Biaggi proves a point.

He might not be an 'official' HRC rider on the latest machinery, but Max Biaggi looks set to embarrass those that are - including his own team-mate - if he continues to ride at the level shown at Sepang this week.

That test was the first time that the whole Pons team was together since the end of the 2002 season, and also marked the first real contact between Biaggi and his RCV after just a brief introduction at Valencia.

The Roman completed 48 laps of the Malaysian circuit, and set a stunning time of 2mins 2.8secs, more than two seconds inside the official lap record - which he himself set in the last Malaysian GP - and just 0.15secs behind fastest of all Valentino Rossi.

However, Rossi and the other 'official' HRC riders [Hayden, Kato and Ukawa] were riding 2002 V5's fitted with new development parts which will be on the 2003 spec RCV.

Biaggi's bike was without these new parts - and he hinted at such after the test - he is set to ride a Pons tuned 2002 bike in this year's championship.

"I did not have too much work to do because the other riders were busy trying new parts, [so] Michelin asked me to carry out a mini endurance test on race tyres for ten laps," stated Max.

Honda Pons Technical Director Antonio Cobas was more explicit about the level of Biaggi's machinery, calling it 'standard'.

"[Max] rode hard at the end of the session and set an extraordinary time which has astounded many people. It is worth bearing in mind that he is still getting to know the bike, which is a standard unit and less developed than the bike being used by the HRC riders," said Cobas.

Should Max continue to be Rossi's main challenger when the season starts in Suzuka, it will clearly put pressure on Honda to supply the Italian with 2003 spec machinery equal to Valentino.

Otherwise, if Biaggi's beaten it will be seen as because the bike wasn't of the same spec as Rossi's, and if Max wins it'll be hailed as a Biaggi victory [rather than Honda's] because it will look like the ex-Marlboro Yamaha man has overcome the performance advantage of his rivals.

Such a situation has of course happened before with Biaggi, when he first stepped into the 500cc class in 1998 and faced another Repsol rider, Mick Doohan.

Doohan was the reigning World Champion and, being in the official factory Honda team, was given the latest parts for his NSR500. Biaggi, also on a Honda, didn't have access to these developments and after winning on his 500cc debut in Suzuka and being the Australian's main challenger throughout the year, felt he should be given equal status.

He wasn't, and after finishing runner-up in the championship left to join Yamaha at the end of the year.

It will be interesting to see how a repeat of such a situation would be handled this year - especially with the General Manager of Racing at Honda now being none other than a certain Michael Doohan...