MotoGP

Marquez Smashes Lap Record To Top Sepang Test

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Marc Marquez set the fastest ever two-wheeled lap of the Sepang International Circuit to finish the opening pre-season test on top. The world champion took almost a second off his own 2014 pole position as Repsol Honda raised the bar significantly on Friday, putting half a second between them and the rest of the field.

Jorge Lorenzo held the quickest time of the week after two days but it took Marquez two laps to knock him off his perch. His initial benchmark was a 1:59.904 but within minutes, Marc had improved by another quarter of a second to extend his lead at the front. The Ducatis had looked strong earlier in the test and Andrea Dovizioso soon joined Marquez in the 1:59s but the world champion soon moved the goalposts completely, setting a scarcely believable 1:58.867 to put a second between himself and the competition.

Cool conditions were certainly contributing to the faster lap times but Marquez’s pace was in another league to anything Yamaha could manage, Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo unable to do better than a mid-1:49. Instead it was left to Dani Pedrosa to challenge Marquez with the 29 year old coming within a whisker of joining his teammate in the 1:58s. His 1:59.006 was good enough for second though with Andrea Iannone utilising the softer tyre to snatch third ahead of the two Movistar Yamahas.

Pol Espargaro kept up his record of crashing on every single day of the test while setting the sixth fastest time, fractionally faster than Dovizioso’s Ducati, while the Bradley Smith finished ninth on the second Tech 3 Yamaha, just behind leading open-class rider Stefan Bradl.

Suzuki ended the test on a high with Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales tenth and twelfth, sandwiching the CWM-LCR Honda of Cal Crutchlow but Aprilia leave Sepang with work to do after Alvaro Bautista ended the final day over three seconds off the pace.

 

2015 MotoGP Testing: Sepang – February 6

1 Marc Marquez Honda Repsol Honda Team 1:58.867
2 Dani Pedrosa Honda Repsol Honda Team 1:59.006
3 Andrea Iannone Ducati Ducati Team 1:59.388
4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1:59.401
5 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1:59.624
6 Pol Espargaro Yamaha Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:59.851
7 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati Team 1:59.874
8 Stefan Bradl Forward Yamaha Forward Racing 2:00.294
9 Bradley Smith Yamaha Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:00.384
10 Aleix Espargaro Suzuki Team Suzuki MotoGP 2:00.486
11 Cal Crutchlow Honda CWM LCR Honda 2:00.536
12 Maverick Vinales Suzuki Team Suzuki MotoGP 2:00.964
13 Danilo Petrucci Ducati Pramac Racing 2:00.970
14 Hiroshi Aoyama Honda HRC 2:01.029
15 Hector Barbera Ducati Avintia Racing 2:01.183
16 Michele Pirro Ducati Pramac Racing 2:01.232
17 Scott Redding Honda Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 2:01.263
18 Nicky Hayden Honda Drive M7 Aspar 2:01.508
19 Loris Baz Forward Yamaha Forward Racing 2:01.624
20 Jack Miller Honda CWM LCR Honda 2:01.895
21 Alvaro Bautista Aprilia Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2:01.924
22 Mike di Meglio Ducati Avintia Racing 2:02.128
23 Karel Abraham Honda AB Motoracing 2:02.297
24 Eugene Laverty Honda Drive M7 Aspar 2:02.334
25 Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha Yamaha Factory Test Team 2:02.363
26 Takumi Takahashi Honda HRC 2:03.113
27 Alex de Angelis ART Octo IodaRacing Team 2:03.471
28 Marco Melandri Aprilia Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2:03.641
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