Sepang signs off with pacey Lorenzo and dominant Pedrosa
. By Bikeland Staff
MotoGP™ World Champion Jorge Lorenzo led the way in this week’s test in Sepang by setting the quickest time over the three-day period, despite being overshadowed by Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa and Marc Márquez on the final day.
As with the previous Malaysia gathering of three weeks earlier, the weather played a part as rain rooted riders to their garages at some points, with this morning being no exception as many waited for the track to dry after heavy rain overnight. And today it was Pedrosa who topped the timesheets with a personal best of 2’00.562, meaning he has led five of the six pre-season days in Malaysia this year. The best overall tour was an impressive one from Lorenzo, with the Mallorcan managing to beat the official lap record with his endeavour of 2’00.282 on Wednesday, which was however not quicker than Pedrosa’s 2’00.100 from Sepang test one. On the final day, Lorenzo managed a consistent 20-lap stint in which he appeared to make only one mistake.
Márquez continued to impress, with the Honda rookie managing third place overall while continuing to adapt to the Bridgestone tyres and suspension settings, and falling just 0.081s short of Pedrosa’s lap on the final day. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow did well to finish the test in fourth, though only placed sixth on the final day, as he was left frustrated with no new components to scrutinise. Lorenzo’s teammate Valentino Rossi ended the three days in fifth overall, opting to test rear-tyre grip over doing long runs for race-pace.
GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista and LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl had productive outings finishing the test in sixth and seventh respectively on their RC213Vs. Today, Bradl was just over four-tenths behind the Repsol bike of Márquez in fourth, whilst Bautista looked ever more comfortable on the Showa suspension. The top ten was completed by Crutchlow’s teammate Bradley Smith, who has impressed across the three days while focussing on his general riding style and braking technique in particular.
The Ducati Team continued to make progress, beginning the week with new fuel tanks. On the final day, no long runs took place but instead a continuation of evaluating general settings and bike setups. Andrea Dovizioso left the pits on an all-black liveried new chassis and ended the day with much-improved pace – four tenths up on teammate Nicky Hayden and the greatly reduced margin of one second off the leading pace. Michele Pirro was the first to test the new chassis early in the day, handing it to Dovizioso after reporting good progress. Andrea Iannone continued to adapt to his Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team machine, ending up in the 11th position he is becoming accustomed to. Ben Spies ended the test half a second down on his teammate.
Power Electronics Aspar continued to throw down the gauntlet for CRT stakes, with Randy de Puniet beating reigning class champion Aleix Espargaró with a time set on the final day. Their nearest challengers appear to be the Avintia Blusens team, whose own attack is spearheaded by Héctor Barberá - at this stage quicker than teammate Hiroshi Aoyama. They were joined in the midfield across the trio of days by Yamaha test riders Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Wataru Yoshikawa plus Honda counterpart Takumi Takahashi.
Next in line for overall CRT standings in Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham, who is getting to grips with his ART, with NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards in tow. Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci was 22nd in the combined standings, four ahead of teammate Lukas Pesek, although the Czech rider beat the Italian on the final day. Paul Bird Motorsport’s Michael Laverty completed a shakedown run for the in-house built PBM bike with a total of 43 laps for all days, as him and Colombian teammate Yonny Hernández, on more established ART equipment, finished 24th and 25th respectively across the whole test. NGM’s Claudio Corti and Gresini’s Bryan staring completed the 28-strong testing grid.