Day 1 of the second official Sepang test was marred first by a greasy and slippery track that didn’t allow lap times to drop and then it was further hampered by the appearance of the usual afternoon tropical downpour but a few riders did go out in the wet.
Here’s what some of the other riders had to say following day 1:Stefan Bradl – 4th“Actually the track conditions were worse than the first test so today’s lap time is not as good as my first outing here.
Due to the slippery surface it took me a while to get a proper confidence and a proper speed but we were able to put in many laps trying out some braking system components and geometry settings.
Around 3pm it started to rain so I had a couple of laps in the wet aboard the 2013 machine for the first time and the verdict was quite positive”.
Cal Crutchlow – 6th “I’m happy enough with today because all you could do was ride around to the grip that was available.
This morning the track condition wasn’t good at all.
It was greasy and the heat was just making it worse and you can see the lap times are a fair way off what we were doing here only recently.
I was 1.
5s off my best time from the first test and Pedrosa was about the same.
Once I got to my best lap time today I pretty much stayed at that pace for the rest of the day because the grip wasn’t there.
There were a few crashes and it was obvious that we’d got used to the grip that we had at the last test but it wasn’t there and when people started to push they crashed.
” Alvaro Bautista – 7th “It was vitally important for us to get back on track so soon after the last test so that we can verify the work we did here three weeks ago and make the necessary changes over these next couple of days here in Malaysia.
Unfortunately the weather didn’t allow us much track time but in the [32] laps that we did we managed to make some important alterations to the geometry of the bike and suspension.
We did a few laps in the wet too just to get some data for those conditions.
”Bradley Smith – 10th “This morning was another good learning process for me because the track condition was completely different to the first test.
It was dirty and slippery and it meant that I had to ride smoothly, which is how I need to be riding this bike all of the time.
I’ve been a little too aggressive but in those conditions I had to ride the bike in a completely different way.
The crash was another part of the learning process too.
I’d had a couple of warnings in the previous two laps but I kind of shrugged them off because I’m not sure what the limit is.
Now I know the limit although a crash is never ideal.
I’d done all my laps on the same set of tyres and now I know what the warning signs are I’ll be better prepared in the future.
”Aleix Espargaró – 12th“There has been a lot of rain in the days leading up to this test and yesterday there were a lot of cars on track so I guess that’s why the surface was so slippery today.
You can see from the lap times that the conditions were not optimum but we focused our work today on comparing this year’s bike with last year’s.
Unfortunately we didn’t get through our full schedule because of the rain.
” Randy De Puniet – 18th “Compared to the last test the track was very dirty today and there was very little grip.
We did a couple of runs on the base setting we found in the last test and tried to iron out the front end chatter we had encountered.
We had two different settings to try but it was difficult to draw any real conclusions because of the state of the track surface.
We stopped for a little break halfway through the session and that’s when it started raining so we couldn’t carry on.
”Danilo Petrucci – 21st“Today we have worked a lot on the new ECU trying to find a good setting with wich we will start tomorrow with my new IODA-SUTER BMW 2013.
The conditions of the track were bad, none has improved his lap time compared to the last test, and so we have decided to use just one set of tyres, then it started to rain and the day was finished earlier.
I hope in good conditions for the next days, in this way we can continue to develope the new ECU and the 2013 chassis and trying to improve my best lap of the last test”.
Karel Abraham – 22nd“Initially everything was running due to a plan, I rode well and first laps were pointing towards good result.
Unfortunately, in one very well performed lap I fell down.
Nothing happened to me, but I didn´t finish that lap and following motorcycle repair took some time.
When I re-joined the track, there was a massive shower.
Than the track was drying up and then it started to rain again.
Under such a bad conditions there was no chance to achieve some better result.
Meantime we are still using the older engine, it looks that the better one we´re gonna test maybe the last day.
“Bryan Staring – 26th“For me it was important to get back here and complete some more laps as I continue my adaptation to MotoGP.
It’s really nice to be back at Sepang after just three weeks and I have spent the day trying to get a better feeling for the bike and learning more about this category.
Lap by lap we are getting there and the team are helping out by improving the set-up of the bike.
Unfortunately we couldn’t get many laps done before the rain came but we got some important things done that set us up for tomorrow.
”Lukas Pesek – 27th “Today I was focused on finding a good feeling with my bike, but we couldn’t do many laps because of the rain.
My target is to make many kilometres as possible with my IODA-SUTER BMW to improve my feeling with it, to understand its reactions and to find the best base on wich work during the season”.