Those three days of private testing that Marc Marquez had at Sepang late last November were just a mere hint of what everyone imagined that this sensational MotoGP rookie could do, because in today’s first day of official MotoGP testing at the Malaysian circuit, Marquez almost made everyone forget a certain Casey Stoner.
Marquez did not waste anytime rushing to the top of the timesheets immediately, and at the end of the day he finished third and just a mere 0.
044s gap covered the rookie, Repsol Honda team mate Dani Pedrosa and reigning World Champion Jorge Lorenzo.
While we have to keep reminding ourselves that this is only testing, but the 2013 season seems to looking more brighter, as Dani Pedrosa took over the top of the timesheets in the final minutes with a best lap of 2’01″157 – which is 2 seconds off of Casey Stoner’s 2012 Sepang test lap of 1’59″607 – but the Sepang track still has to have a lot of rubber layed down following yesterday’s rain showers.
Test MotoGP Sepang – Day 1 Valentino Rossi led the morning session and then finished fourth and a little more than four tenths slower – with the Ducati nightmare already behind him – concluding the day a little earlier than the rest of what he can now again call his rivals.
Stefan Bradl who has official HRC backing this season was fifth ahead of Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Tech3) and Alvaro Bautista who was last rider to be within a second from Pedrosa.
Ducati’s problems are continuing as they are re-testing all the previous parts that were abandoned last season.
Nicky Hayden is a test mule and he finished 10th and more than two seconds off pace, behind Yamaha’s test rider Katsuyuki Nakasuga (2nd at the wet and wild 2012 Valencia GP) and Honda’s test rider Kousuke Akiyoshi (last year’s 8 Hours of Suzuka winner).
Andrea Dovizioso in his first real test with Ducati (he had neck problems that kept him from testing at Jerez) was 13th, while Pramac riders Andrea Iannone and Ben Spies, also his first test with Ducati were 16th and 17th respectively and three seconds off pace.
Spies did not ride in the afternoon session due pain issues in his shoulder.
Aleix Espargaro and Randy De Puniet were faster than the Ducati’s with their ART machines.
IodaRacing’s Danilo Petrucci is sharing his BMW-Suter with team mate Lukas Pesek.
The Czech rider did the morning sessione while Petrucci did the afternoon one.
Michael Laverty made his MotoGP testing debut with the PBMUK’s ART bike as did Bryan Staring Gresini’s FTR Honda.
MotoGP Sepang Day 1 Test Results:01- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 2’01.
157 (49 laps) 02- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
008 (58) 03- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.
044 (62) 04- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
427 (56) 05- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 0.
632 (59) 06- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
724 (64) 07- Alvaro Bautista – Go & Fun Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.
824 (59) 08- Katsuyuki Nakasuga – Yamaha Test Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
811 (58) 09- Kousuke Akiyoshi – HRC Test Team – Honda RC213V – + 1.
815 (69) 10- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 2.
179 (62) 11- Wataru Yoshikawa – Yamaha Test Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.
299 (46) 12- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.
303 (56) 13- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 2.
378 (48) 14- Aleix Espargaro – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 2.
625 (58) 15- Randy De Puniet – Power Electronics Aspar – ART GP13 – + 3.
126 (56) 16- Andrea Iannone – Energy T.
I.
Pramac Racing Team – Ducati GP13 – + 3.
343 (57) 17- Ben Spies – Ignite Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 3.
929 (21) 18- Takumi Takahashi – HRC Test Team – Honda RC213V – + 3.
997 (70) 19- Hector Barbera – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 4.
312 (41) 20- Yonny Hernandez – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP13 – + 4.
499 (50) 21- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – ART GP13 – + 4.
537 (54) 22- Danilo Petrucci – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 4.
596 (29) 23- Hiroshi Aoyama – Avintia Blusens – BQR FTR – + 4.
762 (48) 24- Claudio Corti – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 5.
269 (38) 25- Michael Laverty – Paul Bird Motorsport – ART GP13 – + 5.
350 (43) 26- Lukas Pesek – CAME Iodaracing Project – Ioda Suter BMW – + 5.
858 (46) 27- Bryan Staring – Go & Fun Honda Gresini – FTR Honda MGP12 – + 5.
887 (41) 28- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – FTR Kawasaki – + 7.
049 (25)Photos © Getty Images