It took Casey Stoner just a handful of laps – he only did a total 29 and as usual less than everyone else – after sitting out yesterday’s first day of testing at Sepang due to a back problem, to continue his dominate form and show the rest of the field why he’s the reigning World Champion.
The Repsol Honda rider lapped in 2.
00.
895 and was the only rider to break the 2.
01 mark, leaving the Yamaha duo lead by Ben Spies and Jorge Lorenzo adrift by 0.
157s and 0.
173s respectively, which seems to indicate that the 1000cc Yamaha M1 has caught up with Honda, as Cal Crutchlow on the Yamaha Tech3 branded M1 was fifth, making it three Yamaha’s in the top five.
Dani Pedrosa ended up in fourth after a flying lap at the end of the day, but he was a mere 0.
057s faster than the British rider.
The surprise of the day was Hector Barbera on the Pramac Ducati.
Barbera was sixth and he’s riding the Ducati GP12, which is really the first and slightly modified version of the Ducati GPZero that Valentino Rossi tested during the post season tests at Valencia.
While Rossi on the GP12 Phoenix ended up in seventh and a little less than a second adrift from his arch rival Casey Stoner, who no doubt will be silently laughing under his helmet.
Ducati team mate Nicky Hayden as we mentioned earlier in the day, had to cut short his test due to a painful shoulder, while the other recovering rider Andrea Dovizioso on the second Yamaha Tech3 gritted his teeth to complete 42 laps and finish in ninth behind Alvaro Bautista on the Gresini Honda.
Closing out the top ten was MotoGP rookie Stefan Bradl.
At the back of the timesheet were the CRT bikes, with Colin Edwards on Forward Racing’s Suter/BMW who made shaved off more than two seconds from yesterday’s lap times, while Avintia’s FTR-Kawasaki’s are having immense technical problems and between the three riders, Ivan Silva, Jordi Torres and Robertino Pietro could only complete a total of 23 laps.
MotoGP Sepang test Day 2 – Final lap times01- Casey Stoner – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – 2’00.
895 (29 laps)02- Ben Spies – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
157 (37)03- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
173 (40)04- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.
613 (35)05- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.
670 (42)06- Hector Barbera – Pramac Racing Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
893 (50)07- Valentino Rossi – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 0.
991 (44)08- Alvaro Bautista – San Carlo Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 1.
038 (46)09- Andrea Dovizioso – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.
265 (42)10- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
459 (41)11- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.
519 (41)12- Karel Abraham – Cardion AB Motoracing – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 1.
703 (66)13- Katsuyuki Nakasuga – Yamaha Factory Racing Team – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 2.
046 (40)14- Franco Battaini – Ducati Marlboro Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP12 – + 3.
416 (38)15- Colin Edwards – NGM Mobile Forward Racing – Suter BMW (CRT) – + 4.
827 (37)16- Ivan Silva – Avintia Racing – FTR Kawasaki (CRT) – + 9.
402 (16)17- Jordi Torres – Avintia Racing – FTR Kawasaki (CRT) – + 10.
998 (2)18- Robertino Pietri – Avintia Racing – FTR Kawasaki (CRT) – + 11.
651 (5)