Photo courtesy Repsol Honda
The second official MotoGP test in Malaysia has concluded in Malaysia with World Champion Marc Marquez fastest after three days aboard his factory Repsol Honda. Marquez clocked a 1:59.115 on Wednesday, the final day of the three-day test. He was followed by Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo (1:59.437) and in somewhat of a surprise it was Cal Crutchlow third on the CWM LCR Honda with a 1:59.658. Ducati’s Andrea Iannone (1:59.722) and Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi (1:59.833) rounded out the top five. Sixth and seventh-place Bradley Smith (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) were the other riders dipping below the two-minute lap time on Wednesday.
American Nicky Hayden ended Wednesday in 17th position on his Drive M7 Aspar Honda with a time of 2:00.813.
Besides his top time, another remarkable thing about Marquez’ Wednesday was that he ran 73 laps on the Sepang Circuit. That was by far the most laps of any rider on the day. Eugene Laverty did 61 laps, but the rest of the field turned in total laps between the 30s to upper 50s range.
The weather has played a major part in each teams testing plans, with the searing heat during the day meaning that realistically riders could only really set flying laps within a small time frame when the sun wasn’t at its peak. Most teams focused on developing the bike and finding their riders ideal set ups over the first two days, while today provided a chance for the teams to show their true pace this morning, before running race simulations this afternoon.
Repsol Honda will be delighted by the way Marquez, whose first day was ruined by a brake problem, responded to dominate the last two days. For the Spaniard, his main focus was on evaluating different chassis types, and tweaking the set ups on each to find the one he prefers.
He headed the timesheet’s for the last two days, with his best lap of 1’59.115 putting him over 3 tenths of a second ahead of his nearest rivals. No one can accuse the reigning champion of resting on his laurels on the final day either, as he put in more laps than anyone else (73) on the final day. This included a stint of 19 laps where he managed 16 laps under the 2’01 barrier, and will leave Malaysia knowing that he is once again in a very strong position to retain his MotoGP title.
Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo arrived at Sepang 2 in the best shape of his life, according to the rider, after a gruelling off season training regime. All that work appears to have paid off as he was able to put in a huge number of laps on each day, despite the heat. Lorenzo not only finished 2nd overall, setting his fastest time this morning just 0.3s off Marquez, but managed to knock over 2 seconds off his time over the course of the three days. He and his teammate Rossi were also evaluating and testing the “evolved” seamless shift gearbox Yamaha brought to Sepang 2.
One rider who will be extremely pleased with his performance over the three days is Brit Cal Crutchlow on the CWM LCR Honda. When he arrived in Sepang, he acknowledged that he had to change his riding style to suit the RC213V and try and find a way to be competitive on fresh tires. He did just that, improving every day and managing to set a very impressive 1’59.658 early on day 3, which was over 1.5 seconds quicker than his time on day 1 and more importantly achieved on a new set of tires. Not only that but he managed to run a long race simulation this afternoon in which he consistently was lapping around the 2’01 mark.
Suzuki continued their encouraging return to MotoGP by bringing a new fairing and some engine updates to Malaysia. Aleix Espargaro took advantage of these improvements to record a 2’00.275 on the final morning, good enough for 9th place overall. Rookie Maverick Viñales looked to have no problems adjusting to the GSX-RR after stepping up from Moto2, and will have surprised quite a few people by finishing just over 3 tenths slower than his more experienced teammate.
Drive M7 Aspar’s Nicky Hayden had to adjust to a completely different bike compared to the Sepang 1 test, as he wasn’t happy with the original setup, and clearly found something as he shaved 2 seconds of his best time over the test. Teammate Eugene Laverty was using the three days to familiarize himself with the Honda RC213V-RS and will be pleased to have finished just a second behind the 2006 MotoGP Champion.
For Aprilia, an evolution of the bike they used at Sepang 1 had mixed results, as Alvaro Bautista had more success than his teammate Marco Melandri on the latest version of the RS-GP. Bautista ended day one in 12th but struggled to improve much more over the test, shaving just .4s off his time over the next two days, while Melandri ended each day last and on the final day was almost 4.5s behind Marquez.
MotoGP Sepang Test Day 3 Results
1 MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda Team 1:59.115
2 LORENZO, Jorge Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1:59.437 0.322 0.322
3 CRUTCHLOW, Cal CWM LCR Honda 1:59.658 0.543 0.221
4 IANNONE, Andrea Ducati Team 1:59.722 0.607 0.064
5 ROSSI, Valentino Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1:59.833 0.718 0.111
6 SMITH, Bradley Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:59.883 0.768 0.050
7 PEDROSA, Dani Repsol Honda Team 1:59.912 0.797 0.029
8 BARBERA, Hector Avintia Racing 2:00.244 1.129 0.332
9 ESPARGARO, Aleix Team Suzuki MotoGP 2:00.275 1.160 0.031
10 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati Team 2:00.468 1.353 0.193
11 ESPARGARO, Pol Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:00.490 1.375 0.022
12 PETRUCCI, Danilo Pramac Racing 2:00.556 1.441 0.066
13 HERNANDEZ, Yonny Pramac Racing 2:00.603 1.488 0.047
14 VIÑALES, Maverick Team Suzuki MotoGP 2:00.604 1.489 0.001
15 BRADL, Stefan Forward Racing Team 2:00.685 1.570 0.081
16 REDDING, Scott Estrella Galicia 0.0 Marc VDS 2:00.695 1.580 0.010
17 HAYDEN, Nicky Drive M7 Aspar 2:00.813 1.698 0.118
18 PIRRO, Michele Ducati Test Team 2:00.875 1.760 0.062
19 BAUTISTA, Alvaro Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2:01.310 2.195 0.435
20 DI MEGLIO, Mike Avintia Racing 2:01.487 2.372 0.177
21 ABRAHAM, Karel AB Motoracing 2:01.536 2.421 0.049
22 MILLER, Jack CWM LCR Honda 2:01.593 2.478 0.057
23 LAVERTY, Eugene Drive M7 Aspar 2:01.815 2.700 0.222
24 BAZ, Loris Forward Racing Team 2:02.587 3.472 0.772
25 DE ANGELIS, Alex Octo Ioda Racing Team 2:03.300 4.185 0.713
26 NAKASUGA, Katsuyuki Yamaha Factory Test Team 2:03.448 4.333 0.148
27 MELANDRI, Marco Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2:03.569 4.454 0.121
