That old wives tale that says a rider loses precious tenths of second when they have children, certainly doesn’t apply to Casey Stoner.
The reigning World Champion picked up where he left off during the first test at Sepang, on top the the timesheets.
The Repsol Honda rider stopped the clock in 2.
01.
761 which was set on his 8th lap of the day of the sixteen he did – lap times recorded today were higher than the previous test – with an intense rain shower in the afternoon interrupting all testing.
Stoner’s lap remained the best of the day and he called it day very early, while only five riders ventured out on track once the rain stopped.
The Repsol Honda team is testing a new chassis trying to solve the chattering issues that they’ve been experiencing with the new and kinder 2012 Bridgestone tires.
Dani Pedrosa ended up second, 0.
244s adrift from his team mate with more than double the laps, while Yamaha duo Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies were third and fourth respectively, and 0.
675s and more than a second from Stoner.
Yamaha has also brought in a modified chassis as they too are suffering from chattering, but it seems less severe than on the RC213V.
Jorge Lorenzo also tested a new engine.
Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista brought his Honda up to fifth place, while Nicky Hayden who is recovering from his shoulder surgery was back on track trying to get as much time on the Ducati GP12 as possible after missing most of the previous test.
The American rider was in sixth, while team mate Valentino Rossi was 8th and the usual 1.
4 seconds off pace.
The Ducati team is working on perfecting the electronics upgrades that the test team tested at Jerez the other week and they tried different shaped gas tanks.
They also have test rider Franco Battaini present.
Iron Frank has taken up testing duties for Karel Abraham.
The Cardion AB rider is at Sepang, but after just two laps on the GP12 Valencia or Zero version, or whatever they are calling it, decided to withdraw for the day suffering from back and shoulder problems that he sustained when he crashed at the private Jerez test.
Finishing ahead of Valentino Rossi, was Yamaha Tech3s Cal Crutchlow.
Hector Barbera was 9th after he also spent a day of private testing at Jerez and MotoGP rookie Stefan Bradl was 10th.
Andrea Dovizioso who should be in much better physical condition than the first test where he was recovering from shoulder surgery was 11th on the second Yamaha Tech3 machine.
Forward Racing and BQR CRT teams are also present again.
Colin Edwards trying to sort out the chattering issues and improve the electronics that he has on BMW/Suter machine and he was a little less than four seconds from the top of the chart.
Dead last and still tremendously off pace are the Avintia riders, Ivan Silva and Yonny Hernandez, with the Colombian rider back in the team after having found the budget to ride.
MotoGP Sepang2 Day 1 Results:01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 2’01.
761 (16 laps)02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.
244 (36)03- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
675 (22)04- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
058 (31)05- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.
198 (24)06- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
371 (55 )07- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
452 (27)08- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1’484 (39 )09- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
851 (24)10- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 2.
059 (31)11- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.
069 (23 )12- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW – + 3.
749 (25)12- Franco Battaini – Ducati Test Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 3.
802 (11)14- Ivan Silva – Avintia Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 6.
348 (32)15- Yonny Hernandez – Avintia Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 7.
006 (16)