Honda’s Marquez Tops Crutchlow in Jerez MotoGP Test

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa

2013 Jerez MotoGP Single-Day Test Results

Following a hard-fought second-place finish at Jerez Sunday for the Spanish Grand Prix, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez was able to keep the momentum going during the single-day MotoGP test Monday at the circuit.

Marquez finished 0.092 of a second ahead of Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, and 0.134 of a second ahead of two-time MotoGP Champion Jorge Lorenzo aboard the Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1.

Marquez, who finished almost three seconds behind his fellow countryman and teammate Dani Pedrosa at Sunday’s MotoGP, was first out of the pits Monday.

The 20-year-old Spaniard – the youngest rider to ever win a MotoGP after taking the top step of the podium at Circuit of the Americas – spent the day experimenting with new engine mapping and chassis developments aboard the RC213V.

Under extremely warm track conditions, Marquez completed a total of 63 laps with a fastest time of 1:38.824 mid-way through the day, the time one tenth faster than his qualifying time of 1:38.971.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda RC213V MotoGP) says: “Today was a very positive day of testing for us. We started with the base from yesterday, to focus on some problems we had in the race and we managed to find solutions quickly. We tried some new settings with the front forks, rear suspension and electronics. Some things went better than others, but the important thing is that we were consistent, which is what matters in MotoGP. We hope that what we did today helps us over the next few races.”

Crutchlow, who finished fifth at Sunday’s Jerez MotoGP, tested new parts aboard his YZR-M1, focusing on setup. Though the Brit was sore from his two big crashes Saturday during free practice and qualifying, he was second quickest.

Cal Crutchlow (Monster Tech 3 Yamaha YZR-M1 MotoGP) says: “I’m happy to have got through so much work today and do almost 70 laps because my back is still quite sore from the two big crashes I had on Saturday. I tried a different frame today but honestly I couldn’t really find any improvement. There were some positive and negative points but overall it felt the same as what I’ve been racing so far.

“I tried a few engine braking settings for Yamaha and it was important for them to get some data and information in that area. We ran the bike with a lot of engine braking to see how the bike would react and make it slide on corner entry. I couldn’t really feel a big benefit going into the corner but it was a bit better braking straight up and down and it was a worthwhile exercise. It was a positive day and after a tough weekend with the crashes to finish fifth in the race and second in the test today shows again we are doing a good job.”

As for Lorenzo, who won the season opener at Qatar, and finished third at Circuit of the Americas and Jerez, led early in the day, but was beat out by Marquez and then Crutchlow later in the afternoon.

Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha Factory Racing YZR-M1 MotoGP) says: “It’s been a long day, it was not easy to finish the day on the bike because after three days full of stress of competition the only thing you want is to rest.

“I think the work was worth it because we improved some things. We tried many starts and finally I found again the same feeling I had last year. We improved the start, which is important for the next few races. I think we also improved the bike and I think we decided the new chassis so it has been a positive day.”

Lorenzo and his teammate Valentino Rossi, who finished fifth quickest behind Pedrosa, compared two versions of the GP13 with the goal being to establish one solid base setup; if achieved, this will allow the squad to rule out the time-consuming task of switching between chassis during race weekends, MotoGP said. This exercise had not been carried out previously, as grip levels were too low in Qatar whereas Texas provided many unknowns when compared to familiar Jerez.

GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista finished sixth quickest, the Spaniard focusing on the front and rear Showa suspension. Next up was the Ducati Team duo of Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden, both sampling the new GP13 chassis for the first time. Dovi was 0.7 of a second behind Marquez, and Hayden 0.819. The American was also the final rider to post within a second of Marquez.

Both Dovi and Hayden also did back-to-back comparisons between the new and older chassis. As for Ducati’s test rider Michele Pirro, the rider who competed at Jerez and finished 11th on the new chassis didn’t test at Jerez Monday.

LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl, who suffered from lack of front grip on Monday, was ninth fastest,

LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl had suffered a lack of front end grip for the entire race weekend, ahead of Bradley Smith on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1.

A selection of CRT riders – such as those of NGM Mobile Forward Racing, Came IodaRacing Project and Avintia Blusens’ Hector Barbera – experimented with the first significant upgrade to the Magneti Marelli MotoGP ECU kit.

This is aimed at providing a better interface for riders and teams when working on bike setup, while on the bike itself the main performance steps are wheelie control and an “anti-jerk” strategy that cuts engine power when between off-throttle and on-throttle situations; this should allow for a more stable mid-corner ride, MotoGP reports.

In the case of Barbera who was the leading CRT runner in 11th place, the Spaniard also looked at several new chassis components, whereas Avintia teammate Hiroshi Aoyama tried out a new frame and swingarm combination. At PBM, Michael Laverty – who on Sunday had scored his first points with the team’s own-built bike – ran new parts as well as looking into the ECU update, whereas on the outfit’s ART machine Yonny Hernandez was looking to solve several setup issues, having been one of five riders to crash out of Sunday’s race. Danilo Petrucci was 14th for Came IodaRacing Project, working on bike setting as teammate Lukas Pesek completed the 19-rider field, MotoGP reports.

Not in attendance were Pramac Racing or Power Electronics Aspar. For the Italian outfit, Ben Spies remains out of action because of his pectoral muscle problem, whereas Andrea Iannone will undergo arm pump surgery in Barcelona on Tuesday.

MotoGP continues Friday, May 17, for the first free practices of the Monster Energy Grand Prix of France at Le Mans.

2013 Jerez MotoGP Test Results, May 6:

Pos Rider Team Fastest lap Lead. Gap Prev. Gap Laps Last lap
1 MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda Team 1:38.824 27 / 63 1:39.725
2 CRUTCHLOW, Cal Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:38.916 0.092 0.092 30 / 67 2:50.781
3 LORENZO, Jorge Yamaha Factory Racing Team 1:38.958 0.134 0.042 30 / 81 1:40.110
4 PEDROSA, Dani Repsol Honda Team 1:38.979 0.155 0.021 4 / 56 1:39.786
5 ROSSI, Valentino Yamaha Factory Racing Team 1:39.397 0.573 0.418 37 / 61 1:40.521
6 BAUTISTA, Alvaro GO&FUN Honda Gresini 1:39.457 0.633 0.060 31 / 50 1:40.612
7 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati Team 1:39.524 0.700 0.067 15 / 47 1:40.454
8 HAYDEN, Nicky Ducati Team 1:39.643 0.819 0.119 21 / 35 1:50.038
9 BRADL, Stefan LCR Honda MotoGP 1:39.894 1.070 0.251 22 / 71 2:24.627
10 SMITH, Bradley Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:40.009 1.185 0.115 42 / 50 1:40.921
11 BARBERA, Hector Avintia Blusens 1:40.197 1.373 0.188 3 / 31 1:40.641
12 AOYAMA, Hiroshi Avintia Blusens 1:40.730 1.906 0.533 10 / 51 1:41.403
13 CORTI, Claudio NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1:40.958 2.134 0.228 50 / 58 1:41.824
14 PETRUCCI, Danilo Came IodaRacing Project 1:41.029 2.205 0.071 52 / 59 2:28.888
15 LAVERTY, Michael Paul Bird Motorsport 1:41.045 2.221 0.016 58 / 58 1:41.045
16 STARING, Bryan GO&FUN Honda Gresini 1:41.181 2.357 0.136 18 / 46 1:41.738
17 EDWARDS, Colin NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1:41.591 2.767 0.410 14 / 43 1:42.224
18 HERNANDEZ, Yonny Paul Bird Motorsport 1:41.763 2.939 0.172 14 / 62 1:45.970
19 PESEK, Lukas Came IodaRacing Project 1:43.017 4.193 1.254 15 / 20 1:56.547

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