Series Sepang test day 1 report

Lorenzo on top at Sepang day one

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Team

Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP

Jorge Lorenzo was the fastest rider on track Tuesday, the first day of the Official Test at the Malaysian circuit, and the Spaniard was extremely satisfied with the first shakedown aboard the new 1000cc prototype.

Testing primarily changes made to the Yamaha that addressed corner exit speed, Lorenzo set the fastest pace in the morning, and after 30 laps completed the day with a best time of 2’01.657, which was 0.346s faster than closest rival Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo’s team-mate Ben Spies completed the day with the fourth fastest time, a 2’02.234, and tomorrow the pair will continue development work on a new electronics package in addition to testing some new parts.

Pedrosa worked on the chassis set up of his RC213V and tested the new Bridgestone tyres, while his team-mate, Casey Stoner, sat the day out after injuring a muscle in his back warming up in the morning in preparation to ride. While the current World Champion was resting with the aim to make it on track tomorrow, Honda test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi did a short run down on the number 1 bike, completing four laps (and subsequently posting the 14th fastest time of the day). The bikes of the Repsol Honda duo sport differing chassis, each of which have been developed to the specifications of each rider.

With the aim of only getting familiar with the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 motorcycle, Cal Crutchlow completed the day third fastest in the field with a time of 2’02.221, just over a tenth of a second quicker than Valentino Rossi at the controls of the new Ducati GP12.

Rossi completed 43 long anticipated laps aboard the completely redesigned Desmosedici, to post a best time of 2’02.392. Today was the first public appearance of the new machine, which team-mate Nicky Hayden lapped into 10th fastest spot of the day with a time of 2’03.151.

Andrea Dovizioso focused the day on riding with his newly plated collarbone and working on engine management, and the Italian faired well, placing his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine sixth for the day, three tenths behind compatriot Rossi. Hector Barbara followed in the times putting in a lap of 2’02.773 on board his Ducati GP12 of the Pramac Racing team, while Alvaro Bautista completed his very first day of testing the San Carlo Honda Gresini Team bike to rank just fourth hundredths behind Barbara.

MotoGP rookie Stefan Bradl LCR Honda finished a day of familiarizing himself with a MotoGP bike at 11th fastest, a half second behind Hayden. The Moto2 Champion was a tenth of a second ahead of Karel Abraham, whose focus on the Cardion AB Motoracing Ducati was on set up and tyre testing.

The CRT development progress continued, with NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards putting in 12 laps on the BMW-Suter, with much of his time going into electronics development. The Texan paced ahead of Avintia Racing rider Ivan Silva, who also made 12 laps, while test rider Jordi Torres completed 42 at the controls of the BQR-FTR machine.