Lorenzo tops rain-hit final day of Sepang MotoGP test

Reigning champion Lorenzo continued the ominous form he showed on the first two days, after topping the opening day by over a second and narrowly losing out to Danilo Petrucci on Tuesday.

He became the first and only rider in the entire test to dip beneath the 2m00s mark when he set a 1m59.966s early in the final hour, after the track had dried following a rain shower.

Lorenzo then proceeded to shave a further four tenths of that time to end the test with a best lap of 1m59.595s - just over half a second off Dani Pedrosa's pole position time from last October's Malaysian Grand Prix, which was set using Bridgestone tyres and in-house electronics.

Rossi was the only man to get within a second of Lorenzo, setting a best effort of 2m00.556s prior to the rain but falling 0.976s behind the Spaniard after his late improvements.

Marc Marquez was once again the fastest of the Repsol Honda riders in third place, 1.303s off the pace, narrowly ahead of LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow, both men making last-minute improvements.

That demoted two-time champion Casey Stoner - back on the Ducati GP15 for a second day in succession - to fifth place, 1.490s off the pace, ahead of Pedrosa's Honda in sixth.

Ducati trio Petrucci, Andrea Iannone and Scott Redding, as well as Suzuki rider Maverick Vinales, completed the top 10, with Avintia Ducati rider Hector Barbera the only other man within two seconds of Lorenzo.

After sitting out Tuesday having injured his wrist in a crash on Monday, Aspar Ducati's Eugene Laverty returned to action on Wednesday, propping up the timesheets in 22nd place.

Testing continues later this month at Phillip Island on February 17-19, but Ducati has confirmed that Stoner will not ride at his home venue.

Full testing times:

Pos.	Rider	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	1:59.580		36
2	Valentino Rossi	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	2:00.556	0.976	38
3	Marc Marquez	Repsol Honda Team	2:00.883	1.303	45
4	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	2:00.992	1.412	42
5	Casey Stoner	Ducati Team	2:01.070	1.490	30
6	Dani Pedrosa	Repsol Honda Team	2:01.161	1.581	48
7	Danilo Petrucci	Octo Pramac Yakhnich	2:01.217	1.637	18
8	Andrea Iannone	Ducati Team	2:01.223	1.643	38
9	Scott Redding	Octo Pramac Yakhnich	2:01.229	1.649	42
10	Maverick Vinales	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	2:01.244	1.664	51
11	Hector Barbera	Avintia Racing	2:01.434	1.854	30
12	Aleix Espargaro	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	2:01.623	2.043	44
13	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati Team	2:01.675	2.095	34
14	Yonny Hernandez	Aspar MotoGP Team	2:01.774	2.194	40
15	Pol Espargaro	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2:01.870	2.290	44
16	Bradley Smith	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	2:01.918	2.338	65
17	Loris Baz	Avintia Racing	2:02.541	2.961	33
18	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	2:02.792	3.212	44
19	Katsuyuki Nakasuga	Yamaha Test Team	2:02.940	3.360	27
20	Tito Rabat	EG 0.0 Marc VDS	2:03.012	3.432	57
21	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	2:03.183	3.603	46
22	Eugene Laverty	Aspar MotoGP Team	2:03.519	3.939	25