In order to capitalise on the ground gained last season, the highlight of which was a second place finish for
Randy de Puniet at Motegi, Team Green has opted for a constant flow of new parts to determine the format of its '08 - rather than an all-new 'ground-up' project. But even the evolutionary process is not always perfect.
"On the whole this week's gone really good," reflected John. "We've had some more new parts here. It's been pretty much hit-and-miss; some things good and some things bad. Pretty much off and on, but for the most part the pros are outweighing the cons - that's the main thing.
"The overall package has tremendous potential," he continued. "Unfortunately right now we're having some small mechanical issues that are making it a little hard to deliver on that potential. We're having a few little clutch problems. It's something that should be easily fixed. It'll be good - especially when we have the new motor in our bike."
Hopkins left the Sepang test with the fifth fastest lap time, using a
Bridgestone qualifying tyre, and having had his first chance to circulate alongside a full line-up of 2008 factory machines.
For many of his previous seasons in
MotoGP, Hopkins was forced to over-ride through the corners in order to compensate for a power deficit - but it seems that the 24-year-old could experience life in the MotoGP 'fast lane' in 2008, thanks to the "surprising" power output from the ZX-RR's pneumatic-valve engine.
"We're fairing out pretty well against the other bikes," stated Hopkins, when asked how things were looking out on track. "I'm still surprised at the amount of horsepower that the machine has and, from what I'm hearing about the new motor, that's going to be improved even further.
"I'm extremely happy with it all and just looking forward to continuing on and trying different circuits. Malaysia is difficult to actually get a true judgement about what's going to be good and what isn't.
