Jorge Lorenzo the best in the MotoGP test at Mugello

The MotoGP World Championship teams had an intense testing day yesterday at the Mugello Circuit, just the day after the Italian Grand Prix at that track, so there was plenty of activity for the riders and teams of the premier class.

Most of the grid went out on track during this official MotoGP test. Only the injured Karel Abraham, James Ellison, Danilo Petrucci and Ben Spies were absent, and Mattia Pasini also did not run, while the rest took advantage of the day to fine-tune their machines ahead of the second part of the World Championship, which starts in two weeks at Laguna Seca.

The best rider of the day was Jorge Lorenzo. The Yamaha rider set an incredible lap time of 1:47.435 over 40 laps, lowering the Italian track record by about three tenths, so the 99 remains in great form after his superb win at Mugello. He did all this without running in the afternoon, and he was not beaten by any other rider during the second session. The Mallorcan tested new software for his M1, being the only Yamaha on track, as his teammate Spies is recovering from the food poisoning he suffered in Italy.

Behind Lorenzo were the two riders of Honda. Dani Pedrosa took second place, 0.114s back, after completing 51 laps, and after a small crash while pushing hard with his new material, chassis and engine. All the novelties were aimed at reducing the chattering that has been giving Pedrosa and Stoner so many headaches. Both had good feelings with a new engine, but when it came to the chassis only the 26 felt comfortable, and the Australian was not very happy with this choice. Third place in the test went to Casey Stoner.

The top five included Nicky Hayden on the first Ducati, and Cal Crutchlow in 5th, both just over three tenths off, but with good feelings. In addition, the Italian manufacturer will spend three days with the test team and test rider Franco Battaini to keep working on the setup for Laguna Seca.

Behind Nicky were the Tech3 men, Crutchlow in 5th and Dovi in 6th, giving a new example that they are strong and rivals to the factory teams. Both riders focused on race settings and on trying to improve their corner speed. A little further back was the big revelation of the season, Stefan Bradl, who also suffered a small crash without serious consequences. During the day he tested new brake pads and a new master cylinder, to try to get better braking performance. Just behind him was Héctor Barberá, another surprise of Mugello with his satellite Ducati. It was not a very intense day for the Pramac Racing rider, as he did not test any new parts, but he did work on electronics and fine-tune the machine, finishing 8th, ahead of Álvaro Bautista in 9th.

Closing the top 10 was Valentino Rossi. The Italian suffered a crash early in the afternoon, which forced a red flag, but luckily it had no serious consequences for the 46, though it did for his Ducati, whose ECU was damaged and prevented him from returning to the track.

In the CRT subcategory, the most interesting thing of the day was seeing Colin Edwards try almost every option, from the FTR to the BQR-FTR, all to try to find out what is wrong with his BMW-Suter. At first he was also going to try the ART, but since Pasini did not take part in the test, that was not possible. So the Texan completed 7 laps with Pirro’s FTR and 6 laps with Yonny’s BQR.

For their part, the CRT standouts, Aleix Espargaró and Randy de Puniet, worked flat out to improve their respective ARTs. Specifically, the 41 tried a new chassis, while the Frenchman evaluated a new fairing. Espargaró was 12th overall on times and De Puniet 14th, with Yonny Hernández 13th in between. The Colombian’s teammate, Iván Silva, was again with the new Inmotec chassis at Mugello, although the team made it quite clear that their current path is the FTR chassis.

Lots of advanced work.

Source | MotoGP Official website