Home » Articles » Day 1 Sepang test Results
 

Day 1 Sepang test Results

 
 

Who was fast and who was near last

 
 

Yesterday was a difficullt test for many riders. Returning to the scene of the fateful last race of Marco Simoncelli back on October 23 was for the whole paddock, emotional.

The visit will be even tougher for Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards, both of whom were involved in the terrible incident. Edwards admitted recently in an interview with MotoGP.com that his thoughts will turn to Super Sic, but in true Texan fashion, Edwards insists riding a 1000cc's of power to its absolute limits will be the best way to get through.

"Well, first, going back to Sepang is going to be emotional enough," Edwards said. "I think it's important to go there and get back on the track after what happened a few months ago."

The test itself got off to a delayed start, due to overnight rain. Noted by his abscence from among the top times was Casey Stoner, who suffered back problems before the first session and only managed to get in four laps later on. The reigning champ had this to say, "I think tomorrow the track conditions will be better and as long as my back improves overnight we should get back on schedule with our testing programme tomorrow". Dovizioso, usually like a metronome in his reliability also only completed 20 laps, Dovi was allegedly too unwell to attend a media conference the night before and will still be in some discomfort after breaking his collarbone back in early January.

For Rossi and Hayden, these results are positive, as the factory Ducati Desmosedici GP12 had its maiden outing. With a broken shoulder still recovering, Hayden only put in 25 laps aboard the new GP12 “Phoenix”, and let test rider Franco Bataini complete the day's laps for him. Rossi however, put in a full-day's work, impressed with how much better the bike is.

“I’m happy because first impressions are important, and already in the first few laps, I could tell that I like the bike. Ducati did a good job in just a short time. The bike is beautiful, but more importantly, it’s nice to ride. The riding position has improved a lot, and it’s better on braking and corner entry. I can brake like I want to and take the lines that I like, and I feel comfortable in general.”

What is clearly evident in the below table, is just how far off the mark the CRT teams are. Edwards is the most obvious indication of this, usually sitting somewhere between fourth and seventh place in a race, the old boy slips to 15th place and over 6.5 seconds back from Lorenzo. The likes of Bautista, Barbera and Abraham are usually in his wake, but he's over four seconds back from the slowest of them.

Test Results from Day 1 at Sepang, Malaysia:

Pos. Rider Team Time Diff. Diff. to Leader Laps
1 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Factory Racing 2:01.657 - - 30
2 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 2:02.003 +0.346 +0.346 48
3 Cal Crutchlow Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:02.221 +0.218 +0.564 32
4 Ben Spies Yamaha Factory Racing 2:02.234 +0.013 +0.577 28
5 Valentino Rossi Ducati Team 2:02.392 +0.158 +0.735 43
6 Andrea Dovizioso Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:02.751 +0.359 +1.094 20
7 Hector Barbera Pramac Racing Team 2:02.773 +0.022 +1.116 41
8 Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha Factory 2:02.829 +0.056 +1.172 32
9 Alvaro Bautista San Carlo Honda Gresini 2:02.869 +0.040 +1.212 45
10 Nicky Hayden Ducati Team 2:03.151 +0.282 +1.494 33
11 Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2:03.668 +0.517 +2.011 44
12 Karel Abraham Cardion AB Motoracing 2:03.781 +0.113 +2.124 45
13 Franco Bataini Ducati Team 2:04.986 +1.205 +3.329 35
14 Casey Stoner Repsol Honda Team 2:07.163 +2.177 +5.506 4
15 Colin Edwards NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:08.240 +1.077 +6.583 21
16 Jordi Torres Avintia Racing 2:10.671 +2.431 +9.014 42
17 Ivan Silva Avintia Racing 2:11.267 +0.596 +9.610 12