As the three-day MotoGP Official Test got underway at Spain’s Circuito de Jerez today, Repsol Honda’s Nicky Hayden was the fastest rider with an eye-catching 1’39.200 lap on his Michelin qualifiers in the final hour of the session of the day, onboard the rapidly-evolving RC212V.

The popular American, who hopes to regain the World title this season, was also the man with the most laps to his name, as has become something of a trademark throughout his MotoGP career. Today he put in 107 turns of the Spanish circuit as he continued to work on preparing every variable of his updated 800cc machine.

The result was a boost for Hayden ahead of the first real ‘head-to-head’ event of the year on Sunday, as all the confirmed 2008 MotoGP riders and their test rider counterparts compete for a BMW Z4 M Roadster in a 40-minute BMW M Award ‘qualifying session’.

Commenting on his day’s work Hayden stated: “Everything went pretty smooth. I’d say it’s definitely the best first day of a test we have had this year and things were pretty good. The few changes made to the bike were positive and the Michelins work well at Jerez.”

Meanwhile, continuing what has been a fine preseason, Honda satellite rider Randy de Puniet was also up amongst the business end of the timesheets. He saved his fastest run on Michelin qualifiers for his very last lap of the day, riding round just over two tenths of a second slower than Hayden. LCR Honda’s sole rider, like the rest of the Japanese factory’s satellite contingent, has been awaiting a new engine for this latest test after working with the 2007 model during much of the preseason and made good use of his updated machine.

Victorious in the past two 250cc races in Jerez, Jorge Lorenzo is proving equally at home at his home circuit onboard his 800cc Fiat Yamaha YZR-M1. The MotoGP rookie headed a trio of Michelin-shod Yamaha riders in the opening day’s top five, ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha satellite duo Colin Edwards and James Toseland.

The Tech 3 Anglo-American partnership were debuting a new yellow and blue livery on Saturday, but would have stood out anyway with Edwards’ testing renaissance continuing unabated and Toseland’s upward progression in preparation for his rookie season in MotoGP.

The top five were the only riders to go round with times under the 1’40 mark, although with discrepancies in the use of qualifiers or race tyres and focus of work there is not too much cause for concern for the trailing pack.

Valentino Rossi set his quickest time on day one comparatively early in proceedings, on lap 32 of 92, to conclude the day in eighth position. The Italian was modelling a special edition look; a cake-themed helmet designed to celebrate his 29th birthday. He may be one of the hot tips to take home the BMW at the end of the test, but as of yet ‘The Doctor’ has not come close to his 1’38.394 time from last year and views Hayden as the man to watch on Sunday.

Rossi commented: “Well, I have been working on track on my birthday and maybe tonight I will have a quiet meal with the team before another important day tomorrow. I think Nicky (Hayden) is favourite to win the BMW session, but Casey (Stoner) has shown how fast Bridgestone qualifying tyres can go, so I think it will be possible to fight for the car.”

Indeed just below Rossi on the timesheet was 2007 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner, who returned to the scene of a late November shoulder-damaging crash onboard his Ducati Desmosedici GP8, and ended the day in ninth place.

Also riding injured in Jerez were testing returnees Dani Pedrosa and John Hopkins, two men still sore from respective hand and groin injuries picked up over the course of the preseason. Neither was able to crack the top ten, with Pedrosa 12th fastest and Hopkins 17th, although for both riders a return to race condition is the more immediate aim of this latest three day testing stint. Pedrosa clocked 37 laps with Hopkins only managing 28.

Fans seemed to share the competitors’ enthusiasm for the first day of testing, with the paddock and grandstands welcoming a healthy turnout of MotoGP aficionados.

The MotoGP Official Test 2008 continues tomorrow at Jerez, with the 40-minute timed session taking place at 2.05pm local time.

from Info MotoGP