"Olivier was the fastest of our three riders today, which is very positive given that he's testing the chassis that may well form the basis of our 2009 Ninja ZX-RR," stated Bartholemy. "Hopefully he can continue to improve tomorrow with more time on the bike, as the data from this test is critical to our ongoing development programme in Japan. Overall it's been a positive first day of testing."

For Melandri, Wednesday marked his second dry day on a ZX-RR, after rain on day two of the previous Valencia test.

The 26-year-old Italian completed 93 laps, during which he matched his best race lap on a factory Ducati at last month's grand prix. Melandri continues to tailor the machine to his riding style, but was hampered on day one by a lack of feeling from the front end of the bike.

Melandri will work with his crew and suspension engineers overnight to improve front end feel, and is confident that if they can make steps forward in this area then lap times in the low 1min 31sec bracket are achievable tomorrow. The fastest race lap of all in October's GP was a 1min 30.069sec by Repsol Honda's Nicky Hayden.

"Marco has continued his familiarisation with the Ninja ZX-RR, and already he's working with his crew and making improvements. He had some issues with the front end of the bike today, but we think we have a solution for this that will improve things for tomorrow," said Bartholemy.

Meanwhile for Hopkins the first day of testing at Phillip Island was a painful one. The 25-year-old Anglo-American suffered with a painful left knee and ankle injury, sustained during a high-speed practice crash at Assen back in June.

The fractured ankle was fixed with a plate after the crash, but the tendons rubbing on the metal plate every time he changed gear left Hopkins' left leg swollen and sore after 76 laps of the Phillip Island circuit today.

Ignoring the pain, Hopkins worked closely with new crew chief, Naoya Kaneko, to make improvements to his Ninja ZX-RR throughout the day, and the Anglo-American is confident of lowering his lap times tomorrow.

"We ride a lot more during testing than we do on a race weekend, and that has caused me some problems today," explained Hopper. "The left knee and ankle I damaged in the crash at Assen has been really painful. Every time I change gear the tendons in my ankle rub across the metal plate that was inserted to fix the bones, and this causes the ankle to swell up a lot. My knee also kept locking out, especially on the left-hand corners, so I'm not in great physical shape.

"Having said that, it's been good working with my new crew chief, Naoya. We communicate together very well and we've definitely made some improvements to the bike," Hopkins continued. "Naoya is very methodical in his approach, but he also has a fresh way of looking at the problems and, as a result, we've made some big steps forward already. Now I just need more time on track, injuries permitting. Phillip Island has always been a difficult circuit for me, and I've never had a good result here, so the more time I can get on track over the final two days of testing the better."

The Jerez test - attended by Yamaha, Ducati and Honda teams - takes place today and tomorrow.