Development work continues for Repsol Honda Team on second day at Sepang

2017-01-31 19:24
Heavy overnight rain left a damp track today at Sepang and kept the riders in the pits for more than half of the second day of testing. Temperatures also were slightly cooler than usual in Malaysia, with a max of 30° C air, 38° ground.

Reigning World Champion Marc Marquez and teammate Dani Pedrosa took to the track as soon as it was dry enough, after 2 p.m. They continued their development work on their RC213V machines, both of which were equipped with the same engine’s new configurations. Tests of the Michelin tyres also continued for both.

Marquez’s fastest time of 2’00.531” (lap 27 of 33) placed him 10th for the day. Pedrosa finished in 14th place with his time of 2’00.886” (lap 38 of 44). The test will conclude tomorrow.

Marc Marquez
10TH 2'00.531
“We started late like everyone this afternoon because of the track conditions, and generally speaking, it was a challenging day. We spent a lot of time in the garage working on sorting out many little things. It’s okay, as this is the pre-season and it’s better to work and solve all these issues now, but of course this takes time. We have a lot of work to do to find a good setup for the bike and the electronics. That said, our rhythm wasn’t too bad and hopefully tomorrow we’ll improve our pace and speed. We must keep focused and work hard. I’m sure that step by step we will get better!”

Marc Marquez
Dani Pedrosa
14TH 2'00.886
“Today we started working as soon as the conditions allowed, even if the track was still damp here and there. We made a re-check of some setup details we wanted to improve, and the positive is that we actually bettered them by about 50%. We’re not yet where we want to be, but it’s still a step forward. Other positives to the day are that I did my fastest time on a quite used tyre and that we did some good work on the fork and on one front tyre as well. Unfortunately, at the end of the session we weren’t able to fit a new tyre and try a time attack, but hopefully tomorrow we’ll have time to do more tests on the tyres and setup and to try and improve our lap times.”

Dani Pedrosa
Results Session

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1
IANNONE
Andrea 29 ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar 1'59.452
2
VINALES
Maverick 25 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 0.406
3
BAUTISTA
Alvaro 19 SPA PullandBear Aspar Team 0.766
4
ROSSI
Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 0.802
5
ZARCO
Johann 5 FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 0.891
6
BARBERA
Hector 8 SPA Avintia Racing 0.900
7
DOVIZIOSO
Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team

Source: Honda Racing Corporation

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