyres like many of the Honda riders today. Colin Edwards (Telefonica MoviStar Honda) perhaps had done too much, as he called it a day early feeling the effects of the intensive work after a long winter break.

HRC factory tester Tohru Ukawa did a full 21-lap race simulation on the latest version of the RC211V, and lowered his time by over 15 seconds when compared to his race time in October, whereas Nicky Hayden (Repsol Honda) set a similar lap-time on his version of the machine after finally getting back some of the rhythm he found towards the end of the 2003 season.

Max Biaggi – 2:02.585. 50 laps

“It’s been a quite good three days here in Sepang. The temperature helps a lot, it means we can play around with set-up and test many different tyres. I always felt comfortable here, and have been consistently fast, that’s the main thing. I’m happy with what equipment I’ve got at the moment, it’s definitely an improvement on what we had before, but we have to look to the future and we will hope for even more developments, because that is what it is all about. I and the team will all be trying 100 percent to do our best, so we are looking forward to continuing our work here in a couple of weeks time.”

Sete Gibernau – 2:02.7.

“It was a very strange and difficult day. I went out with a new engine this morning and it broke almost immediately. I had the choice to put in yesterday’s engine or stop, so we decided to carry on but take things easy and maybe even limit its performance slightly to not go through the same problem. I wanted to do this to try and get some new information for Michelin by doing an endurance session. The front tyres we used were a completely new generation and initially we were in the 2:02, 2:03 level, but it dropped off. We had bad luck, but physically and mentally this is good preparation for later on in the season when things might not go so well.”

Tohru Ukawa – 2:03.2. 76 laps

“Today we ended by doing a full 21-lap race simulation, and I would say that I was about 15 or 20 seconds faster than when I rode here in October. To say that we haven’t even got the bike set-up perfectly yet, that’s good news. We made a lot of changes to the bike to get grip levels up to where we need them, changing suspension, chassis and many other settings, and it’s getting close but there is still work to do. The lap time could be better I think, but I don’t know if I will get another chance to test this bike before the other riders get into it.”

Colin Edwards – 2:03.3. 38 laps

“I was worried before coming here because I knew I had to do lots of laps on the 17-inch front for Michelin, which I haven’t done for four years since I began working on the 16.5 with the Superbike. I think I maybe felt a bit of the fear of change from that today. I ran a 17″ all day, and the work the MotoGP guys have done on this means that it makes a big difference. I’d say I’m now at 50-50 between the two. The 17 on the Honda makes it feel balanced and more comfortable – it’s not that elsewhere it necessarily will, but I have to make my own decisions and not think about other people’s preferences.”

Makoto Tamada – 2:03.5. 30 laps

“It had been a good couple of days testing until today, but these sort of things happen. We have worked well with the new engine we have been given, working in many different areas to improve the all-round set-up of the bike. The engine is smoother for the tyres now, but it can still get better, so despite finishing early today, I look forward to our next test session to test things further.”

Nicky Hayden – 2:03.2. 68 laps

“It was great to get back on the bike after the winter break. Over the three days we got faster and faster and the bike felt better and better. Some of the new Michelins we tested were very good and we tried both 17 inch and 16.5 fronts. The new engine parts work well and I’m really lookin’ forward to ridin’ the new 2004 bike back here in a month. Sepang isn’t one of my favourite tracks on the GP circuit but I’m feelin’ more comfortable and confident here than I have ever felt.”


Trevor Morris, Hayden Crew Chief:

“Very pleased with the first outing of 2004 really. Nicky is going well and it’s great to see he went faster today on normal tyres than he did on qualifying tyres at the GP last October. We did a simulated long run and he got into a good fast rhythm so we’re all very encouraged. We got a lot of valuable data on various 2004 parts which will be very useful in building the 2004 bikes back at the workshop which we’ll be riding next month.”


Shoji Tachikawa, Repsol Honda Team Manager:

“The times are very similar to those of 2003 and to get to this pace straight after the winter break is very good. The team got back on pace fast and we gathered a lot of data that will be very important; especially when we come back with the 2004 bike.”


Carlo Fiorani, Repsol Honda Team Sporting Manager:

“It’s good to be back in action with half the team going so well. We now look forward very much to the tests here on February 11-13 when we will be a full team again, welcoming Alex Barros and his crew to the Repsol Honda Team on the 2004 bike.”