Stefan Bradl and the Forward Racing squad received an early morale boost after finishing as the fastest open class rider on day one at Sepang. The German was eighth quickest overall, just 1.2s shy of pacesetter Marc Marquez, and feels there is still plenty of room for improvement as he adapts to the open-spec electronics on his Forward Yamaha.
“It has been a very positive first day. The lap time is good and finding yourself at the end of the session in the top 10 is definitely a good start. The feeling is also pretty good although I have yet to learn to take the right confidence with the Magneti Marelli software. I have in front of me two more days of work and I’m sure I can find a good setting to be immediately fast in the first race”.
Despite finishing down in 25th spot, rookie teammate Loris Baz was pleased with the start he had made to pre-season testing and expects to narrow the four second gap to the leaders once he has familiarised himself with his new machine.
“The feeling at the end of this first day is positive. I completed 66 laps and my work continues in a positive direction. I still need to find the right confidence and position on the bike but we are growing up quickly. We still have two days of work to find the right feeling”.