Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa heads into the two-week break as the man to beat after ending the final day of the Sepang MotoGP test on top, as riders across the field dropped their laps times once more on Thursday.
A record lap set by Pedrosa of 2:00.100 was not beaten all day, as Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo ended just over three tenths off, himself focusing on a race simulation later in the day.
“We can leave Sepang with a good feeling, because we had good lap times on all three days,” Pedrosa said. “We were able to put in a lot of laps and, above all, try out some important things with the engine and the bike weight to adjust to the three kilos more for this season – dictated by the new rules.
“Today we focused on rear tires, in particular the new Bridgestone hard compound. It is similar to the old one with a little more grip in some areas, but it also creates more chatter. We finished the test well and hope to continue like this in the following ones.”
“I think these three days have been positive for us,” Lorenzo said. “We tried many things and some of them were good. We need to reconfirm again in another track but here we were able to improve a little bit. I was able to make a simulation this afternoon, the first one I’ve done in Sepang in my GP career. I felt strong physically, mentally and riding so it was good. The other riders are also really strong so it promises to be an interesting season.”
His teammate Valentino Rossi also showed that he could get below the 2:01 mark, leaving it until just before lunch to post his fastest time that saw him end the day in third behind his teammate.
“I’m very happy, all three days were very good,” Rossi enthused. “We worked hard on the bike and improved day by day. The third day was the best, we were able to stay less than half a second from pole position and the lap time is higher, which is interesting. Today we finished third in the standings which is theoretically the front row so I’m very happy with this first test.”
Pedrosa’s teammate Marc Márquez gave everyone a scare in the morning as he crashed in the final turn at speed, although he walked away unscathed and could continue his work on his second bike. Márquez, despite going quicker again on Thursday, was this time unable to finish in the top three as he put in a lengthy run at the end, yet stayed a close fourth, challenged by the impressive Cal Crutchlow, the last rider below the 2:01 mark, on his 2012 Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine.
LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl just missed out on that feat with a time of 2.01.003, although the German looked on good form as he went quicker once more on his RC213V.
Go & Fun Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista improved over Wednesday’s time, getting more dialled in to the bike’s geometry and Showa suspension, with Tech 3 rookie Bradley Smith continuing his steep, but progressive, learning curve in eighth. Smith also undertook a race simulation early in the day before setting his best time.
The Ducati Team will be buoyed by progress, with Nicky Hayden gaining over a second over the three days, as he ended the day in ninth, with teammate Andrea Dovizioso less than a hundredth behind.
Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga was the first outside of the top 10, in front of Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró, who put in a tremendous effort to place his CRT 12th, and just over 2.5s off the top.
He ousted Pramac Team’s Italian rookie Andrea Iannone into 13th, who was without teammate Ben Spies, as the Texan decided to sit it out and let his shoulder recuperate before the second Sepang test. He finished the overall standings in 15th.
HRC test rider Kosuke Akiyoshi headed Paul Bird Motorsport’s Michael Laverty, who has improved by nearly 3s over the three days on his MotoGP debut. He beat established Aspar rider Randy de Puniet, who finished ahead of Yamaha test rider Wataru Yoshikawa, Avintia Blusens’ Héctor Barberá and HRC test rider Takumi Takahashi.
Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci ended the day in 20th, in front of Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham, Avintia’s Hiroshi Aoyama, NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Claudio Corti and Ioda’s Lukas Pesek.
Rounding out the back of the grid are PBM’s Yonny Hernandez, trying to fix chatter issues, as well as NGM’s Colin Edwards and Gresini’s Bryan Staring.
Sepang Test Times – Day Three:
1. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 2m 0.100s (Lap 4/44)
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory (YZR-M1) 2m 0.429s (4/58)
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory (YZR-M1) 2m 0.542s (43/55)
4. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda (RC213V) 2m 0.636s (32/54)
5. Cal Crutchlow GBR Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 2m 0.734s (5/53)
6. Stefan Bradl GER LCR Honda MotoGP (RC213V) 2m 1.003s (14/43)
7. Alvaro Bautista ESP Honda Gresini (RC213V) 2m 1.502s (29/48)
8. Bradley Smith GBR Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 2m 2.093s (43/48)
9. Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team (GP13) 2m 2.184s (19/49)
10. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (GP13) 2m 2.277s (37/38)
11. Katsayuki Nakasuga JPN Yamaha Test Rider (YZR-M1) 2m 2.616s (12/21)
12. Aleix Espargaro ESP Aspar (ART CRT) 2m 2.628s (37/47)
13. Andrea Iannone ITA Pramac Racing (GP13) 2m 2.864s (17/32)
14. Kosuke Akiyoshi JPN Honda Test Rider (RC213V) 2m 3.082s (14/28)
15. Michael Laverty GBR Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 2m 3.874s (40/47)
16. Randy De Puniet FRA Aspar (ART CRT) 2m 4.066s (38/38)
17. Wataru Yoshikawa JPN Yamaha Test Rider (YZR-M1) 2m 4.137s (5/18)
18. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 4.211s (31/37)
19. Takumi Takahashi JPN Honda Test Rider (RC213V) 2m 4.288s (37/46)
20. Danilo Petrucci ITA IodaRacing (Suter-BMW CRT)* 2m 4.531s (32/34)
21. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB (ART CRT) 2m 4.766s (57/61)
22. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Avintia (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 4.940s (43/45)
23. Claudio Corti ITA Forward (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 5.107s (13/37)
24. Lukas Pesek CZE IodaRacing (Suter-BMW CRT)* 2m 5.321s (39/40)
25. Yonny Hernandez COL Paul Bird Motorsport (ART CRT) 2m 5.580s (14/43)
26. Bryan Staring AUS Honda Gresini (FTR-Honda CRT) 2m 5.970s (38/41)
27. Colin Edwards USA Forward (FTR-Kawasaki CRT)* 2m 6.141s (38/41)
* Control ECU
–Courtesy motogp.com
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