Day 1 of MotoGP Test 2 at the Sepang Circuit

Day 1 of the MotoGP World Championship Test 2 at the Sepang Circuit got off to the same start as the previous session on the Malaysian track, with Casey Stoner strong and the fastest, although the main protagonists of the day on the track have been the track conditions and the rain, which has considerably hampered the riders and teams’ runs, especially around midday and into the afternoon.

All the riders have been quite a bit slower than in the previous test, but this is only the first day. There are still two more days of testing and training on the Malaysian track, so everyone should keep an eye on the developments of the favourites and the entire grid of the premier class. For now, Stoner has once again been the fastest, setting a time of 2:01.761, but far from his 1:59.607 from a few weeks ago at the same venue.

The Australian set this time in the morning before the downpour that fell around midday, and although the sun came out again afterwards, almost no one has improved their times, including the world champion, who finished day 1 of testing an hour early after completing just 16 laps on this somewhat challenging day at Sepang.

Behind Stoner was his teammate, Dani Pedrosa, so the Repsol duo continues to dominate this start of testing. The Catalan recorded a time of 2:02.005, at a distance of +0.244s, after completing 36 laps of the Malaysian circuit, very focused on fine-tuning his RC213V rather than setting times, as was the third-placed rider, Jorge Lorenzo, who finished more than half a second off the Australian’s time. It was a day in which he debuted his new engine for the YZR-M1, although given the conditions he could not take much advantage of it, and he will have to wait until tomorrow to continue testing this major novelty.

Right behind Lorenzo was his teammate, Ben Spies, who finished more than a second behind the day’s leader at Sepang, in a session of work that was above all tough. The Yamaha men have even more ahead of them, with new parts and specifications, so it’s time to get their M1s ready for the start of the 2012 season.

The rider who is already getting to grips with his new bike is Álvaro Bautista. The man from San Carlo Honda Gresini finished 5th, behind the two strong duos of the championship, Repsol Honda and Yamaha, so he will be a force to reckon with in 2012. These good feelings after just one test and the present session make it undoubtedly a good day for the rider from Talavera de la Reina, who also managed to avoid a crash at the last moment, though he hurt his elbow.

For Bauti, the work focused above all on chassis geometry adjustments and riding position, since he appears to be struggling with the 1000cc machines. A little further back came the first Ducati, with Nicky Hayden at the controls, so it seems the 69 has fully recovered from his surgery a few days after the first Sepang test. He completed a total of 55 laps of the Malaysian track and closed the day with a time of 2:03.132, +1.371s behind Stoner.

The top 10 was completed by Cal Crutchlow in 7th, Valentino Rossi in 8th, Héctor Barberá in 9th and Stefan Bradl in 10th. It seems Rossi focused above all on the electronics of his GP12, finishing almost 1.5s off today’s best time. For his part, our Barberá remains in good form and close to the official Ducatis, devoting himself mainly to seeking greater grip.

For Dovi it was a tough day, as a problem with his M1’s rear brake left him out of action on this first day, and his workload for the next two days at Sepang has piled up.

The first CRT MotoGP was that of Colin Edwards once again, finishing 3.749s behind Stoner after 25 laps. On a day in which he worked mainly on solving the chattering problems on his machine, he was followed by the two Avintia Racing riders, Iván Silva and Yonny Hernández. The latter was making his debut with his new bike, setting a time 7s slower than the Australian.

The bad news comes from Karel Abraham, who, due to the crash he suffered last week at the Jerez Circuit while training with the GPZero, could miss the second day, as the Czech rider apparently has strong pain in his back.

Below you can see the times for Day 1 of MotoGP Sepang 2: