Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa ended the final day of this week’s test with identical times as Yamaha and Honda shared the spoils at Sepang. Both dipped just under the two minute barrier to finish just ahead of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso on a day when the Bologna team also made the headlines.
Despite Yamaha’s continued struggles on the 2014 Bridgestone tyres, Rossi was able to produce a 1:59.999 in the morning which looked set to remain the outright fastest of the test until Pedrosa drew level late on, matching Rossi’s pace on the 47th of his 50 laps today. Dovizioso was one of Sepang’s big improvers from test 1 to test 2, finding three tenths in conditions not thought to be as favourable as three weeks ago.
Aleix Espargaro has been an ever present at the top of the timesheets across both tests and the Forward Racing rider ended today in fourth place, just a tenth of a second behind the co-leaders, while Stefan Bradl joined the congested group at the front with a 2:00.164 good enough for fifth.
Alvaro Bautista was half a second off the pace on sixth with Jorge Lorenzo’s miserable winter continuing in seventh. The two-time world champion has been vocal in his criticism of the new Bridgestone rubber for this season and has consistently been outpaced by teammate Valentino Rossi. Lorenzo was only just ahead of Cal Crutchlow on the second Ducati with satellite Yamaha riders Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro also hot on the heels of their factory colleague in ninth and tenth.
| MOTOGP OFFICIAL TEST – SEPANG (FRIDAY 28TH FEBRUARY) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| POS | RIDER | MOTORCYCLE | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 |  VALENTINO ROSSI |
YAMAHA | YAMAHA FACTORY RACING | 1:59.999 |
| 2 |  DANI PEDROSA |
HONDA | REPSOL HONDA TEAM | 1:59.999 |
| 3 | ANDREA DOVIZIOSO |
DUCATI | DUCATI TEAM | 2:00.067 |
| 4 | ALEIX ESPARGARO |
FORWARD YAMAHA | NGM MOBILE FORWARD RACING | 2:00.101 |
| 5 |  STEFAN BRADL |
HONDA | LCR HONDA MOTOGP | 2:00.164 |
| 6 | ALVARO BAUTISTA |
HONDA | GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI | 2:00.506 |
| 7 | JORGE LORENZO |
YAMAHA | YAMAHA FACTORY RACING | 2:00.619 |
| 8 |  CAL CRUTCHLOW |
DUCATI | DUCATI TEAM | 2:00.790 |
| 9 | BRADLEY SMITH |
YAMAHA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | 2:00.804 |
| 10 | POL ESPARGARO |
YAMAHA | MONSTER YAMAHA TECH 3 | 2:01.032 |
| 11 | ANDREA IANNONE |
DUCATI | ENERGY T.I. PRAMAC RACING | 2:01.198 |
| 12 |  RANDY DE PUNIET |
SUZUKI | SUZUKI TEST TEAM | 2:01.430 |
| 13 |  YONNY HERNANDEZ |
DUCATI | IGNITE PRAMAC RACING TEAM | 2:01.497 |
| 14 |  COLIN EDWARDS |
FORWARD YAHAMA | NGM MOBILE FORWARD RACING | 2:01.748 |
| 15 | NICKY HAYDEN |
HONDA | DRIVE M7 ASPAR | 2:01.924 |
| 16 | MICHELE PIRRO |
DUCATI | DUCATI TEST TEAM | 2:02.029 |
| 17 |  HIROSHI AOYAMA |
HONDA | DRIVE M7 ASPAR | 2:02.070 |
| 18 | SCOTT REDDING |
HONDA | GO&FUN HONDA GRESINI | 2:02.228 |
| 19 | HECTOR BARBERA |
FTR KAWASAKI | AVINTIA BLUSENS | 2:02.341 |
| 20 | KATSUYUKI NAKASUGA |
YAMAHA | YAMAHA FACTORY TEST TEAM | 2:03.115 |
| 21 | MIKE DI MEGLIO |
FTR KAWASAKI | AVINTIA BLUSENS | 2:03.499 |
| 22 |  KAREL ABRAHAM |
HONDA | CARDION AB MOTORACING | 2:04.304 |
| 23 | NOBUATSU AOKI |
SUZUKI | SUZUKI TEST TEAM | 2:06.482 |
