Lorenzo dominates opening day of Sepang MotoGP test

Riding the recently unveiled 2016 YZR-M1, Lorenzo surged to top of the timesheets late in the fourth hour, becoming the first man to dip into the 2m01s with a 2m00.863s.

That put the Spaniard nearly a second clear of the previous established benchmark of Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci, before Lorenzo knocked off a further two tenths early in the final hour to set the best time of the day, a 2m00.684s - less than a tenth off his fastest race lap from last October's Grand Prix.

Rossi made it a factory Yamaha one-two in the final hour, jumping from seventh to second with a 2m01.717s, but this still left him 1.033s adrift of Lorenzo before a rain shower with 20 minutes left on the clock effectively ended the session.

Dani Pedrosa was the best of the Hondas in third, 1.096s behind compatriot Lorenzo, fractionally ahead of Petrucci and Andrea Iannone on the quickest of the factory Ducatis.

Hector Barbera made a late jump up to sixth aboard the Avintia Ducati, ahead of Marc Marquez on the second Repsol Honda. The two-time champion ended the opening day half a second slower than teammate Pedrosa.

Scott Redding on the second Pramac bike, Aleix Espargaro on the works Suzuki - now equipped with a seamless gearbox - and Cal Crutchlow's LCR Honda rounded out the top 10.

There was a brief interruption late in the session as Aspar Ducati's Eugene Laverty crashed at Turn 4 due to a stuck throttle, bringing out the red flags. The Irishman was feared to have fractured right his hand, but subsequent examination revealed only tissue and ligament damage.

Ducati has also announced that Casey Stoner, who turned his first laps with the Italian manufacturer since 2010 on Saturday, will join the test on Tuesday alongside Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso.

Full testing times:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	2:00.684		37
2	Valentino Rossi	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	2:01.717	1.033	55
3	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	2:01.780	1.096	34
4	Danilo Petrucci	Octo Pramac Yakhnich	2:01.811	1.127	43
5	Andrea Iannone	Ducati Team	2:01.912	1.228	49
6	Hector Barbera	Avintia Racing	2:02.002	1.318	59
7	Marc Marquez	Repsol Honda Team	2:02.278	1.594	50
8	Scott Redding	Octo Pramac Yakhnich	2:02.338	1.654	46
9	Aleix Espargaro	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	2:02.539	1.855	42
10	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	2:02.586	1.902	42
11	Maverick Vinales	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	2:02.645	1.961	40
12	Pol Espargaro	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2:02.646	1.962	42
13	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Team	2:02.650	1.966	40
14	Yonny Hernandez	Aspar MotoGP Team	2:02.916	2.232	44
15	Bradley Smith	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2:03.026	2.342	55
16	Michele Pirro	Ducati Team	2:03.203	2.519	32
17	Loris Baz	Avintia Racing	2:03.204	2.520	58
18	Tito Rabat	EG 0.0 Marc VDS	2:03.463	2.779	53
19	Eugene Laverty	Aspar MotoGP Team	2:03.565	2.881	27
20	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	2:03.978	3.294	39
21	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	2:04.075	3.391	34