Photography courtesy Movistar Yamaha
The competitiveness of the 2015 MotoGP season was on full display Thursday, day two of MotoGP testing at Sepang, Malaysia. Jorge Lorenzo bounced back to top the timing charts. The Spaniard was the only rider to dip below the two-minute mark on Thursday, turning a 1’59.963 on his Movistar Yamaha YZR-M1. Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso (2’00.015) and defending two-time champ Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez (2’00.146) rounded out the top three.
It was a competitive session with the top seven riders running within a second of Lorenzo’s time. One day remains in the three-day test session.
Lorenzo made the most of the gained data from Wednesday’s eight-hour testing session and was quick to position himself among the protagonists on the leader board. After getting a feel for today’s more slippery and bumpy track, he grew in confidence and picked up the pace to become the first rider to break the two-minute barrier with a 1’59.963s lap. His lap stayed unbeaten for the rest of the session.
While the track was baking in the blistering afternoon temperatures at 2pm, the riders took some time to regain their strength and consume enough fluids, before heading back out into the bright sunshine at the Sepang International Circuit.
“1’59 is a good lap time,” Lorenzo said in a Yamaha news release. “The other riders couldn’t do it because the track seems to be a bit more slippery and bumpy and that makes it more difficult to achieve good lap times. Our bike improved a lot over this last year and I feel ready both physically and mentally. All together, we’re in a good shape. In the first four hours in the morning I was quite comfortably riding 2’00’s. In the afternoon it seemed that the track condition was a bit worse and I couldn’t ride as many fast laps. The goal for tomorrow is to repeat the pace that I had today and maybe do even better.”
Andrea Dovizioso took just twenty minutes of the morning session to place himself at the top the standings, setting an excellent time of 2’00.015 on a soft tire with the latest version of the Desmosedici, the GP14.3, two-tenths of a second quicker than the one set by Marc Marquez (Honda) at the end of day one.
“I am very happy with the pace I did today because we were interested in doing a long-run: we did 15 laps in these extremely hot conditions,” Dovizioso said. “and it was important to do some constant laps, which is normally a bit our limit. We lapped pretty well, and this shows that the guys back in the factory have been working well in recent months. I’m happy with this morning’s time but not 100% because I wanted to see a time of 1’59 on the dash! I was counting on it, it was an aim of mine here but I just missed out. Hopefully it won’t rain tonight so we can find the track still fast tomorrow.”
After spending yesterday testing different machines brought by HRC from Japan, today both Repsol Honda riders had a clearer idea of which bike they prefer and were able to work on the setup on the bike they have chosen. Marquez and Dani Pedrosa both spent the day working on geometry, suspension settings and some electronics.
American Nicky Hayden, still coming to terms with a new motor-chassis combo, ran 19th on Thursday, with a 2’02.228 on his Drive M7 Aspar customer Honda.
Marquez – who completed more laps than any other rider today – finished the day in third, just 0.183 off Lorenzo, with his fastest time of 2’00.146 on lap 35 of 67. He had a small crash in turn seven on his final exit but escaped any injury. Pedrosa was just 0.114 off Marquez with his best time of 2’00.260 on lap 50 of 52.
“Today I focused on just one bike – the one I liked most from yesterday – and put in a lot of laps,” Marquez explained. “In the morning we tested setups for the bike geometry and some different suspension settings. In the afternoon we worked a lot on the electronics, which is a slower process and requires more time and more laps. We have gathered a lot of information but tomorrow we still have to keep doing more testing, after analyzing the data on the computer. I am pleased because we have continued to improve and we remained fast, even when the track was warmer.”
The three-day test will conclude tomorrow.
SEPANG MOTOGP TEST RESULT (DAY 2) Results
1. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1’59.963
2. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 2’00.015
3. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 2’00.146
4. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 2’00.260
5. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Ducati Team 2’00.391
6. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2’00.676
7. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 2’00.959
8. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) CWM LCR Honda 2’01.058
9. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 2’01.098
10. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Team Suzuki MotoGP 2’01.344
11. Stefan Bradl (GER) Forward Racing 2’01.484
12. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing 2’01.615
13. Hiroshi Aoyama (JPN) HRC 2’01.772
14. Scott Redding (GBR) Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 2’01.844
15. Maverick Viñales (SPA) Team Suzuki MotoGP 2’01.916
16. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Pramac Racing 2’01.932
17. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2’02.155
18. Michele Pirro (ITA) Pramac Racing 2’02.199
19. Nicky Hayden (USA) Drive M7 Aspar 2’02.228
20. Karel Abraham (CZE) AB Motoracing 2’02.574
21. Loris Baz (FRA) Forward Racing 2’02.842
22. Katsuyuki Nakasuga (JPN) Yamaha Factory Test Team 2’02.914
23. Jack Miller (AUS) CWM LCR Honda 2’03.083
24. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Drive M7 Aspar 2’03.129
25. Alex De Angelis (RSM) Octo IodaRacing Team 2’03.399
26. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing 2’03.609
27. Takumi Takahashi (JPN) HRC 2’03.781
28. Marco Melandri (ITA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2’04.487
