Factory Ducati's Valentino Rossi is so keen to get the new MotoGP Desmosedici GP12 working better he took to the track just after the lunchtime downpour at Sepang on day one of the official test in order to confirm the bike's feeling and settings in the wet.

Rossi, and team-mate Hayden, had headed out to the track early but found the surface dirty and slippery but by the time it had started the clean up, his tyre was getting worn. After the heavens closed, The Doctor went back out on track but is confident of better laptimes if it stays dry tomorrow.

“Paradoxically, we actually started too early this morning! It would’ve been better to start at 11 like the others, because before that the asphalt was quite dirty, and by the time the conditions started to improve, the tyre already had about fifteen laps on it. We decided to save the second tyre for the afternoon, but it started raining after lunch. As a result, we didn’t get much done today," said the Italian.

"We didn’t even start working with the new software that we have available for this test. On the plus side, we were able to confirm that the feeling in the wet is still pretty good with the GP12. Weather permitting, and with a couple more tyres at our disposal, I think that tomorrow we’ll be able to work a little more comprehensively and understand things a bit more.”