Edwards ousts Rossi

American Colin Edwards edged out factory Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi to end the opening day of testing in Malaysia fastest.

Edwards left it late to take the honours today, his best time of 2.02.17 coming on the last lap of his 47-lap stint.

Like Rossi, he spent the majority of the day evaluating front and rear suspension settings for Ohlins, echoing the Italian by claiming he’s made a significant improvement with braking stability.

“It was much better than when we were here two weeks ago. I could brake much later and that stability has always been an issue for us,” said the double World Superbike champion, who was 0.2s slower than his best time last month when he finished second fastest on race tyres.

Edwards did a 10-lap run today which included five laps in the high 2.02s with a best of 2.02.75 on his last lap, even though he wasn’t happy with rear tyre performance.

It was the same rear tyre that Rossi used in a brilliant race simulation last month, but Edwards said: “It just didn’t work for me. He liked it and I didn’t but we’ve got some more tyres to try.”

The Texan plans to do a 15-lap run tomorrow before a punishing full 21-lap race distance on the final day (Wednesday).