PHOTO COURTESY OF REPSOL HONDA
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez kicked off 2015 at the MotoGP pre-season test at Sepang International the same way he ended 2014—on top. The reigning World Champion threw down a 2:00.262 to best Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi by .118 of a second.
“I’m glad to finally get back on the bike,” Marquez said. “It’s been a hard day and at the same time very positive, because on the first day after the winter break you have to regain confidence with the bike and adapt to the feeling of the MotoGP machine again.
“We tried three different bikes today, and this has been very important. I focused on testing them thoroughly and deciding which bike was the ideal one to continue working with at this test. And then this afternoon we focused more on one of the machines. I was able to start riding better and feel more comfortable on the bike. There are still many things to try at this test, so we have to remain calm like we did today and keep working.”
Rossi was also happy to get back on the bike after the winter break.
“It’s a positive first day and I’m very excited to be back on the bike,” Rossi said. “Today has been really good because I was consistently fast in both the morning and afternoon. We worked a lot on trying to improve our pace with a used tire, but it’s already quite good. The bike is good and with the new tire we were able to attack and ride a good lap time. At the end I was in second place just behind Marquez, but not by far. It looks like the bike has improved in different areas. We still have a lot of work to do but the first day was okay.”
Behind Rossi was his teammate Jorge Lorenzo, who wasn’t just happy to get back on the bike, but happy to arrive at Sepang in a better situation than last year.
“It’s a completely different story from last year, when we had a lot of problems,” Lorenzo said. “To now arrive here and feel comfortable on the bike and also with our position in the classification lap time-wise. This year we’ve been at the front from the beginning, in first three positions, and that means that the bike is working.”
Showing up to the start of the season leaner and focused, Lorenzo feels an improvement in himself this year as well.
“My physical condition is very good,” Lorenzo said. “I feel strong, but the first day is always difficult. You have to use different muscles that you don’t usually use at the gym or during your preparations, so you always get tired. However, compared to the normal pre-season I’m feeling well. Sepang is not our best track, but to have two Yamaha’s in the top three is a good sign.”
Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso was fourth ahead of Marquez’ teammate Dani Pedrosa. Just .483 of a second behind Maquez, Pedrosa suffered a small crash late in the day, but was unhurt.
In sixth was Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro ahead of Dovizioso’s teammate Andrea Iannone.
The top finishing Open class machine was eighth-place finisher Stefan Bradl on the Forward Racing Yamaha. And rounding out the top 10 was Brits Bradley Smith on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine and Cal Crutchlow on the CWM LCR Honda.
The top finishing Suzuki was Aleix Espargaro in 14th, trailing 1.963 seconds behind the leader. Behind Aleix was Alvaro Bautista, the fastest on the Factory Aprilia, who like Suzuki are new to MotoGP this season.
American Nicky Hayden ended the day in 17th aboard the Open class Drive M7 Aspar Honda.
2015 MotoGP
Sepang Pre-Season Test
Day One Times
1. Marc Marquez (Honda) 2:00.262
2. Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 2:00.380
3. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) 2:00.521
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 2:00.617
5. Dani Pedrosa (Honda) 2:00.745
6. Pol Espargaro (Yamaha) 2:00.930
7. Andrea Iannone (Ducati) 2:01.424
8. Stefan Bradl (Yamaha) 2:01.556
9. Bradley Smith (Yamaha) 2:01.707
10. Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 2:01.713
11. Scott Redding (Honda) 2:01.917
12. Michele Pirro (Ducati) 2:01.951
13. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) 2:02.136
14. Aleix Espargaro (Suzuki) 2:02.225
15. Alvaro Bautista (Aprilia) 2:02.285
16. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda) 2:02.560
17. Nicky Hayden (Honda) 2:02.699
18. Hector Barbera (Ducati) 2:02.700
19. Jack Miller (Honda) 2:02.807
20. Katsuyuki, Nakasuga (Yamaha) 2:03.092
21. Maverick Vinales (Suzuki) 2:03.164
22. Eugene Laverty (Honda) 2:03.295
23. Mike Di Meglio (Ducati) 2:03.878
24. Karel Abraham (Honda) 2:03.879
25. Loris Baz (Yamaha) 2:04.163
26. Marco Melandri (Aprilia) 2:04.502
27. Alex De Angelis (Aprilia) 2:04.673
28. Takumi Takahashi (Honda) 2:04.719
29. Takuya Tsuda (Suzuki) 2:05.478
30. Michael Laverty (Aprilia) 2:06.190
