That Marco Simoncelli and his team were coming to grips with the complex electronics of his Honda was already obvious towards the end of last season and during these last two days of testing at Sepang with a 4th and 5th spot, but did anyone expect him to lead on this 3rd day of testing?Simoncelli is not only leading the field at 2pm, but he’s already under 0.
013s of that scorching lap that Dani Pedrosa laid down early yesterday morning, but the bushy haired Italian is closely followed by another Italian on a Honda, Andrea Dovizioso who is also under the 2.
01 mark.
Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo and Ben Spies are also tagging the the Honda pair in third and fourth respectively, while Casey Stoner who crashed this morning is running in 5th.
Dani Pedrosa is down in 6th after yesterday’s performance, followed by Hiroshi Aoyama who also suffered a crash, fortunately with no consequences.
The Ducati’s seem to have solved some of the chattering and the problem of getting the bike to turn that the riders have lamented in these last two days, because Nicky Hayden is up to 8th, albeit almost 8 tenths of a second off, while Valentino Rossi has finally made into the top ten, but still has to hack off that second he’s loosing due to his shoulder problems.
MotoGP Sepang Test Times at 2pm:1.
Marco Simoncelli ITA San Carlo Honda Gresini 2.
00.
7572.
Andrea Dovizioso ITA Repsol Honda Team 2.
00.
9453.
Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing 2.
00.
9634.
Ben Spies USA Yamaha Factory Racing 2.
01.
0025.
Casey Stoner AUS Repsol Honda Team 2.
01.
1126.
Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 2.
01.
241s7.
Hiroshi Aoyama JPN San Carlo Honda Gresini 2.
01.
3538.
Nicky Hayden USA Ducati Team 2.
01.
5349.
Colin Edwards USA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2.
01.
65110.
Valentino Rossi ITA Ducati Team 2.
01.
84211.
Hector Barbera ESP Aspar Team 2.
02.
03012.
Loris Capirossi ITA Pramac Racing Team 2.
02.
05713.
Randy de Puniet FRA Pramac Racing Team 2.
02.
15914.
Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing 2.
02.
64515.
Cal Crutchlow GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2.
02.
71716.
Toni Elias ESP LCR Honda MotoGP 2.
02.
916