Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden were slightly closer to the top of the timesheets during today’s second test at Sepang after the enormous gap that they had during Sepang 1 and seemingly more satisfied with the day 1 results, even if they had to curtail testing due to the rain.
Dovizioso was 1.
2 seconds from Dani Pedrosa, while Nicky Hayden was 1.
5 seconds adrift, as the team compared different fuel tanks, weight distribution and the electronics that Michele Pirro and Andrea Iannone tested at the Jerez test.
“I’m pretty satisfied with today.
My feeling with the bike has improved, and now I know it better than I did two weeks ago here at Sepang.
Today we did tests with the electronics, and we also made a comparison between two bikes with different configurations—one had a different fuel tank and weight distribution—but we didn’t have much time.
It was nothing too major, but it was a positive step.
I used just one set of tyres, so all things considered, the gap to the top is acceptable.
That said, we still have to work hard on corner entry and corner speed,” said Dovizioso who also complained of vibrations from the front end.
Nicky Hayden did the most laps today, 46 that left him in 9th and looking to at least shorten the gap to just one second over the next two days.
“It’s good to be back to work in Malaysia.
This morning we lost a bit of time sorting out some electronics mapping, but then we were able to do some good riding.
Ducati brought a couple of things to try, mainly some changes to weight distribution, which helped make the bike a little nimbler on change of direction.
Also, I’m able to brake better with the same amount of pressure on the lever.
We still need to work on it, but anyway, it’s an improvement.
With the weather, we obviously didn’t get a full a day with a dry track, but it was important for me to ride in the wet.
We know the gap to the front is still too big, but we’re slowly making progress, and hopefully we can reduce it further over the next two days,” concluded Hayden who also reported front and rear chatter.
Also present for the test is Ducati test rider Michele Pirro who is using a ‘laboratory’ bike.
His lap times aren’t important, let’s just say he was faster that 10 other riders who are all on CRT bikes.