Honda Unbeatable in Sepang Test, Simoncelli On Top

Honda continued to dominate the testing at Sepang International Circuit on Thursday, the last day of action on the Malaysian track, but only this time it was a customer rider to take the honors. Gresini Honda's Marco Simoncelli, who had been flirting with the top positions of the timing reports on Day 1 & 2 of the test, finally managed to score the best time of the pack, on Day 3.

And not only he scored the best lap time of the day – 2:00.757 – but his performance was also the best of the entire week, overshadowing the lap time recorded by Honda's works rider Dani Pedrosa yesterday (2:00.770).

Unlike Wednesday however, there were a bunch of riders who managed to break the 2m00s bracket, with Honda's Casey Stoner (+ 0.054), Yamaha's reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo (+0.088) and Honda's Andrea Dovizioso (+ 0.188) closely following the pace-setting Italian.

There were no less than 5 Hondas within the Top 7 finishers on Thursday, the only riders sandwiched inside that group being the two Yamaha works riders Lorenzo and Ben Spies (5th place). Dani Pedrosa ended the day in 6th place, ahead of the second Gresini rider Hiroshi Aoyama.

Unlike the previous two days of testing, both Ducati riders managed to make the Top 10, with Nicky Hayden finishing in 8th place, some 3 tenths of a second ahead of new teammate Valentino Rossi (10th).

The only off-the-track news of the day came from the Suzuki garage, where Alvaro Bautista failed to get any track time due to a late-discovered illness. He was replaced in the team's testing lineup by Noburu Aoki.

01. Marco Simoncelli (Gresini Honda)                   2:00.757
02. Casey Stoner (Honda)                                     2:00.811
03. Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha)                                 2:00.845
04. Andrea Dovizioso (Honda)                               2:00.945
05. Ben Spies (Yamaha)                                        2:01.002
06. Dani Pedrosa (Honda)                                     2:01.241
07. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda)                                 2:01.353
08. Nicky Hayden (Ducati)                                     2:01.534
09. Colin Edwards (Tech 3 Yamaha)                      2:01.651
10. Valentino Rossi (Ducati)                                   2:01.842
11. Hector Barbera (Aspar Ducati)                         2:02.030
12. Loris Capirossi (Pramac Ducati)                      2:02.057
13. Randy De Puniet (Pramac Ducati)                   2:02.159
14. Karel Abraham (Cardion Ducati)                      2:02.645
15. Cal Crutchlow (Tech 3 Yamaha)                       2:02.717
16. Toni Elias LCR (Honda)                                    2:02.916
17. Kousuke Akiyoshi (Honda)                               2:03.452
18. Noburu Aoki (Suzuki)                                       2:04.700