Rossi leads the way in Sepang test

The Italian's Fiat Yamaha team had chosen to skip last week's test at Phillip Island, but made sure to get as much running as possible today as they continued preparations for 2008.

Rossi's fastest lap of 2:0.300 was more than one second under his previous best at Sepang, and crucially just a few hundredths of a second up on Nicky Hayden's fastest lap from testing there last month.

Hayden was second fastest today, enjoying a return to form after mixed fortunes in last week's running at Phillip Island. And having to take on the majority of Repsol Honda's work, due to the continued absence of Dani Pedrosa, Hayden seemed happier with progress - despite a late session fall.

Shinya Nakano was a promising third fastest, ahead of Fiat Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo, who had been quickest in the morning.

The only other regular rider present was Gresini Honda's Alex de Angelis, who had been one of the first men out on the track when it was damp in the morning. His decision did not pay off, however, as he crashed on his 10th lap, and was only able to make it back out again at 3.30pm.

The MotoGP regulars were joined by a host of test drivers, with Olivier Jacque and Tamaki Serizawa continuing work for Kawasaki, and Wataru Yoshikawa and Yoshihiko Fujiwara present for Yamaha.

Today's top times:

Pos Rider          Team              Time     Laps
1.  Rossi          Fiat Yamaha       2:00.300   64
2.  Hayden         Repsol Honda      2:01.949   80
3.  Nakano         Honda Gresini     2:02.317   55
4.  Lorenzo        Fiat Yamaha       2:02.654   57
5.  De Angelis     Honda Gresini     2:03.231   41