Rider’s reflect on day two of the Sepang MotoGP Test
Maverick Vinales – P1
“The second day went really well. I felt really good with the bike. We‘ve been working especially on the electronics, but there’s still work to do. We have a long way to go to set up the electronics correctly, but I‘m happy with the steps we‘ve made. We tried to work in hot conditions, especially around midday and we’ll follow the same plan tomorrow. We‘re trying to improve a lot in hot conditions, to solve the problems we had last year. I think it was a positive day and I‘m ready to work some more tomorrow.”
Valentino Rossi – P2
“I’m happy about the second day because we worked well and finished our programme for today. We tried some big and small details and some things were good and some things were less good. For example, I like the aerodynamics, and I was able to improve my pace and lap times. I think I did my personal best here in Sepang today, because a 1’59.3s is good. It’s very tight, all the top riders are very strong, so that will be interesting. I’m very happy to be there at the front. I like the fairing more than last year’s because I have more protection and – because I’m a bit big and tall – that’s what I need, so that’s good. The ducts – that are not wings – are good because the bike has less wheelie and that gives us more front contact. It looks like we’re also quite fast in the straight and so it was a good day.”
Cal Crutchlow – P3
“It’s been another positive day today, where we had a lot of things to test for ourselves and for Honda so the schedule was very busy. Unfortunately, we had to start late because the track was a bit damp, but overall we are happy with our performance today. We worked very well with used tyres over the day, which was quite important. Then we were able to push for a one-off fast lap at the end, but I had a bit of a bad feeling on the lap. So, it is actually quite positive that the lap time was so good, despite it not feeling great. It also meant we only used one tyre out of our allocation to be able to push for the lap-time. Our race-pace looks good at the moment in comparison to our competitors, so tomorrow we have to continue to work with what we have on our schedule and overnight we will be working together with Honda and the team to see where we can make improvements.”
Jorge Lorenzo – P4
“Today we were competitive again and I’m very happy about that. We sorted out a few details, tested some new components and settings and in the end improved both our lap time and our pace. I also believe we still have room for more improvement and, when we get a better idea of some things, I think we’ll be able to express all the potential of the new Desmosedici GP, which is very high.”
Jack Miller – P5
“I’m really very satisfied. And I have to say that I’m happy more for the sensations that the bike is giving me rather than for the times that are still very positive. We started working on the set up and this means that we still have margin. But we must take one step at a time. The goal is to grow day by day without thinking too much about the lap-times.”
Johann Zarco – P6
“What we saw from the first day, the bike is able to be very consistent, but yesterday I felt it was not fast enough. On my last lap today though, I have been very quick and was able to clock a really good time. Obviously, the other riders increased their pace in the last 30 minutes. Anyway, we can be happy, as we reached our goal to be under the 2 minutes bracket. There are many positives to take away from today, although it has not been easy to find solutions in some areas we wanted to improve. It’s the first winter test of this year, therefore it’s truly important to work on the bike rather than just try to set a fast lap time. For now, I have to rest a bit and sleep well and tomorrow we want to try some different things to be able to give even more feedback.”
Marc Marquez – P7
“Today I’m very happy because we made some steps forward and I felt really good on my bike, especially in the afternoon, when we put everything in place and I did my fastest lap when the temperature was highest. Besides continuing our work on the engine and setup, we tried a new fairing, and when you do that type of test you have to adjust the bike’s balance a little bit. We’ll need to do more laps to collect more data and get used to riding with it. There are a few things we need to improve more, several areas of the setup that we have to adjust, but so far I’m happy with our pace and think we’re working well. Unfortunately, when we fit a new tyre at the end of the day, it started to rain a bit. I lost the front at turn two even though I wasn’t really pushing, but it wasn’t important.”
Andrea Dovizioso – P8
“I’m satisfied with the work we did today and the sensations I had with the new bike, even though in the afternoon unfortunately we were unable to complete all the tests that had been scheduled. Also last year we proved that we were very competitive here at Sepang, so now we have to getter a better understanding of how much room for improvement we have with the 2018 bike, and it’ll be vitally important to verify the positive aspects on the next tracks we go to and in different conditions.”
Danilo Petrucci – P9
“The sensations are very positive. The feeling with the new bike improves day after day. Today we have done a very important job with Ducati that will be useful during the season. Then in the afternoon I tried the first real time attack with the ‘2018’. I still have to take a little bit of confidence in order to be able to reduce the time even further. We will certainly try it tomorrow.”
Andrea Iannone – P10
“As I said in the last days we are on a growing path, working with a step by step approach, and we’re working day after day to understand and see any limits that we encounter. Today has been another day on this path, we have understood many things and found both positives and negatives which makes the day very useful. We have focused on trying different set-ups to understand how the GSX-RR reacts to our changes and we got a lot of information. The weather and the crashes have affected the working schedule and we are a little behind with our ‘to do list’, therefore we must stay focused tomorrow to understand as much as possible the true potential of the various options and different configurations that we have here, in order to address the future work until the Qatar debut.”
Aleix Espargaro – P11
“The tests today demonstrated how competitive MotoGP is: with just a half a second gap, I am out of the top 10. In any case, I am very pleased with the way we are working. I only lapped with the 2018 bike and I must say that the improvements are clear. Especially in terms of the chassis architecture, Aprilia has developed the RS-GP following my requests and cornering performance has benefited from that. We still have room to improve, for example in acceleration, but the base on which we will begin the season will be even further evolved, so I cannot help but to be optimistic.”
Dani Pedrosa – P12
“Today we had a full-day session that allowed us to carry out many tests. We mainly used the new engine specifications, and we worked a lot on a new fairing and other combinations with the aerodynamics. We also worked on the suspension and tyres because with this type of work, you have to make many adjustments to the settings. Some aspects were good right away—the wheelie control was better, and we were able to apply more torque on corner-exit—but we need to improve other aspects and also try everything again at a different track. Anyway, the feeling was generally positive again today; we were quite precise in our work and managed to follow our testing plan well. Tomorrow will be the final day, and we’ll try and work more on the details.”
Alex Rins – P13
“I’m feeling really good and today was a really positive test in which we tried many things. We tried to adjust the bike with a new engine and in that way we found really positive things. Tomorrow we have more to try; such as suspension, and some parts of the chassis, so we will focus on that. I tried to work really hard during the pre-season so that I could arrive here with good feelings physically, because it can be difficult after two months off the bike, and I am feeling really good.”
Tito Rabat – P15
“Today was a day to try many different things in the set up of the bike to see what we like and what we don’t like. I’m happy because we have clear which way to follow and although we didn’t complete many laps, all of them have been effective and have allowed us to test what we wanted to test. For tomorrow, if tonight doesn’t rain, the intention is to start early and try to improve the lap time but, to be honest, I’m happy with the pace we have and specially because I’m doing fast times riding on my own. We have to concentrate to make the most of the last day and if everything goes well I would like to do a race simulation.”
Álvaro Bautista – P19
“We have been taking to the track with a set-up that is similar to the one we had last year, but it is true that this bike has some different characteristics. As far as the front end is concerned, I feel good, but in traction we are losing out so we are working to get more grip, because there I lose a lot. I do not notice much difference with the wings on the bike, it doesn’t go worse with them on but I do not know how much difference there is between having them and not. This track is not a place where you would notice a lot anyway.”
Karel Abraham – P20
“We’re experiencing a tough first couple of days of our 2018 preseason. Yesterday we didn’t get to ride much because of the weather and some technical issues, and today was pretty difficult as well. I couldn’t get into a rhythm and as much as the team tried to help me we didn’t manage to get into some fast lap times. We just need to find a way that is good for both of us – me and the bike. So we need to keep working hard and stay positive. We will need to push really hard in the first part of the season, as the differences between the bikes won’t be as big as in the end of the season.”
Taka Nakagami – P21
“The second day of testing has been quite good, we had a good start to the morning session, but then I had a small crash at around 4pm. It was a really small mistake and a small crash but the bike was damaged a little bit and I had to swap to the spare machine. On that bike the geometry was a bit different, and the feeling wasn’t so positive, so it changed our plans a bit. At the end of the day I wasn’t able to push for a lap time, but I’m feeling OK physically, so we are looking forward to the last day tomorrow when we will try for a long run race simulation.”
Scott Redding – P23
“We improved compared to yesterday, both in terms of times and my feeling with the new bike. The biggest limitation right now is chattering at the front which keeps me from making further progress. We did a few tests, but evidently we need a radical change. I can feel that the bike can be faster and Aleix is demonstrating that. Now we’ll analyse the data and decide what to try tomorrow.”
Yonny Hernandez – P25
“On day two we found a small improvement and I’m happy about that. Compared to yesterday, we also lowered our lap time by half a second, which is another positive point. Clearly, this is not the position we want to be in, but today we understood more and more aspects about the bike. I just focused on riding the Yamaha, plus I also did some good work with used tyres, which is very important. I learned to ride the bike on it, used the traction control a lot and trying to figure out how the medium and the soft tyres perform. I’m pleased that we are improving day by day, exit by exit, just doing as many kilometers as possible. The goal for tomorrow is the same like today; learning a lot and trying to reduce the gap to the top.”
Xavier Simeon – P26
“I’m very happy because today we did a big step compared to yesterday, and even during the afternoon with used tyres I was able to improve. Every time I go out on track I feel better with the bike, every time I understand the tyres better, I’m changing my position and little by little and I’m riding more in the style required by a MotoGP machine; lifting the bike as soon as possible and trying to brake as late as possible. At the end of the day we put a set of fresh soft tyres to try to improve the lap times and, honestly, I expected to improve a bit more. Especially seeing how the other riders with the new tyre were doing a big improvement. I expected to be able to do the same, but it is clear that I still have many things to learn.”
Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha MotoGP Team Director
“We’ve made further progress today. We lost a few hours of testing time in the morning, but we’re still on schedule. On the first day we tried to confirm our earlier found data and on the second day of testing we wanted to add onto it. Maverick and Vale were really focused on riding with used tyres, and so far it looks like improvements have been made on tyre wear. They have a good feeling on the bike and were also able to test a new aerodynamic fairing with positive results. The mini time-attack at the end of the day put us in first and second place, which is great for the team. More importantly, we’re working in the right direction as we prepare for longer runs. We still need about four or five dry hours of testing tomorrow in order to finish our schedule.”
Davide Brivio – Suzuki Team Manager
“Today has been another day where we worked a lot, but we are in a situation at the moment where we really need to understand everything and get good information. We really worked hard and we made a lot of adjustments with both riders, who were working in different areas of the bike. Alex concentrated more on the engine side with two slightly different specs., so he was trying to understand the positives and negatives of each one. In the morning he could keep a consistent and positive pace, then further improved in the afternoon. And for Andrea it was much more based around the chassis area, we worked a lot with different configurations and we could find a positive one that allowed him to set a good lap time, his best so far. We will continue tomorrow and into the next test to try to be as clear as possible about our final package.”
Sepang MotoGP Test 2018
Day Two Test Results
- Maverick Vinales 1m59.355 Yamaha
- Valentino Rossi 1m59.390 Yamaha
- Cal Crutchlow 1m59.443 Honda
- Jorge Lorenzo 1m59.498 Ducati
- Jack Miller 1m59.509 Ducati
- Johann Zarco 1m59.702 Yamaha
- Marc Marquez 1m59.730 Honda
- Andrea Dovizioso 1m59.732 Ducati
- Danilo Petrucci 1m59.747 Ducati
- Andrea Iannone 1m59.917 Suzuki
- Aleix Espargaro 1m59.925 Aprilia
- Dani Pedrosa 1m59.999 Honda
- Alex Rins 2m00.042 Suzuki
- Pol Espargaro 2m00.262 KTM
- Tito Rabat 2m00.506 Ducati
- Bradley Smith 2m00.520 KTM
- Franco Morbidelli 2m00.662 Honda
- Mika Kallio 2m00.701 KTM
- Alvaro Bautista 2m00.728 Ducati
- Karel Abraham 2m00.914 Ducati
- Takaaki Nakagami 2m00.952 Honda
- Sylvain Guintoli 2m01.392 Suzuki
- Scott Redding 2m01.456 Aprilia
- Yamaha Test Rider 2m01.480 Yamaha
- Yonny Hernandez 2m01.554 Yamaha
- Xavier Simeon 2m01.689 Ducati
- Tom Luthi 2m01.810 Honda
Day One Test Results
- PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1:59.427
- DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 0.343
- LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Ducati Team Ducati 0.375
- PETRUCCI Danilo 9 ITA Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 0.696
- MILLER Jack 43 AUS Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 0.751
- ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 0.806
- MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.863
- ZARCO Johann 5 FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 0.994
- CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Castrol Honda 1.095
- ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1.141
- RINS Alex 42 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1.200
- NAKAGAMI Takaaki 30 JPN LCR Honda Idemitsu Honda 1.237
- VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1.287
- ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1.439
- RABAT Tito 53 SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 1.485
- IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1.600
- SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1.672
- MORBIDELLI Franco 21 ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1.734
- BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Angel Nieto Team Ducati 2.301
- GUINTOLI Sylvain 50 FRA Suzuki Test Team Suzuki 2.437
- REDDING Scott 45 GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 2.535
- TEST 3 Yamaha 33 JPN Yamaha Test Team Yamaha 2.617
- HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 2.626
- ABRAHAM Karel 17 CZE Angel Nieto Team Ducati 2.661
- TEST 2 Yamaha 32 JPN Yamaha Test Team Yamaha 3.100
- SIMEON Xavier 10 BEL Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 3.519
- LUTHI Tom 12 SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 4.305
- TEST 1 Yamaha 31 JPN Yamaha Test Team Yamaha 4.359
- PIRRO Michele 51 ITA Ducati Test Team Ducati 5.340
- KALLIO Mika 36 FIN KTM Test Team KTM 6.505
