“It’s been another good day today”, he said. Jorge Lorenzo also suffered a fast fall at Turn 5 midway through the day, his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP machine suffering extensive damage on the left hand side.
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The pre-season testing was held from 10am to 6pm and 15 minutes before the session ended, the sky opened up on the Sepang Circuit. The nine-time World Champion finished 0.976 behind Lorenzo. The post-race Valencia test gave riders and fans a glimpse at what was to come, but Sepang was the first time that all riders took to the track with the spec ECU and Michelin tires fitted together. The lap times were relatively easy to achieve and every time we exited pit lane we improved something on the bike to understand the electronics better and they adapted very well to the Michelin tyres.
The throttle problem was the second in a disastrous opening day back on a bike in 2016, to which he explained: “Overall it wasn’t a great day because we spent the morning with some electronic problems, the throttle stuck open and I was lucky not to crash on that occasion too”.
“…My position is not so bad and we worked a lot on the bike”. I think all the engineers did a good job with the electronics and Michelin did a good job with the front tires. “I prefer the bike without the wings, it’s more handsome!”
Spain’s Dani Pedrosa, racing a Honda, was third, 1.096 seconds slower than the 28-year-old Lorenzo. Throughout 2015 MotoGP, the RC213V had a very aggressive character. Much has changed since then, so the two-time World Champion had to get reacquainted with a Desmosedici, completing 54 total laps in a private test. Stoner was originally scheduled to do another day of private testing but Ducati made a decision to let him ride in one of the three official testing days this week with Ducati riders Andrea Iannone, Andrea Dovizioso and the rest of the 2016 MotoGP grid.
MotoGP Rookie of the Year, Maverick Viñales, was 11th and 0.001s faster than Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro.
The Australian will work as a test rider for the Italian manufacturer this season, and they hinted he may be involved in some races as a wildcard.
Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista rounded out the 21 riders, the Aprilia pair on a lab bike as the reveal of the new 2016 model was pushed back.
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After sitting out Tuesday’s running following his crash on Monday, Eugene Laverty returned to action and was 22nd fastest. “We will study the data this evening and tomorrow we will proceed with our test schedule as planned”.
