MARQUEZ CONTINUES TO LEAD WAY AT SEPANG, PEDROSA CLOSES GAP

2014-02-05 08:04
Honda riders dominated day two of the three-day
MotoGP test session at Sepang, with Marc Marquez
(Repsol Honda RC213V), Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda
RC213V) and Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda RC213V) at the front of the pack.

Marquez was fastest yesterday and upped his pace
today to lap the high-speed Malaysian circuit
under the two-minute barrier. Pedrosa was also
very much in the groove, closing to within four
tenths of a second of his team-mate.

Both riders completed more than 60 laps in
debilitating 36 degree heat and 46 per cent
humidity. Marquez focused on chassis geometry and
compared two different chassis, allowing him to
offer vital feedback to his engineers. The
reigning MotoGP World Champion also managed to
improve stability while braking into corners and
was happy with the performance of Bridgestone’s new hard option rear slick.

Pedrosa tried Bridgestone’s new soft option
slick, using the tyre to set his fastest time and
lead the way for much of the morning. He will
switch his attention to the hard rear tomorrow.
Like Marquez, the former 250 and 125 World
Champion also tried two different chassis today,
though he has yet to make up his mind which way to go.

Bradl was an even bigger improver, going almost a
second faster than yesterday to move from fifth
position to third, a mere three thousandths of a
second behind Pedrosa – further proof that the
latest satellite RC213V has a potential very
similar to that of the factory machines. The
former Moto2 World Champion worked hard at
fine-tuning front suspension set-up to allow him
to brake later and get into corners faster.

Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini RC213V)
improved his best time by almost three tenths,
bettering his qualifying pace at last October’s
Malaysian Grand Prix. Today the Spaniard solved a
front-brake issue, evaluated Bridgestone’s latest
tyres and also gained useful data while testing two new Showa rear shocks.

Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar Honda RCV1000R)
worked hard in his second full day on Honda’s
RCV1000R production racer. He lowered his lap
times by more than a second as he got to grips
with the bike and moved from 17th position to
14th. Much of his improved pace came from working
on electronics and engine-braking performance.
The RCV1000R is entered in MotoGP’s new Open
class, for non-factory machines. These bikes must
run Dorna-provided electronics software and are
allowed to carry more fuel and take advantage of
a larger annual engine allocation.

Hayden’s team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar
Honda RCV1000R) was three tenths faster than
yesterday, steadily building his pace after
running into some issues during the early part of
the day. Improvements to the bike’s traction
control set-up, some chassis work and a new
Bridgestone helped him find more confidence and speed during the afternoon.

Honda’s only MotoGP rookie Scott Redding (GO&FUN
Honda Gresini RCV1000R) continued his
apprenticeship, steadily reducing his lap times
as he learned the best racing lines. Sepang is a
particularly wide track, so cornering lines vary
more between classes here than they do at most
tracks. At the end of the day the Briton was more
than a second faster than he had been yesterday
and was therefore happy with progress.

Karel Abraham (Cardion AB Honda RCV1000R) was
25th today, still struggling with an old shoulder injury.

Following tomorrow’s final day of testing, teams
leave their equipment at Sepang, where the second
preseason test takes places on February 26/27/28.



Honda rider quotes

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda): 1st, 1m 59.926s
“We continued with our work schedule today, with
a focus on trying out parts. We carried out
various tests, including a chassis comparison,
and found some positive points and some negative.
As for the set-up, we have improved stability
under braking, which is something that I have
been finding a little difficult, but in the end
we have found a good compromise. I hope that
tomorrow we can continue in the same way, because
we are consistent and fast, which is important.”

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda): 2nd, 2m 00.336s
“Today we've been trying out the new chassis and
comparing it to the previous version, but
tomorrow we shall continue working with both
because it isn't clear which is best. I felt good
with both of them, but I have to put in more laps
in order to be able to make a clear decision. We
also tried out the new Bridgestone tyres, using
the soft tyre today and leaving the hard compound
for tomorrow. We have been going pretty well
here, but the season takes place at many
different tracks and you have to prepare for each one of them.”

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda): 3rd, 2m 00.339s
“Today I am very happy: it’s good to be back up
in the pack with Marc and Dani. We improved our
lap time by one second and, thanks to adjustments
in the front, I’ve gained more confidence under
braking. We knew that our potential on this bike
was higher and today we have been consistent and
fast. I hope that we can continue in the same way
tomorrow: we plan to work on race distance to
finish this three-day test session with a good base for the future.”

Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini): 9th, 2m 00.897s
“Today was a very productive day, even if I could
not run for most of the morning due to an issue
with the brakes, which we only solved in the
afternoon. I tried a couple of new Showa shock
absorbers for the rear suspension: one of these,
in particular, seems to work well with the new
tyre that Bridgestone brought for this test, so
we will continue to work in this direction.
Despite the time lost during the morning, we are
happy. Moreover, I did my best time in the
afternoon, certainly not in the best conditions,
with the track very hot and when I was already a
bit tired. Tomorrow I am convinced that we can
improve, both in terms of feeling with the bike and in lap times.”

Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar Honda): 14th, 2m 02.287s
“I am happy because we have improved our lap time
quite significantly from yesterday, although the
pace in general has been quicker. Once again we
focused our work on electronics and engine
braking, which gave us a bit more in corner
entry. You could say I’m still adapting myself
because I have spent a long time on a completely
different kind of bike. Now I have to readjust my
riding style, the way I’m braking and entering
the corner. We are happy with the progress we
made today but the gap to the top is still too
big, so we have to keep pushing to improve. We
still have a lot of things to test from a chassis
point of view as well as the electronics and also
I need to fully adapt to this Honda.”

Hiroshi Aoyama (Drive M7 Aspar Honda): 18th, 2m 02.825s
“At the start of the day the feeling with the
bike wasn't what we were hoping for and we had to
play around with a few things to improve it. In
the end it turned out to be an issue with the
tyres because as soon as we changed them I felt
more comfortable. From that point, which was
around midday, we started to build our rhythm and
turned our focus to the electronic traction
control system. It hasn't been easy to start with
because we are only just getting to know the new
system and today we tried something different to
yesterday. Finally we did some work on chassis
set-up and made some slight improvements to
yesterday and then right at the end of the day
Bridgestone gave us a new tyre to test, which gave me even more confidence.”

Scott Redding (GO&FUN Honda Gresini): 21st, 2m 03.117s
“Today was a little better than yesterday: I
could put in a lot of laps and we are slowly
closing the gap to the other Honda ‘production
racers'. We worked hard on the braking and now I
feel more comfortable on the bike. The track
conditions and temperatures change a lot during
the day and this is making me struggle a little
bit, but generally speaking I am satisfied with
how my apprenticeship is progressing. From the
riding point of view, I'm learning how to brake
into corners and how to get the bike turned on
exit. Tomorrow we will try to further improve.”


Results Sepang Test day 2:
Pos / No. / Name / Nat / Team / Make / Best Tm / Lap / Laps / Diff / Gap
1 / 93 / Marc MARQUEZ / SPA / Repsol Honda Team /
HONDA / 1:59.926 / 38 / 65 / /
2 / 26 / Dani PEDROSA / SPA / Repsol Honda Team /
HONDA / 2:00.336 / 12 / 62 / 0.410 / 0.410
3 / 6 / Stefan BRADL / GER / LCR Honda MotoGP /
HONDA / 2:00.339 / 13 / 52 / 0.413 / 0.003
4 / 46 / Valentino ROSSI / ITA / Yamaha Factory
Racing / YAMAHA / 2:00.464 / 18 / 61 / 0.538 / 0.125
5 / 41 / Aleix ESPARGARO / SPA / NGM Mobile
Forward Racing / FTR YAMAHA / 2:00.547 / 16 / 42 / 0.621 / 0.083
6 / 99 / Jorge LORENZO / SPA / Yamaha Factory
Racing / YAMAHA / 2:00.573 / 27 / 49 / 0.647 / 0.026
7 / 38 / Bradley SMITH / GBR / Monster Yamaha
Tech 3 / YAMAHA / 2:00.603 / 27 / 66 / 0.677 / 0.030
8 / 29 / Andrea IANNONE / ITA / Pramac Racing /
DUCATI / 2:00.855 / 9 / 49 / 0.929 / 0.252
9 / 19 / Alvaro BAUTISTA / SPA / GO&FUN Honda
Gresini / HONDA / 2:00.897 / 51 / 55 / 0.971 / 0.042
10 / 44 / Pol ESPARGARO / SPA / Monster Yamaha
Tech 3 / YAMAHA / 2:01.061 / 4 / 49 / 1.135 / 0.164
11 / 4 / Andrea DOVIZIOSO / ITA / Ducati Team /
DUCATI / 2:01.146 / 8 / 45 / 1.220 / 0.085
12 / 35 / Cal CRUTCHLOW / GBR / Ducati Team /
DUCATI / 2:01.396 / 11 / 48 / 1.470 / 0.250
13 / 51 / Michele PIRRO / ITA / Ducati Test Team
/ DUCATI / 2:02.177 / 6 / 56 / 2.251 / 0.781
14 / 69 / Nicky HAYDEN / USA / Drive M7 Aspar /
HONDA / 2:02.287 / 25 / 58 / 2.361 / 0.110
15 / 5 / Colin EDWARDS / USA / NGM Mobile Forward
Racing / FTR YAMAHA / 2:02.545 / 8 / 35 / 2.619 / 0.258
16 / 68 / Yonny HERNANDEZ / COL / Energy T.I.
Pramac Racing / DUCATI / 2:02.675 / 13 / 45 / 2.749 / 0.130
17 / 72 / Kosuke AKIYOSHI / JPN / HRC Test Team /
HONDA / 2:02.692 / 8 / 68 / 2.766 / 0.017
18 / 7 / Hiroshi AOYAMA / JPN / Drive M7 Aspar /
HONDA / 2:02.825 / 65 / 66 / 2.899 / 0.133
19 / T1 / Katsuyuki NAKASUGA / JPN / Yamaha
Factory Test Team / YAMAHA / 2:02.970 / 49 / 56 / 3.044 / 0.145
20 / 14 / Randy DE PUNIET / FRA / Suzuki Test
Team / SUZUKI / 2:03.064 / 73 / 96 / 3.138 / 0.094
21 / 45 / Scott REDDING / GBR / GO&FUN Honda
Gresini / HONDA / 2:03.117 / 39 / 53 / 3.191 / 0.053
22 / 70 / Michael LAVERTY / GBR / Paul Bird
Motorsport / PBM / 2:03.528 / 37 / 41 / 3.602 / 0.411
23 / 8 / Hector BARBERA / SPA / Avintia Racing /
AVINTIA / 2:04.551 / 2 / 37 / 4.625 / 1.023
24 / 23 / Broc PARKES / AUS / Paul Bird Motorport
/ PBM / 2:04.619 / 42 / 43 / 4.693 / 0.068
25 / 17 / Karel ABRAHAM / CZE / Cardion AB
Motoracing / HONDA / 2:05.261 / 21 / 32 / 5.335 / 0.642
26 / 63 / Mike DI MEGLIO / FRA / Avintia Racing /
AVINTIA / 2:05.355 / 4 / 34 / 5.429 / 0.094

Source: Honda Pro Image

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