World champion Valentino Rossi has warned his MotoGP rivals he will be as fast as ever when he bids for a third consecutive title.

The Italian has been impressed with his Repsol Honda during testing at Sepang in Malaysia.

And he is confident his RC211V is capable of running consistently quickly.

"The bike now seems stable. It is now possible to go very fast and to keep regular fast laps," Rossi said on Tuesday.

"The engine feels strong and I have good traction."

And Rossi's new team-mate, Nicky Hayden, is beginning to acclimatise to his new bike.

The American Superbike champion said: "I'm feeling a lot more comfortable on the bike, which is good.

"But the track has taken me a lot longer to learn than I'm used to - certainly longer than the other GP tracks I've ridden on.

"It's such a long lap time and so much wider. Although we got a faster lap time it's been a little frustrating today and at times we seem to be going round in circles.

"I guess hardly surprising - it's still early days."