Jorge Lorenzo takes command on day 2 at Sepang 2 test

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

The second day of the second MotoGP test at Sepang saw Jorge Lorenzo for the first time lead the top of the timesheets after Dani Pedrosa dominated all three days of the previous Sepang test and day 1 before the day was cut short by rain.

The reigning World Champion first posted a 2′00.539 that he obtained his third lap in the morning session and when the track surface was a little more rubbered - everyone improved their yesterday’s lap times - and around 1pm he lowered it again to 2:00.282, which became untouchable for the rest of the field, but he was still a little more than one tenth off from Dani Pedrosa’s 2.000.100 lap posted on final day of the Sepang 1 test.

As usual Lorenzo impressed not only because of his best time, but with the ease that he in able to lay down a number of laps constantly under the 2.01 mark.

Title rival Dani Pedrosa ended up second and was almost four tenths adrift and the surprise of the day was Yamaha Tech3’s Cal Crutchlow who was third and ahead of the Repsol Honda rookie Marc Marquez who said that his aim was to do a lot of laps on his RC213V and in fact he did 64, only Nicky Hayden, Karel Abraham and Honda test rider Takumi Takahashi did more.

Valentino Rossi was back on his 2013 spec Yamaha M1 but it apparently didn’t bring him better luck as he was fifth and more than seven tenths adrift, and wasn’t able to dip under the 2.01 mark that the four rider ahead of him were able to do.

Alvaro Bautista was sixth and the last rider to be within a second of Pedrosa and he was followed by Stefan Bradl who dropped to seventh after yesterday’s 4th place.

Ducati’s Nicky Hayden shaved off more than 1.3 seconds from yesterday that put him in 8th and 1.496s from Pedrosa, while team mate Andrea Dovizioso also shaved almost a second and he finished in 9th.

Yamaha Tech3 rookie Bradley Smith was tenth and ahead of Pramac Ducati’s rookie Andrea Iannone who improved over 1.4 seconds, while Ben Spies on the other Ducati was just 17th, still battling his shoulder injury and having to shrug off a crash at turn 1 this morning.

Aleix Espargaro was the best CRT rider and he was followed by test riders Michele Pirro, Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Wataru Yoshikawa. Colin Edwards celebrated his 39th birthday, with the 23rd spot.

After missing yesterday’s first day Michael Laverty was forced to spend the better part of the day waiting. The PBM rider was able to complete only three laps this morning and another 16 in the afternoon as the team continued work on the new machine and the electronics.

MotoGP Sepang2 test Day 2 results:

01- Jorge Lorenzo – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – 2’00.282 (58 laps)
02- Dani Pedrosa – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.369 (55)
03- Cal Crutchlow – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.625 (59)
04- Marc Marquez – Repsol Honda Team – Honda RC213V – + 0.710 (64)
05- Valentino Rossi – Yamaha Factory Racing – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 0.783 (63)
06- Alvaro Bautista – Go & Fun Honda Gresini – Honda RC213V – + 0.926 (58)
07- Stefan Bradl – LCR Honda MotoGP – Honda RC213V – + 1.203 (54)
08- Nicky Hayden – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.496 (69)
09- Andrea Dovizioso – Ducati Team – Ducati Desmosedici GP13 – + 1.521 (49)
10- Bradley Smith – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – Yamaha YZR M1 – + 1.741 (63)