Rossi gets a first taste of the new M1

_{source: moto.racing-live.com}

Just three weeks after rounding off Yamaha's victorious 2005 season in Valencia, Gauloises Yamaha Team riders Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards were back in Malaysia at their most frequently-visited testing venue Monday, as they commenced their winter program at Sepang alongside Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha Tech 3.

A short rain shower in the morning slightly delayed proceedings, but the weather then stayed dry and the team was able to continue working uninterrupted through to the end of the day.

Rossi concentrated mainly on Michelin tyre testing, before getting on to the prototype version of the new 2006-spec YZR-M1 towards the end of the session. He completed a short run of the 5.548km circuit on the new bike and will begin more in-depth work on it tomorrow.

Edwards spent the day focusing on the new riding style he has been adapting to over the last part of the season, working with settings and electronics on his M1 as well as testing some new tyres for Michelin.

According to the unofficial lap times, the fastest man on the track today was Marco Melandri (Honda) with a time of 2'02.95. He was followed by Nicky Hayden, Carlos Checa and MotoGP rookie Dani Pedrosa (all Honda) with Edwards (2'03.78) and Rossi (2'03.80) fifth and sixth fastest.