SRT Yamaha top opening day of MotoGP Testing in Malaysia

Sepang MotoGP Test

Petronas Sepang Racing Team’s riders were quick out of the blocks today as the opening day of what is a three-day MotoGP official test session at Sepang.

Two hours into the eight-hour practice session the SRT riders had both completed almost 30 laps and were 1-2 at the top of the timesheets. Quartararo leading on 1m58.945 from Morbidelli on 1m59.399.

Next best at this early stage of proceedings was Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, the 30-year-old setting a 1m59.427 on his fourth lap out of the box. Aleix though does have a small advantage over most of the other riders present as he had also rode the new RS-GP at the Malaysian venue earlier in the week.

At that two-hour juncture 12 riders, including rookie Alex Marquez, had dipped under the magic two-minute mark and all manufacturers had riders in that top dozen.

Just after the two-hour mark Alex Rins pushed Morbidelli back to third and Aleix Espargaro further back to fourth after clocking a 1m59.195 on his 24th lap of the day. Pol Espargaro on the KTM was fifth quickest at this stage of proceedings oin a 1m59.536.

As the fourth hour of testing got underway Jack Miller wound up the Pramac Desmosedici to move into third spot on the timesheets with a 1m59.328, and was top Ducati.  Maverick Vinales moved up to fourth which pushed Morbidelli back to fifth and the Espargaro brothers back to sixth and seventh ahead of Valentino Rossi.

SRT Yamaha 1-2 at halfway mark

As the day approached the halfway point Morbidelli moved back up to second place with a 1m58.996 and Crutchlow moved up to P4 after slotting in a 1m59.234 to go top Honda, pushing Miller back to fifth in the process. With Marc Marquez recovering from shoulder surgery Crutchlow is the work horse for Honda this weekend with an extensive list of components to test.

Morbidelli had done the most laps of all the riders at the four-hour mark, 45 laps. Most of the Ducati riders seemed to be taking their time, most had done under 30 laps at that point with Dovi only completing 23 laps for a best of 1m59.771 to be 12th on the charts.

A brief rain storm then soaked the circuit so riders and teams too lunch and very little happened over the next couple of hours as riders waited for the track to dry.

Most of the field hit the track again for the final hour on a dry circuit but none of the top runners bettered their time from earlier in the day. Thus it is an SRT Yamaha 1-2 on day one of season 2020 ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Rins and LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow.

Jack Miller the leading Ducati in fifth place ahead of Maverick Vinales and the Espargaro brothers.

Joan Mir in ninth and Valentino Rossi rounding out the top ten ahead of Andrea Dovizioso and the Marquez brothers.

Thus in the top ten we have four Yamahas, two Suzukis, and a single Ducati, Honda, Aprilia and KTM making it all six manufacturers securing a spot in the top ten.

Sepang MotoGP Test Day One Times

2020 MotoGP Calendar
Date	Grand prix	Circuit
08 March	Qatar*	Losail International Circuit
22 March	Thailand	Chang International Circuit
05 April	Americas	Circuit of the Americas
19 April	Republica Argentina	Termas de Rio Hondo
03 May	Spain	Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto
17 May	France	Le Mans
31 May	Italy	Autodromo del Mugello
07 June	Catalunya	Barcelona – Catalunya
21 June	Germany	Sachsenring
28 June	Netherlands	TT Circuit Assen
12 July	Finland**	KymiRing
09 August	Czech Republic	Automotodrom Brno
16 August	Austria	Red Bull Ring-Spielberg
30 August	Great Britain	Silverstone
13 September	San Marino	Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
04 October	Aragón	MotorLand Aragón
18 October	Japan	Twin Ring Motegi
25 October	Australia	Phillip Island
01 November	Malaysia	Sepang International Circuit
15 November	Comunitat Valenciana	Comunitat Valenciana-Ricardo Tormo
*Evening ** Subject to FIM Homologation