Malaysia's Sepang circuit will host an official Formula One test for the first time after the Australian season-opener in March.

Sole supplier Bridgestone confirmed on Monday that they would be providing tyres for the rare session in the Far East from March 27-29.

The 11 teams, who have set up a committee to coordinate limited testing during the season, had sought a Malaysian test after the March 18 race in Melbourne to avoid the expense of shipping freight from Australia to Europe and then back to Malaysia.

This year's race at Sepang on April 8 comes three weeks after Melbourne, rather than just two in the past. Last season Malaysia hosted its race on the weekend immediately after the Bahrain season-opener.

Bahrain is this year's third race, on April 15.

"Almost all of the teams are based in Europe and it would make sense for them to commit their personnel to test the cars in Sepang instead of flying them back to the other side of the globe," circuit spokesman Azhar Ghazali told Malaysia's Star newspaper Web site (www.thestar.com.my).

Teams have traditionally been limited to testing in Europe once the championship has started