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MOTOGP: Lorenzo Goes Quickest On Day Two
Reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo pushed close to the breaking the 2-minute barrier on Wedensday at Sepang.
Media Release  |  Posted February 27, 2013   Sepang (MAL)
Yamaha Factory Racing's Jorge Lorenzo (Photo: Dorna Communications)
MotoGP World Champion Jorge Lorenzo and Yamaha Factory Racing returned to the top on the second of this week’s three days of testing at the Sepang International Circuit. Cal Crutchlow achieved a top three finish for Monster Yamaha Tech 3, splitting the Repsol Honda Team pairing of Dani Pedrosa and rookie Marc Márquez.

Lorenzo’s fastest-ever lap time at Sepang came in the first half of the day, managing 2’00.282 which was over three tenths quicker than Tuesday pace-setter Pedrosa. On this occasion the leading Honda rider analyzed suspension settings, declaring himself content. Crutchlow led the way for both Great Britain and the satellite runners in third, as Márquez finished barely three tenths off more experienced teammate Pedrosa. After suffering an electrical problem at the start of the session, Valentino Rossi rounded out the top five and his target remains to match Lorenzo’s race pace.

Thankfully for all concerned, the weather was kinder to the field as the rain of 24 hours earlier stayed away; only a few drops fell at 5:30pm local time. This allowed for significantly more on-track activity, not least for Rossi and Honda test rider Takumi Takahashi who were the first to notch up more than 60 laps. Ben Spies was a faller in the morning, although the American was able to walk away unhurt from his Ignite Pramac Racing Team bike. He later wrapped up his program early, suffering pain from his ongoing shoulder injury.

GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista, LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl and Monster Yamaha Tech 3 newcomer Bradley Smith were all inside the top ten, with the Englishman on lookout for a better braking technique following a fall on Tuesday. At Ducati Team, Nicky Hayden jumped back ahead of Andrea Dovizioso as test rider Michele Pirro sampled a new chassis.

Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team’s Andrea Iannone was 11th as the Vasto-born rider makes the climb to MotoGP from the Moto2 class, in which he achieved eight race wins over the last three seasons. Improving by three tenths in the afternoon to finish ahead of Pirro and Yamaha testers Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Wataru Yoshikawa, Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró continued to provide an example for the CRT class despite admitting severe jetlag.

Héctor Barberá led the Avintia Blusens charge from the aforementioned Spies, second Aspar contender of Randy de Puniet and his own teammate Hiroshi Aoyama. Danilo Petrucci moved into the top 20 for Came IodaRacing Project, just 71 thousandths of a second in front of Karel Abraham’s Cardion AB Motoracing machine as the Czech switches from a prototype to CRT chassis for 2013. Colin Edwards celebrated his 39th birthday, but soon placed all focus on NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s program as work continues with the FTR Kawasaki.

Michael Laverty was again forced to spend most of his day in the garage as Paul Bird Motorsport continued to prepare their own, PBM machine; it toured for three laps in the morning, as a shakedown, plus a further 16 in the afternoon. On more familiar ART equipment, teammate Yonny Hernández jumped ahead of Forward Racing’s Claudio Corti as respective Australian and Czech rookies Bryan Staring and Lukáš Pešek filled the remaining positions ahead of Laverty.

Thursday will mark the third and final day of this week’s test, with the green light again illuminating at 10am local time (3am CET).

Testing Results

1 Jorge Lorenzo 2'00.282 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
2 Dani Pedrosa 2'00.651 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
3 Cal Crutchlow 2'00.907 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
4 Marc Marquez 2'00.992 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
5 Valentino Rossi 2'01.065 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
6 Alvaro Bautista 2'01.208 SPA HONDA & FTR Go & Fun Honda Gresini
7 Stefan Bradl 2'01.485 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
8 Nicky Hayden 2'01.778 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
9 Andrea Dovizioso 2'01.803 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
10 Bradley Smith 2'02.023 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
11 Andrea Iannone 2'02.608 ITA DUCATI Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
12 Aleix Espargaro 2'02.905 ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
13 Michele Pirro 2'02.920 ITA DUCATI Ducati Test Team
14 Katsayuki Nakasuga 2'02.946 JPN YAMAHA Yamaha Factory
15 Wataru Yoshikawa 2'03.354 JPN YAMAHA Yamaha Factory
16 Hector Barbera 2'03.428 SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
17 Ben Spies 2'03.460 USA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
18 Randy De Puniet 2'03.518 FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
19 Hiroshi Aoyama 2'03.990 JAP FTR Avintia Blusens
20 Danilo Petrucci 2'04.279 ITA IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
21 Karel Abraham 2'04.350 CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
22 Takumi Takahashi 2'04.512 JPN HONDA HRC Test Team
23 Colin Edwards 2'04.656 USA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
24 Yonny Hernandez 2'04.671 COL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
25 Claudio Corti 2'04.709 ITA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
26 Bryan Staring 2'05.439 AUS HONDA & FTR Go & Fun Honda Gresini
27 Lukas Pesek 2'06.206 CZE IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
28 Michael Laverty 2'07.721 GBR PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
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