Jorge Lorenzo admits he wasn't feeling in the best physical condition ahead of MotoGP testing in Sepang on Monday, but that did little to hold him back, as he dominated the opening day by more than a second.
The Spaniard was fourth fastest within the opening hour before eventually topping the timing screens, where he stayed until the session ended 20-minutes prematurely due to rain.
Speaking to the media after, Lorenzo hailed the new Michelin tyres and admitted the times were "relatively easy to achieve" on his new Yamaha YZR-M1 bike.
"I‘m very happy and surprised about the feeling I had today with the Michelin tyres," he said. "The lap times were relatively easy to achieve and every time we exited pit lane we improved something on the bike to understand the electronics better and they adapted very well to the Michelin tyres. I'm very happy with the change, because Sepang, for me, is always difficult.
"Today I only slept two hours because of the jetlag and I have a sore throat so I‘m taking antibiotics. My physical condition is not perfect, but to ride two or three laps, I can do that very well. If I was fitter I could do longer stints."
His team-mate, Valentino Rossi, wasn't entirely happy on Monday and recognised the need to close the gap to Lorenzo.
"The gap to Lorenzo is too big, but it's also true that he was stronger than everybody else, so he was able to have a better rhythm," said the Italian. "On the other side, my position is not so bad and we worked a lot on the bike. It‘s just the first day and the total count will be at the end of the third, but we have a lot of things to do"
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