Honda’s Pedrosa Tops Sepang II MotoGP Test, Day 1

2013 Sepang II MotoGP Testing Results

The results of the day one in Sepang II pre-season MotoGP testing were similar to the Sepang I session held earlier this month.

During Tuesday’s Sepang II test season, which was held under dry conditions in the morning but plagued by rain in the afternoon, Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa was once again on top.

But due to heavy rain in the past few days at the Malaysian circuit, the track was dirty and slippery, causing lap times to be almost two seconds slower than the first Sepang test held Feb. 5-7.

Pedrosa, who piloted his Honda RC213V to the top spot in all three days of Sepang I testing, posted a quickest lap of 2:01.850 Tuesday, the first of three days in Sepang II testing.

The quick lap was posted on lap 17 of 43 in the morning sessions as the Spaniard worked on suspension settings and engine mapping, especially in corner entry.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda RC213V MotoGP) says: “Today we continued trying things out with the bike here in Sepang, focusing most of all on suspension. We also worked a little on the electronics. The track wasn’t 100-percent after the rainfall from the past few days, but we were able to ride well. In the afternoon it rained again, and we used this to perform some laps in the wet. Tomorrow we will continue with the work that we have scheduled.”

Just as in Sepang I testing, the second fastest rider was the reigning MotoGP Champion, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo. The Spaniard focused on the YZR-M1’s acceleration during his 25 laps, and finished 0.235 of a second behind Pedrosa.

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1 MotoGP) says: “Today we just tried to improve our current settings. We made some modifications but nothing special. We need to improve the acceleration a little bit but for the moment no new bits to try. The track was more slippery than the first test due to the rain which has left the tarmac in a worse condition.”

Taking the third quickest spot was yet another Spaniard – the rookie Repsol Honda Marc Marquez. The Moto2 Champion, who suffered a small crash on turn nine while working on bike setup, was 0.362 of a second behind his teammate

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V MotoGP) says: “Today went pretty well. It’s just a shame that the track was so slippery, because we weren’t able to collect all the data that we wanted due to the times not being so fast. We were not able to ride a lot in the afternoon either, because as soon as we got on the pace it started to rain and we aborted the session. We hope that the surface is better tomorrow, with more grip and less rain. Our aim is to be able to put in laps, gain experience and test out a lot of things that we have pending.”

Following close behind Marquez were LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl and Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi, respectively. Bradl trailed Marquez by a mere 0.017 of a second, and Rossi by 0.069 of a second.

Rossi had some engine issues with his 2013-spec YZR-M1, so finished the morning sessions aboard the 2012-spec Yamaha.

Valentino Rossi (Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1 MotoGP) says: “The first day is not so bad, but we were unlucky because we had a small problem with the bike which had the new chassis so we had to stop and use the old bike.

“We made some tests with that using just one tire and my pace and my lap times were not so bad. After we waited for the afternoon for the real work but the rain came so we decided to stop and continue tomorrow. If it rains again tomorrow we will do some laps in the wet conditions.”

The final two riders to post within a second of Pedrosa were Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow and Go & Fun Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista.

Next up in eight was the top Ducati rider, Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovisioso, who experimented with a new fuel tank on the GP13. The newly-signed Ducati rider was followed by teammate Nicky Hayden, whose GP13 also had a new gas tank, and Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith.

The top CRT time went to Power Electronics Aspar of Aleix Espargaro, who set the pace regardless of a minor crash at turn one. Espargaro finished 2.361 seconds behind Pedrosa.

The MotoGP grid will return to Sepang Tuesday for the second day of testing.

2013 Sepang II MotoGP Pre-Season Test Results, Day 1 (Tuesday):