Spaniards Alvaro Bautista and Aleix Espargaro were the surprise leaders on the first day of MotoGP testing at Sepang with former champion Jorge Lorenzo well down the order in fifth on a track that is not in the best condition for fast times due to a car race the previous weekend.
Hot conditions and a lack of use mean the circuit will need to rubber in for the front-runners, which don’t include Marc Marquez who is out with a broken leg, to get down to the sub 2’00 times they were putting in at the Malaysian circuit earlier this month.
Go&Fun Honda’s Bauista traded times with the Forward Yamaha of Espargaro for most of the day with the HRC-backed rider just winning out with his penultimate lap of the day, a 2’00.848 compared to Espargaro’s 2’00.900. Compared to Marquez’s final fastest time of 1’59.533 on the final day of the first test, it is clear there is much to come from a track that is dirty and not condusive to fast times at the moment.
Espargaro was followed home by his brother Pol on the Monster Yamaha with Andrea Dovizioso, on the factory Ducati, in fifth place. Dani Pedrosa was behind Lorenzo in sixth, followed by Valentino Rossi, Bradley Smith and Nicky Hayden on the producion Honda.
Cal Crutchlow ended some 1.2s slower than his Bologna team-mate while Scott Redding was 18th. Michael Laverty is sitting out this test while his team prepare bikes for the Qatar season opener.
