'No lunch' as Capirossi tests for two

Loris Capirossi was a busy man during the first Sepang test earlier this month - the Italian veteran shouldering the full weight of development work for the 2010 Suzuki, while new team-mate Alvaro Bautista continues to learn the ropes.

"I have to do everything myself, because Alvaro is so young and he just needs to ride the bike at the moment," Capirossi told Crash.net. "And the testing I did in one day we normally do in two days. We just don't have enough time, but the new testing rule is like that."

With the GSV-R the only MotoGP machine not to take a podium finish last season, Capirossi had plenty of new parts to evaluate as Suzuki fights to become competitive again.

"On the first day I tried three different chassis, some different forks, a lot of electronics, three different fuel tanks, a seat... I never stopped. Not even for lunch! I rode full time from the morning to night," he revealed.

Capirossi was ranked fourth and tenth during the two days of testing at Sepang, his best lap time - set on day one - being just over one second behind the best of Yamaha's reigning world champion Valentino Rossi.

"Compared with last year we've made a good step with the chassis and aerodynamic balance. This is good. But when you change the chassis you don't go two seconds quicker, you just gain a few tenths and the feeling is better," explained the #65.

"To make bigger improvements we also need a stronger engine. Suzuki is working hard but the new engine rule is so strange. Six engines for a full season is really hard for everyone.

"Now we need to understand what to do for the next test. That will be really important for us because Suzuki will bring a new engine."

The second Sepang test starts later this week.