Rossi on top in Sepang

Normal service was resumed today in Malaysia as former world champion Valentino Rossi clocked the fastest time on day two at Sepang.

The 27-year-old, who was just beaten to the best time by factory Yamaha team-mate Colin Edwards yesterday, set a best of 2.02.09 in a 53-lap stint today as temperatures became more Malaysia like after the relative cool of yesterday.

Temperatures peaked at 36 degrees this afternoon, but Rossi shaved just 0.1s off his best time from yesterday to beat American Edwards by just 0.019s.

Rossi, who penned a one-year extension to his Yamaha contract recently that will keep him in MotoGP until the end of 2008 at least, said: “Today was mainly testing tyres for Michelin and it was a hard day.

 “I tried some front 16-inch tyres, which didn’t feel any better than the last test here, but I was happy with them anyway. We found something interesting with the rear though with better edge grip.”

Rossi plans to complete a full 21-lap race simulation tomorrow. Edwards was second quickest with a best of 2.02.11, which was a fraction inside his best time set yesterday when he topped the timesheets.