Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins completed day one at Sepang International Circuit third in the standings with a 1’58.384 lap time.

Over half a second clear of his teammate Joan Mir, Rins completed the most laps of any rider on track, 72 in total, remaining in touch of the fastest times from the outset despite the blistering conditions.

“I’ve been waiting for this test for a long time, so I think this could be why I was fast early on - I was so keen to be back on track!” he said from Sepang having sat top three in the opening times before recovering the position, almost a second quicker in the closing minutes.

“Today was a good day,” he continued. “I’m happy because my pace was strong, and I was able to test many different things. It’s always interesting and important to find what the strongest parts are and what still needs improvement. I can already feel that the engine is more powerful, and the data reflects that. On the aero side, we still are a little bit far, they need to keep working more but overall we got used to the bike super fast, so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Aware of the importance, not just of this test but of the season ahead after a difficult couple of years, Rins is confident he has the speed to continue his career in MotoGP, with whomever should come calling.

“It's so important this season for me,” he confirmed. "But I will say also the preseason because we don't have a lot of time to test the bike, just two days here, and three days in Mandalika - that will be two days because the first day is to learn the track.

“We need to be 100% focused on this season, 100% focus on the bike and go race by race to have the good feeling. I know that I'm quite strong on the bike but this is the period to have new contracts with Suzuki, with maybe another manufacturer. We need to be ready and we need to show that we are going fast.”