Jorge Lorenzo dominates MotoGP test day 1 at Sepang

Today the 2012 MotoGP World Championship has begun, as the Sepang circuit hosted the first day of official practice for the premier class, so preparations kick off with this first pre-season test at the Malaysian track, where the MotoGP riders and some CRT machines have shown their pace in 2012.

The session began with a strong performer, Jorge Lorenzo taking charge of the practice and not giving up that position, improving lap after lap in both times and feeling. Without doubt the Mallorcan has had a good day’s work at Sepang alongside his whole team; his first test with the 1000cc bike seems to be going quite well, and he is satisfied with the work done at Yamaha. The strangest news came at the start of the test, when Casey Stoner, the MotoGP World Champion, was getting ready to head out on track. Apparently, while he was putting on his suit he felt a sharp pain in his back, and the physio confirmed it was a muscle contracture, so both the Australian and the team decided he would not go out on the circuit today.

In principle Stoner is expected to be on track tomorrow, but meanwhile our riders have shown great strength and are the clear favourites to challenge the number 1. On one side, Lorenzo has shown he is prepared and recovered from his injury, eager to give it full throttle and keep progressing with the Yamaha, setting a 2:01.657 on this first day after completing 30 laps.

In second place is Dani Pedrosa, of the Repsol Honda squad, who is happy and was the rider who completed the most laps at Sepang, with a total of 48. He clearly still has many things to test and improve, but he looked comfortable with his RC213V, finishing 0.346s behind the Yamaha rider while showing good feeling after the whole winter. Closing out the top ten is another Yamaha, Cal Crutchlow, who managed to put his Tech3 in third position, just 0.564s behind Lorenzo, so a good start for the satellite teams.

Another Yamaha that has been up front is that of Ben Spies , who was fourth, 0.577s behind his teammate, while in fifth place is Valentino Rossi, a revived 46 who is very satisfied with his first test day and with the work of the Ducati men, and of course with the help of Carlos Checa and Battaini. So it seems things are not as far off as in 2011; at least in this first contact he sits 0.735s from the fastest time.

Sixth place went to Andrea Dovizioso. The Italian could not give his maximum because of his pain; let us remember that at the beginning of January he suffered a fall while training and fractured his collarbone, which forced him into surgery, so he is still quite affected, and despite this he managed to set an interesting time.

Another of ours also surprised: Héctor Barberá keeps working hard with his Ducati, and it seems the Pramac Racing bike is going very well, as he was 7th on his first run in this test with the GPzero, the version the factory riders used in Valencia. Barby was also the second classified Ducati, so this start for the 8 is on the right track.

The 9th position of Álvaro Bautista is not bad either; he is still adapting to the Honda after saying goodbye to Suzuki. Little by little he is getting closer to the rest of the rivals and already shows signs of improvement. The rider from Talavera de la Reina also has to get used to his new Showa suspensions, so the 19 is gradually settling in, and today after 45 laps he sits 1.2s behind Lorenzo.

Closing out the top ten is Nicky Hayden, the 69 who is still affected by his injury from a training session about a month ago. He tried to give his all at Sepang, leaving behind Stefan Bradl, who was 11th about 2 seconds behind Lorenzo, while Karel Abraham was 12th, focused above all on improving his riding and basic aspects.

The CRTs have been somewhat far from the MotoGP times at this start, as was to be expected before the test. So our best rider is Colin Edwards with a 2:08.240, 6.583s behind, while Jordi Torres was 16th, more than 9 seconds off, and Iván Silva closed the standings from 17th place, more than 9.5 seconds behind Lorenzo.

A lot of work for the CRTs if they want to improve, but little by little they will achieve better times.

Riders, the action has begun; it’s time to open the throttle.

MotoGP Sepang Test Day 1 Classification