MotoGP™ World Champion Jorge Lorenzo led the way on the second of this week’s three days of testing at Sepang on Wednesday. The Yamaha Factory Racing rider edged out Dani Pedrosa’s Repsol Honda Team bike as Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow completed the top three from Marc Márquez.
Lorenzo’s fastest lap time came in the first half of the day, lapping in 2:00.282, which was over three tenths quicker than Tuesday pace-setter Pedrosa. Furthermore, the former is already inside his personal best lap time from the previous Sepang test of three weeks ago.
Crutchlow led the way for both Great Britain and the satellite runners in third, as rookie Márquez finished barely three tenths off more experienced teammate Pedrosa.
Valentino Rossi rounded out the top five and his target remains to match Lorenzo’s race pace.
Thankfully for all concerned, the weather was kinder to the field as the rain of 24 hours earlier stayed away. This allowed for significantly more on-track activity, not least for Rossi and Honda test rider Takumi Takahashi who were the first to notch up more than 60 laps.
Ben Spies – recovering from a shoulder injury – was a faller in the morning, although the American was able to walk away from his Ignite Pramac Racing Team bike following a minor slip-up at turn one.
GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista, LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl and Monster Yamaha Tech 3 newcomer Bradley Smith were all inside the top 10, with the Englishman completing that group just behind the pair of Ducati Team racers. This time, Nicky Hayden jumped back ahead of Andrea Dovizioso as the latter prepares for his first campaign on the Italian machinery. En route to 13th position, test rider Michele Pirro sampled a new chassis.
Once again there were few changes in terms of lap time during the afternoon, cementing 11th spot for Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team’s Andrea Iannone as the Vasto-born rider makes the climb to MotoGP™ from the Moto2™ class in which he achieved eight race wins over the last three seasons.
Improving by three tenths in the afternoon to finish ahead of Pirro and Yamaha testers Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Wataru Yoshikawa, Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró continued to provide an example for the CRT class.
Héctor Barberá led the Avintia Blusens charge from the aforementioned Spies, second Aspar contender Randy de Puniet and his own teammate Hiroshi Aoyama.
Danilo Petrucci moved into the top 20 for Came IodaRacing Project, just 71 thousandths of a second in front of Karel Abraham’s Cardion AB Motoracing machine as the Czech switches from a prototype to CRT chassis for 2013.
Colin Edwards celebrated his 39th birthday, but soon placed all focus on NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s programme as work continues with the FTR Kawasaki.
Michael Laverty was again forced to spend most of his day in the garage as Paul Bird Motorsport continued to prepare their own, PBM-branded machine; it toured for three laps which served as a shakedown run in the morning, plus a further 16 circulations in the afternoon. On more familiar ART equipment, teammate Yonny Hernández jumped ahead of Forward Racing’s Claudio Corti as respective Australian and Czech rookies Bryan Staring and Lukáš Pešek filled the remaining positions ahead of Laverty.
Thursday will mark the third and final day of this week’s test, with the green light again illuminating at 10:00am local time.
Day 2 Results
1.LORENZO, Jorge Yamaha Factory Racing Team 2:00.282
2. PEDROSA, Dani Repsol Honda Team 2:00.651
3. CRUTCHLOW, Cal Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:00.907
4. MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda Team 2:00.992
5. ROSSI, Valentino Yamaha Factory Racing Team 2:01.065
6. BAUTISTA, Alvaro GO&FUN Honda Gresini 2:01.208
7. BRADL, Stefan LCR Honda MotoGP 2:01.485
8. HAYDEN, Nicky Ducati Team 2:01.778
9. DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati Team 2:01.803
10. SMITH, Bradley Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:02.023
11. IANNONE, Andrea Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team 2:02.608
12. ESPARGARO, Aleix Power Electronics Aspar 2:02.905
13. PIRRO, Michele Ducati Test Team 2:02.920
14. NAKASUGA, Katsuyuki Yamaha Factory Racing Test Team 2:02.946
15. YOSHIKAWA, Wataru Yamaha Factory Racing Test Team 2:03.354
16. BARBERA, Hector Avintia Blusens 2:03.428
17. SPIES, Ben Ignite Pramac Racing Team 2:03.460
18. DE PUNIET, Randy Power Electronics Aspar 2:03.518
19. AOYAMA, Hiroshi Avintia Blusens 2:03.990
20. PETRUCCI, Danilo Came IodaRacing Project 2:04.279
21. ABRAHAM, Karel Cardion AB Motoracing 2:04.350
22. TAKAHASHI, Takumi HRC Test Team 2:04.512
23. EDWARDS, Colin NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:04.656
24. HERNANDEZ, Yonny Paul Bird Motorsport 2:04.671
25. CORTI, Claudio NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:04.709
26. STARING, Bryan GO&FUN Honda Gresini 2:05.439
27. PESEK, Lukas Came IodaRacing Project 2:06.206
28. LAVERTY, Michael Paul Bird Motorsport 2:07.721
–From motogp.com
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