Reigning champion Marc Marquez recorded the best lap time of the day at the first official MotoGP test for 2015, held at the Sepang Circuit in Malaysia.
The thirty riders got on to the track to represent the full official grid for the 2015 MotoGP World Championship. Marquez who had the best lap time of the day, clocking out at 2’00’262 was ahead of the Yamahas of Valentino Rossi (2’00.380) and Jorge Lorenzo as the trio completed the fastest three for day one of the test session.
While Marquez emerged at the top, things weren’t quite as straightforward for teammate Dani Pedrosa, who crashed out at turn nine, thankfully coming out unhurt. He was 0.483 seconds behind and secured fifth position.
The Honda Team garage was a mix compilation of their 2014 race machines as well as the 2015 prototypes of the RC213V as the riders rode both the bikes to compare the differences, helping them fine tune the new machines.
Ducati riders Andrea Dovizioso and teammate Andrea Lannone missed their 2014 Desmosedici GP15 machine and had to do with the 2014’s updated machine, dubbed the GP14.3. Their actual GP15 machines are set to arrive before the seconds practice session at Sepang, later in the month. With the GP14.3 machine, Dovizioso posted an impressive lap time of 2’00.617, coming out at fourth position, almost 2 seconds faster than the same test, last year. Lannone, finished the day’s practice at seventh position.
Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro who was suffering from a knee ligament injury had a moment where he ran off-track, but quickly regained control and was back on the racing surface, finished in fourteenth position, just 2 seconds behind the day’s leader Marquez. While his teammate, Maverick Vinales finish down at twenty first position, a second behind Espargaro.
Rider Team Best Time
1 MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda Team 2:00.262
2 ROSSI, Valentino Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2:00.380
3 LORENZO, Jorge Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 2:00.521
4 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati Team 2:00.617
5 PEDROSA, Dani Repsol Honda Team 2:00.745
6 ESPARGARO, Pol Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:00.930
7 IANNONE, Andrea Ducati Team 2:01.424
8 BRADL, Stefan Forward Racing Team 2:01.556
9 SMITH, Bradley Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:01.707
10 CRUTCHLOW, Cal CWM LCR Honda 2:01.713
11 REDDING, Scott Estrella Galicia 0.0 Marc VDS 2:01.917
12 PIRRO, Michele Pramac Racing 2:01.951
13 PETRUCCI, Danilo Pramac Racing 2:02.136
14 ESPARGARO, Aleix Team Suzuki MotoGP 2:02.225
15 BAUTISTA, Alvaro Factory Aprilia Gresini 2:02.285
16 AOYAMA, Hiroshi HRC 2:02.560
17 HAYDEN, Nicky Drive M7 Aspar 2:02.699
18 BARBERA, Hector Avintia Racing 2:02.700
19 MILLER, Jack CWM LCR Honda 2:02.807
20 NAKASUGA, Katsuyuki Yamaha Factory Test Team 2:03.092
21 VIÑALES, Maverick Team Suzuki MotoGP 2:03.164
22 LAVERTY, Eugene Drive M7 Aspar 2:03.295
23 DI MEGLIO, Mike Avintia Racing 2:03.878
24 ABRAHAM, Karel AB Motoracing 2:03.879
25 BAZ, Loris Forward Racing Team 2:04.163
26 MELANDRI, Marco Factory Aprilia Gresini 2:04.502
27 DE ANGELIS, Alex Octo Ioda Racing Team 2:04.673
28 TAKAHASHI, Takumi HRC 2:04.719
29 TSUDA, Takuya Team Suzuki MotoGP 2:05.478
30 LAVERTY, Michael Aprilia Test Team 2:06.190
