Marc Marquez tops day 2 at Sepang 2 Test
The MotoGP paddock was once again greeted with some pretty extreme weather as they returned for the second day of the penultimate pre-season test at the Sepang International Circuit.
It turned out to be an all action morning, as with the temperatures due to reach the high 30’s later on in the day, teams tried to make the most of the relatively cooler weather before the levels of grip worsened at the Malaysian track. Many of the teams ran race simulations through the afternoon, although a sudden drop in temperature with only a few minutes to go resulted in a number of riders taking advantage of the extra grip available to post much quicker times.
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez re-established himself at the top of the time sheets after a first day which his team admits was a complete write-off due to brake problems he experienced on his RC213V which meant they could not do any meaningful testing until today. Whatever the issue was though, it was clearly no concern for Marquez this morning, as the young Spaniard was one of only two riders to break the 2 minute mark, registering a 1’59.844 lap and claiming the top spot.
Marc Marquez / 1st / 1m59.844 – “I’m happy because today was a positive day. After what happened yesterday, we tried to make up for lost time and tried out quite a few things. Tomorrow we have to continue testing things out, in order to continue developing and eliminating anything that is not going to be useful. Today we focused on electronics and tomorrow we will work more on the chassis. I’m happy with how things went today and with the pace that we have achieved. We’ll see if tomorrow the rain holds off all day, because we need good weather.”
Only 0.058s behind the reigning World Champion was Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, who was extremely pleased with his pace after admitting he is still experiencing quite a few problems around the Malaysian circuit.
Jorge Lorenzo / 2nd / 1m59.902 – “Today was much better. I was able to sleep for more than eight hours so I had much more energy than on the first day. For sure this influenced my performance. The bike was also better. I had a better understanding of how to ride it on slippery track conditions, so I was also able to improve my riding. My pace, apart from the last two hours, was almost all day in the 2’00 lap times. That’s similar to the previous test but with worse conditions, so I’m happy.”
It was an excellent day for the Ducati Team, with Andrea Iannone one of the riders to put in a late flying lap, managing to post a time good enough for 3rd, and just 0.254s off the pace of Marquez. His team mate Dovizioso set his best lap earlier on in the day, which was over a second quicker than his time from the previous day which he set on the GP14.3 machine, highlighting just how much an improvement the new GP15 is an improvement over the older bike.
Andrea Iannone / 3rd / 2m00.098 – “For sure today was a great day. This morning, when we began to lap, I managed to immediately find a better feeling with the GP15 and I am happy that, day after day, doing more and more kilometres with this bike, I can get more feeling. In addition, we managed to improve the bike’s set-up and we were pretty quick. Rather than the time attack I did in the afternoon, I’m happier with the work we carried out throughout the day, because it allowed me to do my time with the hard tyre. The team is working really well, and the bike is improving day after day. It’s improved a lot in the changes in direction and in its nimbleness, it’s quicker between the corners and these are all positive aspects.”
Andrea Dovizioso / 4th / 2m00.250 – “Today was again very good: I’m pleased if I compare my lap times with those of the other riders. But in my opinion, we still need to do a lot of work, in the sense that we are quick but I can’t yet ride the way I want, and my feeling with the front is still not perfect. We are working hard and trying numerous different set-ups to try and understand how this bike is, because it’s very different from the GP14. It’s clear that there is a lot of enthusiasm because the bike has improved, but we still need more time to improve our performance.”
Dani Pedrosa had to settle for 5th after spending the day tweaking his suspension to try and get more feedback from his RC213V, although he did manage to shave 0.3s off his time from yesterday.
Dani Pedrosa / 5th / 2m00.275 – “Today we focused on the bike’s suspension. We have been testing many different configurations looking to find a good setup. I’m happy with the hard work we have done today. Although it was very hot, we put in a lot of laps and at the end of the day we found a small step, which is positive. We still have many things to improve, but we have progressed and are already in good shape. I am getting more confidence with the bike and have a better feeling with the tyres. In addition, we have identified the good and bad points so I think that at future tests and races we can continue to develop consistently, which is good.”
After leading the time sheets in the early part of the morning, Valentino Rossi, who was evaluating 2 different types of front forks on his Movistar Yamaha YZF-M1, couldn’t quite match the pace of his team mate Lorenzo as the day wore on. Rossi finished in 6th with a 2’00.308 which while an improvement on his time from day 1, was 0.4 seconds back from Marquez.
Valentino Rossi / 6th / 2m00.308 – “We did a lot of testing today. We tried some forks and especially concentrated on rear grip in acceleration to exit from the corner in the best way. We also continued to work on the gearbox and that still gives a good feeling. We will be ready for tomorrow, because that will be the important day. Tomorrow everybody will be at their maximum for the time attack and they can try to do a long run, so I think tomorrow will be very interesting to understand the pace of all the guys. It will be a good target to be a bit faster than the last test and I think we have to improve the lap times and our pace during the simulation.”
Heading out late in the day to set his fastest laps, Bradley Smith launched himself from outside the top ten up to 7th in the final minutes of the session on his Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, beating his teammate Pol Espargaro in the process and improving by almost a whole second from day to day. He also managed to finish ahead of compatriot Cal Crutchlow on the CWM LCR Honda who set a 2’00.509, good enough for 8th place on the leaderboard, but more importantly fro Crutchlow was that he seems to be finally getting to grips with wringing the best out of his RC213V on fresh tyres, having set his fastest lap on a brand new set.
Bradley Smith / 7th / 2m00.329 – “Today was a really positive day for me and the team. We began by doing a race simulation in the morning which was our main objective, in order to collect data and feedback. In addition, it was also so that I could understand the new 2015 Yamaha better and see how it handles during a race simulation with full fuel load or used tyres. The race run was very positive and I was able to stay consistently strong during the 20 laps, which indicates the team have done a good job and I have also with my training during the winter months. This afternoon I was able to improve the lap time and it was the closest that I have been to the front so far as I was just behind Valentino and 0.3 from Jorge, which is pleasing. Tomorrow we just need to continue with the testing programme and improving the bike. We are already doing a great job and are 95% there.”
Cal Crutchlow / 8th / 2m00.333 – “Today was better in terms of lap time, and I’m much happier with our pace on a new tyre. I still believe we can improve a lot, but I think the track condition wasn’t the best today, albeit it’s the same for everybody. I think we did well in the situation and we improved with every run. We understand the bike a lot more now, and I am looking forward to tomorrow’s final day of testing on Bridgestone tyres to see if we can find a better setting for the Qatar test and subsequent race. There is still something to find in corner entry, but I’m happy enough after today’s performance.”
It was another good day for the Factory Suzuki team as they continue to develop their GSX-RR bike, with Aleix Espargaro knocking another half a second of his day 1 time to end up in ninth with a 2’00.409. He also managed to score bragging rights over his younger brother Pol on the 2nd Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, whom he managed to out pace by almost three-tenths of a second, relegating him to 10th.
Aleix Espargaro: “I’m happy about the day, especially about the first part of the day. I found a good feeling from the very beginning and we immediately made good lap times. It is important to see that after five days here (including Sepang 1) we are getting closer and closer to the top. In the second part of the day we struggled a little with hotter conditions and we encountered some issue with the grip on the back so we need to work more on this. With my riding style I open the throttle early and when the tarmac gets hot we lose grip, so we need to fix it. The first part of the championship will not be in extremely hot weather conditions so we have time to find out a solution. We tried a race simulation, we had planned 17 laps in a row, but I had to give up a little earlier because my knee still hurts and I’m not at my 100%. However, the long run gave us important data. We still have two days to test, so we have time to work on the issues we are finding out.”
Pol Espargaro / 10th / 2m00.689 – “Today was a tricky day for us, but I still remain positive and am ready to bounce back tomorrow. We actually began the day well and I put in a fast time quite close to the beginning of the session on the eighth lap. However, then we lost some time as we were trying some new settings and we couldn’t find the grip level that I needed to go faster in order to cut the gap to the leaders. Then at the beginning of the afternoon, I had a crash which really didn’t help matters at all and we lost valuable time because of it. Despite it being a challenging day, I am upbeat and we will keep the positive feeling from yesterday plus, use the data we collected today to close tomorrow on a high.”
Showing a dramatic improvement in 10th was Danilo Petrucci who took 1.5s off his time from the previous day for Pramac Ducati, as he continued to fine tune his suspension and chassis set up. His team mate Yonny Hernandez managed to get within 1.168s of Marquez as he continued his comeback from the injury that forced him to miss Sepang 1.
Maverick Viñales on the second Suzuki managed to get within 0.9 seconds of Marquez in 12th, finishing just ahead of an improving Scott Redding on the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Racing Honda, who stated that he is pleased with the way he is closing the gap to the leaders.
Maverick Viñales / 12th / 2m00.731 – “It was another positive day. I did many laps and I’m becoming more-and-more familiar with the bike and the setting opportunities. I had a little crash but it wasn’t bad, I’m ok and so is the bike, I simply slid off. My main objective is still to find out the most effective riding style, even if we are introducing new technical modifications in every run to let me understand how the machine reacts to them. I also tried a small race simulation, just to start approaching the long runs, but tomorrow we will do more testing on this side.”
Scott Redding / 13th / 2m00.762 – “We struggled for most of the morning, during the time when the track conditions were at their best, as we couldn’t get the tyre to work for us. When we switched tyres then the lap time came immediately, so I guess we were just unlucky with that particular tyre. I’m still learning; changing the set up a little to try and get more feeling from the front, because I’m starting to push the the front more now I’m going faster. I was quicker today than I was at the last test, even though the track conditions aren’t as good, and I’m less than a second off the fastest guys, so I’m happy with that. Every lap gives me a better understanding of the bike; a lot of these guys have more experience on the bike, so they know what to expect, but I’m still on a steep learning curve with the Honda RC213V. We have a target, but I don’t want to get fixated on the lap time, for me it’s better to continue the learning process here in Sepang.”
Forward Racing’s Stefan Bradl finished in 16th place, half a second faster than the Drive M7 Aspar Honda RC213V-RS of Nicky Hayden, while the American’s new team mate Eugene Laverty will be happy with his days work as he managed to improve his pace from yesterday by almost a second to claim 19th.
Stefan Bradl – 16th / 2m01.131 – “Like yesterday, I suffered some lack of grip particularly on the rear and on corner entry. The conditions are very different from the first test and this makes things more demanding for us. We tried several new solutions to better balance the bike and I’m sure tomorrow we will concentrate more on the lap time.”
Nicky Hayden / 17th / 2m01.633 – “Even though it was very hot again today the weather was more stable and we were able to make a couple of improvements to the bike. The lap times were faster than yesterday but still not quite quick enough. We also had a little incident with a tyre that cost us some time and meant we had to spend the whole afternoon on used rubber. I am more happy with certain aspects of the bike after the changes we made today to the geometry. Hopefully we can take a big step tomorrow.”
Eugene Laverty / 19th / 2m01.944 – “Today was another very positive day. We have made some progress with the chassis set-up and now I feel like I can brake really hard. I still have to adapt my style for the faster corners because I am washing too much speed off into some of the turns. It is good that I can brake hard but I also have to be able to keep enough corner speed. The weather held off for us today and we were able to get a lot of work done and lower the lap time. We worked on improving the engine braking and now that I am starting to understand the electronics package I like it. I felt comfortable today, so tomorrow the aim is to complete a long run and see where we are.”
Loriz Baz escaped an early crash at turn 14 without injury to end up 24th, after complaining yesterday of not having a great feeling on his Forward Racing bike, while the rookie Aussie Jack Miller was another to take advantage of the improving conditions late in the day on his RC213V-RS, to post a 2’03.006 and end up 22nd.
Jack Miller / 21st / 2m01.968 – “Finally, I can say I’m a little bit happier today. We made some progress with the bike and it’s becoming more and more comfortable to ride a MotoGP bike. Towards the end of the day we made some bigger steps, but we still have a job to do tomorrow because I’m still not at the level I would like to be. Nonetheless, I think we can be happy with how things stand after today.”
Loris Baz / 24th / 2m02.426 – “This morning I was on track aiming to improve my performance. Unfortunately the track conditions are very different from the first test and this does not help me. At the end of the morning session I crashed, fortunately without consequences, but this has had an impact on today testing. In the afternoon I went back on the track, I was running on worn tires almost all the time to concentrate on the setup. Tomorrow will be the last day of work here in Sepang and we are confident we can do well.”
Alex De Angelis could not quite match his day 1 pace down in 25th as he continued development of his Octo Ioda ART machine and it was a disastrous day for the Aprilia Racing team Gresini as they seemed to take a step backwards with both Alvaro Bautista and Marco Melandri both slower than they were on day 1. Bautista managed a disappointing lap time of 2’02.221 which was only good enough for 23rd, although he still faired better than his team mate Marco Melandri who despite today trying a chassis more like the one he was used to on his Aprilia World Superbike, was dead last, almost 4 and a half seconds behind Marquez.
Alvaro Bautista / 23rd / 2m02.221 – “Days like today are important when you’re developing a new project. With a few changes to the electronics yesterday we were able to take a small step forward from our last tests, whereas today we focused on the chassis, especially working on improving performance going into turns. We tested a lot of new details and although the time sheets don’t bear it out, the tests gave us some hints to analyse for the future. Tomorrow the plan is to go back to the base setup that I prefer and put in a long run where we’ll be able to see how the bike performs as the tyres wear.”
In the number 33 garage the session unwound going over what had been done yesterday, continuing the comparison between the decidedly different two bikes. This was a choice made for two reasons: to give Marco time to gain familiarity with the technical characteristics of the new materials without putting any pressure on him, and to combine the positive aspects of the information collected on both solutions in order to define the evolution of the RS-GP project.
Marco Melandri / 27th / 2m04.313 – “Today we continued the work we started yesterday, starting with the SBK derived bike and then moving on to the RS-GP. Unfortunately the time sheets are still not rewarding us. I still don’t have that feeling that will let me push and ride the way I’d like to. We aren’t struggling in any particular area; it’s just the overall feeling that needs to improve before we’ll be able to get our times down. Tomorrow we’ll continue the tests. I’m certainly not expecting a revolution, but any improvement will be crucial.”
The teams return tomorrow for the final day of the official Sepang 2 test.
MotoGP Sepang 2 Test Day Two Results
1. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’59.844
2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1’59.902
3. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Ducati Team 2’00.098
4. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 2’00.250
5. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 2’00.275
6. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2’00.308
7. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 2’00.329
8. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) CWM LCR Honda 2’00.333
9. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) Team Suzuki MotoGP 2’00.409
10. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 2’00.689
11. Danilo Petrucci (ITA) Pramac Racing 2’00.713
12. Maverick Viñales (SPA) Team Suzuki MotoGP 2’00.731
13. Scott Redding (GBR) Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 2’00.762
14. Hector Barbera (SPA) Avintia Racing 2’00.847
15. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Pramac Racing 2’01.012
16. Stefan Bradl (GER) Forward Racing 2’01.131
17. Nicky Hayden (USA) Drive M7 Aspar 2’01.633
18. Michele Pirro (ITA) Pramac Racing 2’01.897
19. Eugene Laverty (IRL) Drive M7 Aspar 2’01.944
20. Karel Abraham (CZE) AB Motoracing 2’01.945
21. Jack Miller (AUS) CWM LCR Honda 2’01.968
22. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Racing 2’02.006
23. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2’02.221
24. Loris Baz (FRA) Forward Racing 2’02.426
25. Alex De Angelis (RSM) Octo IodaRacing Team 2’03.499
26. Katsuyuki Nakasuga (JPN) Yamaha Factory Test Team 2’03.755
27. Marco Melandri (ITA) Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 2’04.313
MotoGP 2015 Sepang 2 Test Image Gallery A
