Photo: motogp.com
The first official test of 2015 is over, and Repsol Honda concludes it with a nifty 1-2 finish. Current world title holder Marc Marquez, who also topped the first day managed to be the only rider to get below the 1’59” mark on Friday morning and secured the outright lead at Sepang. His team mate Dani Pedrosa also upped his pace in the third day of the Malaysian test and posted a lap time .139 slower than Marquez. What makes Honda’s lap times more interesting is the fact that Marquez was around 1 second faster than his own 2014 pole at this track, and this means solid improvement for HRC.
Ducati and Andrea Iannone delivered a nifty surprise, as the young Italian was only half a second off Marquez’ pace and merely 13 thousandths of a second behind Pedrosa, all happening aboard the GP14.3 bike. Both Iannone and Dovizioso who today was 7th fastest will only receive the Desmosedici GP15 machine later this month for the second official test at the same track.
Rossi and Lorenzo also did race simulations, but kept on experimenting with various parts. Their lap times were not enough to give Hondas a run for the money like it happened on Day 2, mostly because Rossi preferred to test a new swingarm under race conditions, while Lorenzo battled poor brakes in the morning. However, by the time his crew managed to fix the settings, his tires were already worn off to prevent him from riding too aggressively.
The top 10 was completed by Pol Espargaro, Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, Bradley Smith and Aleix Espargaro, while Suzuki riders also bettered their initial lap times with around 2 seconds. It’s once more funny to see the leased Yamaha bikes surpassing the satellite ones, even though the difference is marginal. This says a lot about the potential of the Forward Racing machines, a potential which will only grow once the 2014-spec engine will arrive and we’re positive that Stefan Bradl has a lot of surprises to offer in the 2015 championship.
Aprilia is struggling to find a better pace, with Bautista and Melandri 21st and 28th respectively, while Marc VDS’ Redding is slowly making progress and approaching the points zone. It will be interesting to see how things evolve in the second Sepang test, now that each team has a better image on how the bikes and the riders perform. And obviously, we’re waiting for the GP15 Ducati!
Rossi and Lorenzo also did race simulations, but kept on experimenting with various parts. Their lap times were not enough to give Hondas a run for the money like it happened on Day 2, mostly because Rossi preferred to test a new swingarm under race conditions, while Lorenzo battled poor brakes in the morning. However, by the time his crew managed to fix the settings, his tires were already worn off to prevent him from riding too aggressively.
The top 10 was completed by Pol Espargaro, Andrea Dovizioso, Stefan Bradl, Bradley Smith and Aleix Espargaro, while Suzuki riders also bettered their initial lap times with around 2 seconds. It’s once more funny to see the leased Yamaha bikes surpassing the satellite ones, even though the difference is marginal. This says a lot about the potential of the Forward Racing machines, a potential which will only grow once the 2014-spec engine will arrive and we’re positive that Stefan Bradl has a lot of surprises to offer in the 2015 championship.
Aprilia is struggling to find a better pace, with Bautista and Melandri 21st and 28th respectively, while Marc VDS’ Redding is slowly making progress and approaching the points zone. It will be interesting to see how things evolve in the second Sepang test, now that each team has a better image on how the bikes and the riders perform. And obviously, we’re waiting for the GP15 Ducati!
Google News