Ducati new recruit Jorge Lorenzo debuted in red for the first time in 2017 at the Sepang test wasnt the smoothest, with the day proving a challenging one. even he sees that "the bike has the potential to go quick".

Lorenzo’s best lap was a 2:01.369 down in P17 as he settles into his new team and bike, but the Ducati Team did top the timesheets with test rider Casey Stoner in P1, and Lorenzo’s 2017 teammate Andrea Dovizioso in P2.

The day's action was also cut short by rain, which hit around two hours before the end of the session.

Lorenzo had a slow start in Sepang but expects to cut the gap with the front runners over the next two days of testing

The job for Lorenzo is now getting accustomed to the Ducati – and learning how to extract the most from it.

“On this track there’s a lot of difference between this bike and the one I was riding for nine years." Said the former MotoGP world champion.

"I think that to go a lot faster we have to do two things. The first is to adapt the bike bit by bit to how I like it, and the second and most important is to understand how to go fast."

To get there I’m missing quite a lot, more than I expected, honestly, but it’s still very early to draw conclusions." He added

It’s a question of putting in the hours and the laps to bit by bit find how to go fast. The most important thing and the big positive from the day is that the other Ducatis have done great times – and that means the bike has a lot of potential.”

LCR Honda Cal Crutchlow began testing with a solid P6 and fastest Honda on Day 1 of the first official test of the year. The Brit, who took two wins last season, was on a 2016 frame with some engine evolutions to provide feedback for HRC.

The Brit put in 44 laps before rain stopped play two hours before the end of the session, the number 35 put in his best effort on lap 27, a 2:00.569.

Crutchlow was happy to be back in action with LCR Honda but pointed out he needs as much dry track time to go through his testing programme

"We need dry track time" he said.

"First of all, I’d like to say how nice it was to get back to the LCR Honda Team after a couple of months break. I didn’t ride a motorcycle too much during the winter,"

"I did two 20-minute rides on a motocross bike so today the feeling was a little strange for me, but it was nice to be back into some sort of rhythm with the team.

“In terms of testing, today we were able to give some feedback immediately as we started with our testing programme, and at the moment we are going through a few small things that we have to try." He added

"Then the plan is that over the next two days we can test and evaluate some other things for Honda.”

For reigning world champion Marc Marquez, day 1 back on track on his Honda in 2017 was fairly quiet in terms of position, as the Spaniard ended the day in ninth.

But a good program of work saw the five-time World Champion happy with the mountain of information gathered. Completing 56 laps, most in the dry but some in the wet as rain interrupted the session towards the end, Marquez did a best of 2:00.738.

Working on engine configurations and comparing data, the rider from Cervera was satisfied with day one after his first outing back in the seat in 2017.

“Feeling today wasn’t bad considering the first session back after the break is always a bit of a challenge for the rider and the team." Said Marquez who set the ninth fastest time on Monday.

"We’ve been trying two bikes with two distinct engine configurations but concentrated mostly on one – working on the electronics, the geometry, setup…"

We got a lot of information and we’ll keep working on it. We also decided to take the opportunity to do a few laps in the wet when it started to rain." He added

"We’re excited to get back into dry track time, to get a better understanding and get to the potential of our bike.”

After an end of 2016 marred slightly by some injuries, Suzuki new recruit Andrea Iannone  began 2017 on full power as the Italian took his Suzuki up into P6 on Day 1.

The session was cut short by rain a couple of hours before the end, but the 'Maniac' was happy with progress after spending his day comparing the 2016 machine with some new evolutions - with familiarity a key concern given his recent arrival to the team. His fastest lap was a 2:00.489; the best of 44.

"For the moment everything is fine. Of course after a long break the main thing is to try to find back the confidence as quick as possible and find a good pace." Said Iannone who ended the day setting the 5th fastest time.

"We could already have some outcomes on the machines, it is very important to keep the comparative so we are working a lot switching the standard 2016 with the 2017 evolution one."

"We don’t have any decisions yet, of course, it’s long work that requires patience, but we’re happy with all the information we’ve collected." He added.

"The relationship with the crew is very positive, everybody works really hard but the mood makes me very comfortable, I’d say my feeling now is really easy."