Marc Márquez closes the first MotoGP Sepang test as the fastest

Today marked the final day of the MotoGP World Championship pre-season test at the Sepang Circuit, where Marc Márquez finished as the fastest rider of the day with a lap time of 1:59.533. The number 93 was therefore the fastest across the whole test and all the days. It is clear that the reigning premier class World Champion arrives with his batteries fully charged and eager to start pushing hard with his Honda.

The 93 completed 40 laps of the Malaysian track during the closing session, setting his best time early on, and then went on testing more new components on his machine and working with his team on the setup. Meanwhile, second place on this third day went to Valentino Rossi, who managed to dip into the 1:59 and finish just 0.194s behind the leader. The Italian is clearly very strong, and it seems the Yamaha has made good progress.

Completing the top 3 was Jorge Lorenzo. The Mallorcan also managed to dip into the 1:59 and finished 0.333s behind the leader, so the Yamahas are very strong and we can expect maximum excitement with the battle between Honda-Yamaha. Further back was Aleix Espargaró, the top Open rider and one of the Yamahas that has impressed most with its performance. On top of that, the 41 also ran a 1:59, finishing 0.465s behind Márquez.

The top 5 was completed by Stefan Bradl, while the top 10 on this third day was filled by Dani Pedrosa in 6th, Andrea Dovizioso 7th, Pol Espargaró 8th, Andrea Iannone 9th and Álvaro Bautista 10th. The rest of the Spanish riders were led by Héctor Barberá in 23rd.

As for the combined times over the three days, Márquez was the fastest, followed by Rossi in 2nd, Lorenzo 3rd, A. Espargaró 4th, Bradl 5th, Pedrosa 6th, Dovizioso 7th, Smith 8th, P. Espargaró 9th and Iannone 10th. Bautista was 11th and Barberá 23rd.

That closes the first pre-season test. More soon.

Source | MotoGP Official website