Dani Pedrosa went quicker the 2012 pole position time on his way to top spot on the final day of the Sepang pre-season test. Despite improvements from both Yamaha riders, Pedrosa kept up his unbeaten record in 2013 with a 2:00.100 set on just his third flying lap of the morning.
Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were able to carry out race simulations during the day, completing 60 laps each with the reigning champion narrowly pipping his returning teammate. Lorenzo was three tenths away from Pedrosa but his long run times looked particularly impressive in their consistency.
After a blistering start to the week, Marc Marquez was brought back down to earth on Thursday as he suffered his first crash on a MotoGP bike. The Spanish teenager lost the front end of his RC213V at the final corner midway through the morning but to his credit, returned to set his fastest time of the week, a 2:00.636 which secured fourth overall.
Cal Crutchlow completed a strong week for Monster Yamaha Tech 3 with fifth place, just six tenths off the pace, while Bradley Smith maintained eighth despite failing to better his time from the day before. The British teammates were separated by the Hondas of Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista with Bradl continuing to show the potential to threaten the leaders.
Ducati’s disappointing week failed to end on a high as Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso remained in the back end of the top ten. Both riders finished on more-or-less the same pace they were setting yesterday and the improvements ahead left them a full two seconds behind the Honda of Pedrosa. The satellite Pramac squad didn’t enjoy the best of days either with Andrea Iannone thirteenth behind the Aspar ART of Aleix Espargaro with Ben Spies sitting the day out completely after suffering pain in his shoulder again.
Espargaro may have led the CRT pack but the performance of the day surely came from Michael Laverty who claimed second in that particular class on just his third day on MotoGP machinery. The Ulsterman set a 2:03.874, almost three seconds quicker than he’d gone on day one, and ended the test in fifteenth position.
Testing will recommence at the Sepang International Circuit in just under three weeks’ time with another three days running scheduled for 26th, 27th and 28th February.
Official MotoGP Test – Sepang (Thursday 7th February) | ||||||
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Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time | Laps | |
1 | 26. Dani Pedrosa | Repsol Honda Team | 2:00.100 | 44 | Report | |
2 | 99. Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha Factory Racing | 2:00.429 | 60 | Report | |
3 | 46. Valentino Rossi | Yamaha Factory Racing | 2:00.542 | 60 | Report | |
4 | 93. Marc Marquez | Repsol Honda Team | 2:00.636 | 54 | Report | |
5 | 35. Cal Crutchlow | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 2:00.734 | 53 | Report | |
6 | 6. Stefan Bradl | LCR Honda MotoGP | 2:01.003 | 43 | Report | |
7 | 19. Alvaro Bautista | Go & Fun Honda Gresini | 2:01.502 | 48 | ||
8 | 38. Bradley Smith | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 2:02.093 | 48 | Report | |
9 | 69. Nicky Hayden | Ducati Team | 2:02.184 | 60 | Report | |
10 | 04. Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati Team | 2:02.277 | 43 | Report | |
11 | T2. K Nakasuga | Yamaha Factory Racing | 2:02.616 | 21 | ||
12 | 41. Aleix Espargaro | Power Electronics Aspar | 2:02.628 | 47 | ||
13 | 29. Andrea Iannone | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing | 2:02.864 | 35 | ||
14 | 72. Kosuke Akiyoshi | HRC Test Team | 2:03.082 | 28 | ||
15 | 33. Michael Laverty | Paul Bird Motorsport | 2:03.874 | 47 | Report | |
16 | 14. Randy de Puniet | Power Electronics Aspar | 2:04.066 | 39 | ||
17 | T1. Wataru Yoshikawa | Yamaha Factory Racing | 2:04.137 | 18 | ||
18 | 8. Hector Barbera | Avintia Blusens | 2:04.211 | 41 | ||
19 | 37. Takumi Takahashi | HRC Test Team | 2:04.288 | 46 | ||
20 | 9. Danilo Petrucci | Came IodaRacing Project | 2:04.531 | 34 | ||
21 | 17. Karel Abraham | Cardion AB Motoracing | 2:04.766 | 65 | ||
22 | 7. Hiroshi Aoyama | Avintia Blusens | 2:04.915 | 51 | ||
23 | 71. Claudio Corti | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 2:05.107 | 41 | ||
24 | 52. Lukas Pesek | Came Ioda Racing Project | 2:05.321 | 40 | ||
25 | 68. Yonny Hernandez | Paul Bird Motorsport | 2:05.407 | 48 | Report | |
26 | 5. Colin Edwards | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 2:05.913 | 46 | ||
27 | 67. Bryan Staring | Go & Fun Honda Gresini | 2:05.970 | 41 | ||
28 | 11. Ben Spies | Ignite Pramac Racing | No Time | 0 |