MotoGP

Pedrosa Back In Front On Final Day At Sepang

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Dani Pedrosa led a Repsol Honda 1-2 on a rain-affected final day of testing in Malaysia, firing back after being outpaced by Jorge Lorenzo on Wednesday. The championship favourite was pushed hard by his rookie teammate Marc Marquez who closed to within a tenth of a second of him, but the Spanish pair had four tenths in hand over Lorenzo on the fastest Yamaha.

As planned, the focus for many of the teams was race simulation work on Thursday but overnight rain complicated matters, presenting a sodden track when the pitlane opened in the morning. The Yamahas were among the busier riders in those conditions with Lorenzo setting a hot pace but once the circuit was fit for slicks, Pedrosa came to the fore.

Dani eventually lowered his benchmark time to 2:00.562, enough to top the day’s timesheet but Lorenzo’s flier from day two will go down as the quickest lap of the week. Marquez all but matched his best time from the first Sepang test to secure second with the reigning world champion was the only other rider in the 2:00s bracket, albeit only just, in third.

Valentino Rossi was just seven hundredths further back in fourth, reducing the gap between himself and Lorenzo to its smallest yet. Alvaro Bautista was hot on the heels of the factory Yamahas in fifth, as was Cal Crutchlow in sixth, before a slight gap back to Stefan Bradl and the factory Ducatis, led by Andrea Dovizioso on a 2:01.650.

Bradley Smith maintained his place at the tail of the top ten although Andrea Iannone continued to snap at his heels while the CRT pack was led by the Aspar squad again, although this time Randy de Puniet was the quicker rider, half a second clear of Aleix Espargaro. Michael Laverty’s voyage of discovery with the new PBH chassis continued and the signs were positive as the Ulsterman improved by over three seconds from his first run.

 

Official MotoGP Test – Sepang (Thursday 28th February)
Pos Rider Nat Team Best Time Laps  
1 26. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 2:00.562 57 Report
2 93. Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team 2:00.643 54 Report
3 99. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing 2:00.992 56 Report
4 46. Valentino Rossi Yamaha Factory Racing 2:01.062 61 Report
5 19. Alvaro Bautista Go & Fun Honda Gresini 2:01.078 43 Report
6 35. Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:01.094 59 Report
7 6. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda MotoGP 2:01.309 46 Report
8 04. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Team 2:01.650 44 Report
9 69. Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 2:02.070 53 Report
10 38. Bradley Smith Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:02.314 64 Report
11 29. Andrea Iannone Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 2:02.566 52 Report
12 51. Michele Pirro Ducati Test Team 2:02.773 38
13 14. Randy de Puniet Power Electronics Aspar 2:02.863 45
14 11. Ben Spies Ignite Pramac Racing 2:03.055 33 Report
15 T2. Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha Factory Racing 2:03.154 32
16 8. Hector Barbera Avintia Blusens 2:03.155 42
17 T1. Wataru Yoshikawa Yamaha Factory Racing 2:03.257 26
18 41. Aleix Espargaro Power Electronics Aspar 2:03.423 45
19 17. Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 2:04.066 57
20 5. Colin Edwards NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:04.102 42 Report
21 7. Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia Blusens 2:04.512 51
22 33. Michael Laverty Paul Bird Motorsport 2:04.546 24
23 52. Lukas Pesek Came IodaRacing Project 2:04.674 33
24 9. Danilo Petrucci Came IodaRacing Project 2:04.686 36
25 71. Claudio Corti NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:04.718 51 Report
26 68. Yonny Hernandez Paul Bird Motorsport 2:04.722 47
27 37. Takumi Takahashi HRC Test Team 2:04.749 65
28 67. Bryan Staring Go & Fun Honda Gresini 2:05.313 40

 

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