Tagged: Michele Pirro
Jerez Grand Prix Qualifying Practice 1 results and times: Bradl and Smith edge Espargaro to make it into QP2.
Stefan Bradl and Bradley Smith were just 0.005 seconds apart as both made it through to the second part of qualifying. Alexi Espargaro put in a valiant effort, but ended up 0.1 behind Smith. He did manage however to out qualify Michele Pirro on the Ducati ‘lab bike’.
QP1 times:
Pos. | Rider | Team | Time | Lead. Gap | Prev. gap |
1 | Stefan BRADL | LCR Honda MotoGP | 1’39.985 | ||
2 | Bradley SMITH | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1’39.990 | 0.005 | 0.005 |
3 | Aleix ESPARGARO | Power Electronics Aspar | 1’40.085 | 0.100 | 0.095 |
4 | Michele PIRRO | Ducati Test Team | 1’40.182 | 0.197 | 0.097 |
5 | Randy DE PUNIET | Power Electronics Aspar | 1’40.466 | 0.481 | 0.284 |
6 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | Avintia Blusens | 1’40.654 | 0.669 | 0.188 |
7 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Came IodaRacing Project | 1’40.852 | 0.867 | 0.198 |
8 | Bryan STARING | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 1’41.324 | 1.339 | 0.472 |
9 | Claudio CORTI | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1’41.513 | 1.528 | 0.189 |
10 | Colin EDWARDS | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1’41.536 | 1.551 | 0.023 |
11 | Yonny HERNANDEZ | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1’41.779 | 1.794 | 0.243 |
12 | Michael LAVERTY | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1’41.935 | 1.950 | 0.156 |
13 | Lukas PESEK | Came IodaRacing Project | 1’43.220 | 3.235 | 1.285 |
Karel ABRAHAM | Cardion AB Motoracing |
MotoGP Jerez test times, 23-25 March: Day 3
Pretty much as soon as the track opened Spanish rain fell from the sky, but eventually the track dried and the riders got on track. When all was said and done, it was Cal Crutchlow who stood on top of the pile, lapping the Jerez circuit faster than anyone else during the entire three day test. Considering he has the exact same bike he had last year, it’s an impressive feat, and he managed to improve his time from 12 months ago too.
The factory Yamaha of Valentino Rossi followed, two tenths down, although his job for the day was testing new chassis. Stefan Bradl was the fastest Honda, sitting in 3rd, with Jorge Lorenzo 4th. The Yamaha man ran a 22 lap race simulation, nailing mid 1:40s and setting his fastest time during this stint. At only 0.6 behind Crutchlow’s effort, Lorenzo’s race pace is solid as ever.
What of the other Hondas? Dani Pedrosa sat out day 3 for two reasons. He reckoned he had no more work to do, and felt a muscle spasm in his neck. He felt the same thing during testing in Austin, so it looks likely the main reason was this. Whether it’s a temporary niggle or something more serious we’ll hopefully find out soon, but we should hope for the former; a fast Dani is a healthy Dani. Marc Marquez snuck into the top five, just six tenths away from Crutchlow’s fastest time, and he managed to slash his best lap by 0.6 seconds too.
A Ducati train followed Marquez with Andrea Iannone being the fastest. He lapped 0.8 seconds behind Crutchlow, and it has to be said looks good aboard the Ducati. 0.039 seconds behind was Nicky Hayden, with Andrea Dovizioso another tenth back. With all the Ducatis including Michele Pirro within 1.4 seconds of the fastest times, the Ducati seems to be easier for more people to get to grips with, although still a bit off the pace. Ben Spies decided to skip day 3 testing as his shoulder, recently operated on, was causing him problems, and the morning’s wet weather didn’t look like it would ease off.
In CRT news Randy De Puniet nudged his ART Aprilia into the top ten, just 1.4 seconds behind the leader. For a little bit of comparison, at last year’s test Casey Stoner’s fastest time was just under two seconds faster than the best CRT. De Puniet’s best lap of 1:40.9 would have qualified him 6th fastest at the Jerez 2012 race too.
Day 3:
Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap | Lead. Gap | Prev. Gap | Laps | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | CRUTCHLOW, Cal | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:39.511 | 22 / 30 | |||
2 | ROSSI, Valentino | Yamaha Factory Racing Team | 1:39.735 | 0.224 | 0.224 | 24 / 32 | |
3 | BRADL, Stefan | LCR Honda MotoGP | 1:39.975 | 0.464 | 0.240 | 20 / 26 | |
4 | LORENZO, Jorge | Yamaha Factory Racing Team | 1:40.105 | 0.594 | 0.130 | 22 / 42 | |
5 | MARQUEZ, Marc | Repsol Honda Team | 1:40.130 | 0.619 | 0.025 | 23 / 34 | |
6 | IANNONE, Andrea | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team | 1:40.331 | 0.820 | 0.201 | 24 / 25 | |
7 | HAYDEN, Nicky | Ducati Team | 1:40.370 | 0.859 | 0.039 | 41 / 42 | |
8 | DOVIZIOSO, Andrea | Ducati Team | 1:40.516 | 1.005 | 0.146 | 29 / 30 | |
9 | PIRRO, Michele | Ducati Test Team | 1:40.881 | 1.370 | 0.365 | 40 / 44 | |
10 | DE PUNIET, Randy | Power Electronics Aspar | 1:40.971 | 1.460 | 0.090 | 21 / 24 | |
11 | SMITH, Bradley | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:41.134 | 1.623 | 0.163 | 56 / 56 | |
12 | ESPARGARO, Aleix | Power Electronics Aspar | 1:41.218 | 1.707 | 0.084 | 38 / 39 | |
13 | CORTI, Claudio | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:41.443 | 1.932 | 0.225 | 42 / 44 | |
14 | AOYAMA, Hiroshi | Avintia Blusens | 1:41.772 | 2.261 | 0.329 | 40 / 41 | |
15 | PESEK, Lukas | Came IodaRacing Project | 1:41.791 | 2.280 | 0.019 | 49 / 49 | |
16 | ABRAHAM, Karel | Cardion AB Motoracing | 1:41.864 | 2.353 | 0.073 | 29 / 36 | |
17 | HERNANDEZ, Yonny | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1:42.363 | 2.852 | 0.499 | 20 / 25 | |
18 | PETRUCCI, Danilo | Came IodaRacing Project | 1:42.428 | 2.917 | 0.065 | 17 / 18 | |
19 | LAVERTY, Michael | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1:42.470 | 2.959 | 0.042 | 28 / 36 | |
20 | STARING, Bryan | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 1:43.525 | 4.014 | 1.055 | 31 / 41 | |
21 | EDWARDS, Colin | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:56.281 | 16.770 | 12.756 | 14 / 14 | |
22 | BARBERA, Hector | Avintia Blusens | 1:56.897 | 17.386 | 0.616 | 2 / 5 |
MotoGP Jerez test times, 23-25 March: Day 1
Jerez is a little town on the South East coast of Spain not too far from Seville. As such it’s normally absolutely boiling. The Moto2 and Moto3 tests in the middle March had decent weather…but the premier class saw rain on day 1, and lots of it. Jorge Lorenzo will be pleased to have come out on top, but his time is still seven seconds down on Cal Crutchlow’s fastest race lap last year, and it isn’t going to help the Yamaha’s get a setup that will help compete with the Honda’s on a hot, grippy track.
Anyway, with the crazy weather we’re seeing all over Europe this year, a wet setup may well be an important part of the 2013 season, and with a lead over second fastest man Dani Pedrosa of 1.051 seconds, Lorenzo looks good for the rain. His lap was timed to coincide with the least amount of standing water on the Jerez asphalt, but still, a good lap in terrible conditions.
Pedrosa has been impressive in the wet in the last few seasons, and while he grabbed the second fastest time, his new teammate, Marc Marquez, was just five hundredths of a second behind him in third. It appears there’s nothing this young man can’t handle on a motorbike.
Underlying the Ducati’s excellent wet weather performance – and it has to be said the skill of the rider – was Andrea Iannone. His 1:48.9 was good enough for 4th fastest, a pretty spectacular feat indeed, just 0.4 behind the Hondas. Ducati test rider Michele Pirro was just a third of a second behind, although he turned a considerable amount of laps more than Iannone, 21 more in fact, with Hayden taking 7th, four tenths slower. Valentino Rossi split the latter two Dukes, apparently not enjoying the Yamaha’s wet weather grip as much as he used to.
Cal Crutchlow, Stefan Bradl and Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top ten, with Ben Spies only managing 11th. His time of 1:50.9 was only a third of a second faster than the fastest CRT, Yonny Hernandez and two seconds slower than his teammate, Iannone. Dry or wet, Spies doesn’t appear to be able to get the best out of his Desmosedici, most probably due to his shoulder, which is still not 100% after surgery.
One notable comment many riders had was that they were shredding the wet weather tyres pretty badly. The 1000cc bikes have more torque and need to be stood up earlier out of corners to utilise the extra power and get more drive. Combined with the excellent grip of the wet Bridgestones and the rough nature of the Jerez asphalt, you get wet tyres that were seeing considerable drop off in about seven laps. Not much good for a race then…
Day 1:
Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap | Lead. Gap | Prev. Gap | Laps | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LORENZO, Jorge | Yamaha Factory Racing Team | 1:47.423 | 24 / 39 | |||
2 | PEDROSA, Dani | Repsol Honda Team | 1:48.474 | 1.051 | 1.051 | 23 / 30 | |
3 | MARQUEZ, Marc | Repsol Honda Team | 1:48.524 | 1.101 | 0.050 | 29 / 38 | |
4 | IANNONE, Andrea | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team | 1:48.984 | 1.561 | 0.460 | 27 / 27 | |
5 | PIRRO, Michele | Ducati Test Team | 1:49.292 | 1.869 | 0.308 | 39 / 48 | |
6 | ROSSI, Valentino | Yamaha Factory Racing Team | 1:49.443 | 2.020 | 0.151 | 25 / 36 | |
7 | HAYDEN, Nicky | Ducati Team | 1:49.643 | 2.220 | 0.200 | 20 / 20 | |
8 | CRUTCHLOW, Cal | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:49.692 | 2.269 | 0.049 | 10 / 19 | |
9 | BRADL, Stefan | LCR Honda MotoGP | 1:49.790 | 2.367 | 0.098 | 27 / 33 | |
10 | DOVIZIOSO, Andrea | Ducati Team | 1:50.266 | 2.843 | 0.476 | 21 / 22 | |
11 | SPIES, Ben | Ignite Pramac Racing Team | 1:50.957 | 3.534 | 0.691 | 18 / 18 | |
12 | HERNANDEZ, Yonny | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1:51.269 | 3.846 | 0.312 | 25 / 31 | |
13 | BAUTISTA, Alvaro | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 1:51.277 | 3.854 | 0.008 | 27 / 31 | |
14 | ABRAHAM, Karel | Cardion AB Motoracing | 1:51.333 | 3.910 | 0.056 | 26 / 26 | |
15 | CORTI, Claudio | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:52.034 | 4.611 | 0.701 | 31 / 35 | |
16 | SMITH, Bradley | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:52.047 | 4.624 | 0.013 | 14 / 14 | |
17 | PETRUCCI, Danilo | Came IodaRacing Project | 1:52.180 | 4.757 | 0.133 | 11 / 18 | |
18 | BARBERA, Hector | Avintia Blusens | 1:52.291 | 4.868 | 0.111 | 13 / 17 | |
19 | AOYAMA, Hiroshi | Avintia Blusens | 1:52.676 | 5.253 | 0.385 | 50 / 56 | |
20 | EDWARDS, Colin | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 1:53.992 | 6.569 | 1.316 | 12 / 17 | |
21 | STARING, Bryan | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 1:56.119 | 8.696 | 2.127 | 31 / 37 | |
22 | PESEK, Lukas | Came IodaRacing Project | 1:56.413 | 8.990 | 0.294 | 17 / 17 | |
23 | LAVERTY, Michael | Paul Bird Motorsport | 1:56.931 | 9.508 | 0.518 | 12 / 12 |
MotoGP Sepang test 2, 26-28 February: The roundup…Jorge strikes back
So, after the impressive pace of Dani Pedrosa at the first Sepang test it’s Jorge Lorenzo who ends the second round of testing in Malaysia as the fastest rider. His 2:00.282 was over a quarter of a second faster than Pedrosa’s, and given Jorge’s relentless race simulation pace on day 3, he looks in good shape for the season ahead.
Third fastest is Marc Marquez, the young Spaniard getting to grips with the RC213V like we only dreamed he would, and ends less than a tenth slower than his teammate. If he gets much better, Repsol Honda may have to rethink who their lead rider is.
Over at Tech 3 Yamaha, Cal Crutchlow is the man. While he’s still 0.6 behind Lorenzo, he did beat Valentino Rossi to fourth fastest overall, something that surely bothers the Italian. After all, Cal’s bike is merely something Tech 3 lease from the factory. Crutchlow would love parts to test, and if he keeps going like this, someone at Yamaha will have to sit up and take notice.
Someone who does have parts to test is Alvaro Bautista. As part of the deal that gives him his factory support, he uses Showa suspension and feeds back to HRC. It seems to be going well for him, chalking up a handy 6th place in the standings. Just under a quarter behind him is fellow factory-supported Honda rider Stefan Bradl.
Andrea Dovizioso ended up a tenth quicker than Ducati veteran Nicky Hayden, and although the bike is undoubtedly better than the first test, they’re circulating well over two seconds slower than Lorenzo and his M1. Still, the testing process at Ducati seems to be working, at least in consistency. Andrea Iannone and Michele Pirro are only a third of a second behind the factory riders, surely giving Ducati solid data to work on improvements. Ben Spies, suffering from a sore shoulder, is still half a second back from Iannone.
In the world of CRTs it’s the ART Aprilia that is showing its class. Developed from the World Superbike-winning Aprilia RSV4, it has racing pedigree, and it was Randy De Puniet that stamped his authority on the timesheets. Just nabbing 13th place from Aleix Espargaro by 0.042 seconds, he was top CRT. After this pairing there’s a bit of a gap to Hiroshi Aoyama on the FTR Kawasaki. But Aoyama is closely matched by Karel Abraham and Colin Edwards for out and out pace, with the rest of the CRTs over four seconds off the ultimate pace.
The factory Yamaha and Honda teams will next test at Austin, Texas, in mid March, and then the whole paddock will get together for the final test in Jerez at the end of the month.
Overall fastest times at Sepang test 2:
Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap | Lead. gap | Prev.gap | Day | |
1 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha Factory Racing Team | 2:00.282 | Day 2 | |||
2 | Dani Pedrosa | Repsol Honda Team | 2:00.562 | 0.280 | 0.280 | Day 3 | |
3 | Marc Marquez | Repsol Honda Team | 2:00.643 | 0.361 | 0.081 | Day 3 | |
4 | Cal Crutchlow | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 2:00.907 | 0.625 | 0.264 | Day 2 | |
5 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha Factory Racing Team | 2:01.062 | 0.780 | 0.155 | Day 3 | |
6 | Alvaro Bautista | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 2:01.078 | 0.796 | 0.016 | Day 3 | |
7 | Stefan Bradl | LCR Honda MotoGP | 2:01.309 | 1.027 | 0.231 | Day 3 | |
8 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati Team | 2:01.650 | 1.368 | 0.341 | Day 3 | |
9 | Nicky Hayden | Ducati Team | 2:01.778 | 1.496 | 0.128 | Day 2 | |
10 | Bradley Smith | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 2:02.023 | 1.741 | 0.245 | Day 2 | |
11 | Andrea Iannone | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team | 2:02.566 | 2.284 | 0.543 | Day 3 | |
12 | Michele Pirro | Ducati Test Team | 2:02.773 | 2.491 | 0.207 | Day 3 | |
13 | Randy de Puniet | Power Electronics Aspar | 2:02.863 | 2.581 | 0.090 | Day 3 | |
14 | Aleix Espargaro | Power Electronics Aspar | 2:02.905 | 2.623 | 0.042 | Day 2 | |
15 | Katsayuki Nakasuga | Yamaha Factory Racing Test Team | 2:02.946 | 2.664 | 0.041 | Day 2 | |
16 | Ben Spies | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team | 2:03.055 | 2.773 | 0.109 | Day 3 | |
17 | Hector Barbera | Avintia Blusens | 2:03.155 | 2.873 | 0.100 | Day 3 | |
18 | Wataru Yoshikawa | Yamaha Factory Racing Test Team | 2:03.257 | 2.975 | 0.102 | Day 3 | |
19 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Avintia Blusens | 2:03.990 | 3.708 | 0.733 | Day 2 | |
20 | Karel Abraham | Cardion AB Motoracing | 2:04.066 | 3.784 | 0.076 | Day 3 | |
21 | Colin Edwards | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 2:04.102 | 3.820 | 0.036 | Day 3 | |
22 | Danilo Petrucci | Came IodaRacing Project | 2:04.279 | 3.997 | 0.177 | Day 2 | |
23 | Takumi Takahashi | HRC Test Team | 2:04.512 | 4.230 | 0.233 | Day 2 | |
24 | Michael Laverty | Paul Bird Motorsport | 2:04.546 | 4.264 | 0.034 | Day 3 | |
25 | Yonny Hernandez | Paul Bird Motorsport | 2:04.671 | 4.389 | 0.125 | Day 2 | |
26 | Lukas Pesek | Came IodaRacing Project | 2:04.674 | 4.392 | 0.003 | Day 3 | |
27 | Claudio Corti | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 2:04.709 | 4.427 | 0.035 | Day 2 | |
28 | Bryan Staring | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 2:05.313 | 5.031 | 0.604 | Day 3 |
MotoGP Sepang test 2 times, 26-28 February: Day 3
The Hondas are back on top, although that’s not the full story. Day 3 gave us Dani Pedrosa clocking a time 0.081 ahead of teammate Marc Marquez, with Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Alvaro Bautista rounding out the top five.
The Thursday session started wet, so only a few riders went out on track. The times were generally slower with much of the rubber washed away by the rain. This meant that although Pedrosa topped today, Lorenzo’s time from Wednesday stands as the quickest time of the test.
Cal Crutchlow, Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl take places five, six and seven in the overall timesheet, and are easily the next fastest group of riders, followed by the factory Ducatis. Unfortunately for Ben Spies, not only did his teammate Andrea Iannone outshine him on day 3, so too did Michele Pirro, Ducati’s test rider. Spies’s shoulder, operated on not long ago, is clearly nowhere near 100%.
In CRT news, Randy De Puniet has reason (other than his girlfriend) to be cheerful. He managed to finally outdo his teammate Aleix Espargaro and clock the fastest CRT time, 2.3 seconds from Pedrosa’s day 3 best, and just over 2.5 seconds from Lorenzo’s faster time from day 2. The Aprilia CRTs, at Sepang at least, are looking pretty respectable.
Day 3:
Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap | Lead. Gap | Prev. Gap | Laps | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | PEDROSA, Dani | Repsol Honda Team | 2:00.562 | 41 / 57 | |||
2 | MARQUEZ, Marc | Repsol Honda Team | 2:00.643 | 0.081 | 0.081 | 54 / 54 | |
3 | LORENZO, Jorge | Yamaha Factory Racing Team | 2:00.992 | 0.430 | 0.349 | 23 / 56 | |
4 | ROSSI, Valentino | Yamaha Factory Racing Team | 2:01.062 | 0.500 | 0.070 | 60 / 61 | |
5 | BAUTISTA, Alvaro | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 2:01.078 | 0.516 | 0.016 | 13 / 43 | |
6 | CRUTCHLOW, Cal | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 2:01.094 | 0.532 | 0.016 | 57 / 59 | |
7 | BRADL, Stefan | LCR Honda MotoGP | 2:01.309 | 0.747 | 0.215 | 7 / 46 | |
8 | DOVIZIOSO, Andrea | Ducati Team | 2:01.650 | 1.088 | 0.341 | 35 / 44 | |
9 | HAYDEN, Nicky | Ducati Team | 2:02.070 | 1.508 | 0.420 | 23 / 53 | |
10 | SMITH, Bradley | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 2:02.314 | 1.752 | 0.244 | 46 / 64 | |
11 | IANNONE, Andrea | Energy T.I. Pramac Racing Team | 2:02.566 | 2.004 | 0.252 | 46 / 52 | |
12 | PIRRO, Michele | Ducati Test Team | 2:02.773 | 2.211 | 0.207 | 36 / 38 | |
13 | DE PUNIET, Randy | Power Electronics Aspar | 2:02.863 | 2.301 | 0.090 | 44 / 45 | |
14 | SPIES, Ben | Ignite Pramac Racing Team | 2:03.055 | 2.493 | 0.192 | 31 / 33 | |
15 | NAKASUGA, Katsuyuki | Yamaha Factory Racing Test Team | 2:03.154 | 2.592 | 0.099 | 24 / 32 | |
16 | BARBERA, Hector | Avintia Blusens | 2:03.155 | 2.593 | 0.001 | 37 / 42 | |
17 | YOSHIKAWA, Wataru | Yamaha Factory Racing Test Team | 2:03.257 | 2.695 | 0.102 | 22 / 26 | |
18 | ESPARGARO, Aleix | Power Electronics Aspar | 2:03.423 | 2.861 | 0.166 | 18 / 45 | |
19 | ABRAHAM, Karel | Cardion AB Motoracing | 2:04.066 | 3.504 | 0.643 | 33 / 57 | |
20 | EDWARDS, Colin | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 2:04.102 | 3.540 | 0.036 | 21 / 42 | |
21 | AOYAMA, Hiroshi | Avintia Blusens | 2:04.512 | 3.950 | 0.410 | 15 / 51 | |
22 | LAVERTY, Michael | Paul Bird Motorsport | 2:04.546 | 3.984 | 0.034 | 21 / 24 | |
23 | PESEK, Lukas | Came IodaRacing Project | 2:04.674 | 4.112 | 0.128 | 32 / 33 | |
24 | PETRUCCI, Danilo | Came IodaRacing Project | 2:04.686 | 4.124 | 0.012 | 18 / 36 | |
25 | CORTI, Claudio | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | 2:04.718 | 4.156 | 0.032 | 48 / 51 | |
26 | HERNANDEZ, Yonny | Paul Bird Motorsport | 2:04.722 | 4.160 | 0.004 | 46 / 47 | |
27 | TAKAHASHI, Takumi | HRC Test Team | 2:04.749 | 4.187 | 0.027 | 63 / 65 | |
28 | STARING, Bryan | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | 2:05.313 | 4.751 | 0.564 | 15 / 40 |
MotoGP Valencia test times, 13-14 November: Day 2
One lap. That was it. After ditching Valencia for Aragon to join a World Superbike test, Valentino Rossi turned one lap. Jorge Lorenzo did nine, sure, but they were wet, and he probably learnt very little and was grumbling under his breathe the whole time. Back at Valencia it was indeed wet, but gradually throughout the day the track dried, the forecasted heavy rain missed the track, and towards the end of the afternoon the track was practically dry. This meant the teams finally got some proper fast laps in, and the rookies got to ride their new bikes.
First, Marc Marquez. Everyone was expecting him to be fast, so the media had gathered around his garage waiting for the first photograph. His first few laps were a little nervous, but he knocked two or three tenths off every time he circulated. He missed a gear in his first six lap stint, but looked decent. After 27 laps, he was a pro, getting a lap in just over a second slower than fastest man Dani Pedrosa, placing him seventh overall. With the track not 100%, and this being his first go on a 250hp prototype, it’s impressive stuff. It also made him fastest rookie.
What did he like? The power and top speed, with the bike wanting to lift its front wheel all over the track. What didn’t he like? The electronics. He noted he had to stand the bike up out of corners much more than he was used to as the computers on the bike were taking away power making, he felt, the bike too slow out of corners. His first go on the most advanced bike in the world, and he critiques it…
Next fastest rookie was Andrea Iannone, another half a second back from Marquez’s time. He was fast straightaway, even in mixed conditions, but remember this wasn’t Iannone’s first go on the Desmosedici. Michele Pirro, Ducati’s test rider this year, was actually a couple of tenths faster than Iannone. It seems the Bologna outfit want a proper competitive test rider to help develop the bike faster.
The final rookie was Bradley Smith, who spent much of Tuesday prowling pitlane in full leathers, waiting impatiently to get on his new machine. He finished up 11th fastest, with a time 0.7 slower than Iannone. Considering it’s his first time out on a MotoGP bike, it’s a decent place to be, and he’ll only get better. The Yamaha is a nice bike to be on too, so he could be in a better place than Iannone come 7th April and Losail.
Day 2:
Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap | Lead. Gap | Prev. Gap | #Laps | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | PEDROSA, Dani | Repsol Honda Team | 1:32.322 | 25 / 30 | |||
2 | CRUTCHLOW, Cal | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:32.671 | 0.349 | 0.349 | 28 / 28 | |
3 | BRADL, Stefan | LCR Honda MotoGP | 1:32.813 | 0.491 | 0.142 | 21 / 25 | |
4 | HAYDEN, Nicky | Ducati Team | 1:32.956 | 0.634 | 0.143 | 33 / 33 | |
5 | BAUTISTA, Alvaro | Go & Fun Honda Gresini | 1:33.109 | 0.787 | 0.153 | 25 / 26 | |
6 | DOVIZIOSO, Andrea | Ducati Team | 1:33.238 | 0.916 | 0.129 | 30 / 31 | |
7 | MARQUEZ, Marc | Repsol Honda Team | 1:33.403 | 1.081 | 0.165 | 27 / 28 | |
8 | PIRRO, Michele | Pramac Racing Team | 1:33.625 | 1.303 | 0.222 | 51 / 51 | |
9 | IANNONE, Andrea | Pramac Racing Team | 1:33.833 | 1.511 | 0.208 | 52 / 56 | |
10 | DE PUNIET, Randy | Power Electronics Aspar | 1:34.081 | 1.759 | 0.248 | 28 / 30 | |
11 | SMITH, Bradley | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:34.538 | 2.216 | 0.457 | 42 / 43 | |
12 | ABRAHAM, Karel | Cardion AB Motoracing | 1:35.309 | 2.987 | 0.771 | 21 / 25 | |
13 | PETRUCCI, Danilo | Came IodaRacing Project | 1:35.403 | 3.081 | 0.094 | 26 / 26 | |
14 | BARBERA, Hector | Avintia Blusens | 1:39.248 | 6.926 | 3.845 | 25 / 26 | |
15 | ESPARGARO, Aleix | Power Electronics Aspar | 1:43.517 | 11.195 | 4.269 | 35 / 40 | |
NC | ROSSI, Valentino | Yamaha Factory Racing | |||||
NC | EDWARDS, Colin | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | |||||
NC | BYRNE, Shane | Paul Bird Motorsport | |||||
NC | AOYAMA, Hiroshi | Avintia Blusens | |||||
NC | CORTI, Claudio | NGM Mobile Forward Racing | |||||
NC | LORENZO, Jorge | Yamaha Factory Racing |