MotoGP

Pedrosa Remains Unbeaten As Sepang Test Draws To A Close

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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)
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

 

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