MOTOGP: Pedrosa Heads Close Opening Day

The 2013 MotoGP World Championship preseason has arrived in full swing with testing at Sepang.

Media Release | Posted February 05, 2013 Sepang (MAL)

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa (Photo: HRC)

The first day of MotoGP testing was a close-fought affair with the top seven riders within almost eight tenths of each other, while the top three of Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo, and Marc Márquez were less than four hundredths apart.

As teams set out to put in track time to bed in their new or upgraded bikes they were fortunate with the weather as the forecast rain did not appear, giving riders a full day’s worth of running. And it was Repsol Honda Team’s Pedrosa who put his RC213V top with a 2:01’157 late in the day as he set out to test the latest evolution of the bike, in particular focusing on longevity of the engine. Yamaha Factory Racing’s Lorenzo, who holds the record for the fastest lap at the circuit from 2012 with a 2.00’334, had a final push with his new Yamaha, featuring a different chassis and upgraded engine, and got within 0.008 seconds of his compatriot. The upgraded machine is set to cure pumping and give better acceleration out of corners.

Yamaha and fans alike got their first real glimpse of Valentino Rossi back on the Japanese machine, with the Italian not disappointing with a time just over four-tenths off Pedrosa in fourth. He stated he was “very happy” with the Yamaha, sighting that he felt comfortable from the first lap. However, the story of the day was arguably Pedrosa’s teammate, Marc Márquez, who was only 0.036s slower than Lorenzo, putting himself third, and increasing his credentials as one of the favorites this year.

It does however look like LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl, who is running a RC213V with the same spec as the HRC team in Valencia last year, will also have a say this year, after ending the day in fifth, just two tenths off Rossi. He was working on a raft of things from traction control, to suspension and brakes. Behind him was Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow, who improved steadily across the day, on board his 2012 machine. And rounding out the top seven was Go & Fun Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista, who continued his quest to find the best set-up with his Showa suspension, finishing 0.824s off the top.

Yamaha test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga and HRC test rider Kosuke Akiyoshi put in good performances to make the top ten, in front of Ducati Team’s Nicky Hayden, who kicked off the team’s new era by finishing tenth, over two seconds off Pedrosa though, in front of Yamaha test rider Wataru Yoshikawa.

Tech 3’s rookie Bradley Smith was getting used to his machine, ending the day in twelfth, around 2.3 seconds off the front, in front of Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso, and the Power Electronics Aspar Team of Aleix Espargaró and Randy de Puniet. Pramac Team’s Andrea Iannone made steady progress on his Desmosedici making it into 16th by the end, ahead of teammate Ben Spies, who put in a few hours on his new Ducati this morning, although had to stop due to shoulder pain.

HRC test rider Takumi Takahashi headed Avintia Blusens’ Héctor Barberá, who was focusing on electronics, as well as Paul Bird Motorsport’s Yonny Hernandez, Cardion AB Motoracing’s Karel Abraham, Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci, Avintia Blusens’ Hiroshi Aoyama and NGM Mobile Forward Racing’s Claudio Corti. MotoGP newcomer Michael Laverty lapped on an ART bike to get used to the Bridgestone tires and carbon discs, and was followed by Ioda’s Lukas Pesek, Bautista’s teammate, Bryan Staring, whilst NGM’s Edwards suffered bike issues and finished the day last, putting in only 25 laps all day.

Testing Results

1 Dani Pedrosa 2'01.157 SPA HONDA Repsol Honda Team
2 Jorge Lorenzo 2'01.165 SPA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
3 Marc Marquez 2'01.201 ESP HONDA Repsol Honda Team
4 Valentino Rossi 2'01.584 ITA YAMAHA Yamaha Factory Racing
5 Stefan Bradl 2'01.789 GER HONDA LCR Honda MotoGP
6 Cal Crutchlow 2'01.881 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
7 Alvaro Bautista 2'01.981 SPA HONDA & FTR Go & Fun Honda Gresini
8 Katsayuki Nakasuga 2'02.968 JPN YAMAHA Yamaha Factory
9 Kosuke Akiyoshi 2'02.972 JPN HONDA HRC Test Team
10 Nicky Hayden 2'03.336 USA DUCATI Ducati Team
11 Wataru Yoshikawa 2'03.456 JPN YAMAHA Yamaha Factory
12 Bradley Smith 2'03.460 GBR YAMAHA Monster Yamaha Tech 3
13 Andrea Dovizioso 2'03.535 ITA DUCATI Ducati Team
14 Aleix Espargaro 2'03.782 ESP ART Power Electronics Aspar
15 Randy De Puniet 2'04.283 FRA ART Power Electronics Aspar
16 Andrea Iannone 2'04.500 ITA DUCATI Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team
17 Ben Spies 2'05.086 USA DUCATI Ignite Pramac Racing Team
18 Takumi Takahashi 2'05.154 JPN HONDA HRC Test Team
19 Hector Barbera 2'05.469 SPA FTR Avintia Blusens
20 Yonny Hernandez 2'05.656 COL PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
21 Karel Abraham 2'05.694 CZE ART Cardion AB Motoracing
22 Danilo Petrucci 2'05.753 ITA IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
23 Hiroshi Aoyama 2'05.919 JAP FTR Avintia Blusens
24 Claudio Corti 2'06.426 ITA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing
25 Michael Laverty 2'06.507 GBR PBM Paul Bird Motorsport
26 Lukas Pesek 2'07.015 CZE IODA-SUTER Came IodaRacing Project
27 Bryan Staring 2'07.044 AUS HONDA & FTR Go & Fun Honda Gresini
28 Colin Edwards 2'08.206 USA FTR-KAWASAKI NGM Mobile Forward Racing

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