MotoGP World Championship

Sepang International Circuit, Malaysia

February 2, 2016

Day Two Best Test Times (all using Michelin tires):

1. Danilo Petrucci, Italy (Ducati), 2:00.095

2. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain (Yamaha), 2:00.155, crash

3. Hector Barbera, Spain (Ducati), 2:00.387

4. Marc Marquez, Spain (Honda), 2:00.843

5. Cal Crutchlow, UK (Honda), 2:00.899

6. Valentino Rossi, Italy (Yamaha), 2:01.021

7. Scott Redding, UK (Ducati), 2:01.049

8. Andrea Iannone, Italy (Ducati), 2:01.052

9. Casey Stoner, Australia (Ducati), 2:01.103*

10. Bradley Smith, UK (Yamaha), 2:01.107

11. Maverick Vinales, Spain (Suzuki), 2:01.421

12. Dani Pedrosa, Spain (Honda), 2:01.475, crash

13. Yonny Hernandez, Colombia (Ducati), 2:01.644

14. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy (Ducati), 2:01.723

15. Pol Espargaro, Spain (Yamaha), 2:01.992

16. Aleix Espargaro, Spain (Suzuki), 2:02.092

17. Tito Rabat, Spain (Honda), 2:02.328, crash

18. Stefan Bradl, Germany (Aprilia), 2:02.372

19. Loris Baz, France (Ducati), 2:02.611, crash

20. Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Japan (Yamaha), 2:02.691*

21. Alvaro Bautista, Spain (Aprilia), 2:02.876

22. Eugene Laverty, Ireland (Ducati), no time recorded

* test rider

More, from a press release issued by Dorna:

Petrucci tops the times as attention shifts to hard tyres

#SepangTest continues with scorching temperatures and a high-speed crash sustained by Loris Baz in the main straight.

The second day of the Sepang test got off to a steady start as riders slowly made their way out onto the Malaysian circuit after a day of reacquainting themselves with their machines. A flurry of fast laps soon came with Danilo Petrucci setting a 2’00.095 to lead early in the day and go over half a second faster than Jorge Lorenzo’s best time from Monday. This time would go unbeaten.

This early time attack was halted as Loris Baz suffered a heavy fall on his Avintia Racing Ducati, the Frenchman falling down the main straight at 290 kilometres per hour. The cause of the crash is still unclear, but Baz reportedly heard a sound come from his bike in the final corner before the fall, the rear of his GP14.2 destroyed. Michelin and the safety committee at the track held the red flag for over an hour as an extensive assessment was made to make sure no other riders would be at risk of a similar fall. As a safety precaution the soft tyre was withdrawn for the remainder of the test. Baz was able to return to the track after his fall, but unable to better his time and ended 19th.

With riders searching for a fast time there were unfortunately several falls. Pol Espargaro, who set a 2’01.992 to end the day 15th, fell twice at Turn 5, frustrated but unhurt. Jorge Lorenzo also suffered a fast fall at Turn 5 midway through the day, his Movistar Yamaha MotoGP machine suffering extensive damage on the left hand side. Fortunately the Spaniard escaped injury. Tito Rabat, the only rookie in the MotoGP™ World Championship in 2016, suffered a harmless low side at Turn 15. Rabat improved from a 2’03.463 on Monday to a 2’02.328 as action came to a close, good enough for 17th.

Dani Pedrosa joined Espargaro and Jorge Lorenzo in falling at Turn five, Pedrosa again walking away unhurt. It was a lacklustre 12th on Tuesday for Pedrosa, although he did improve on his Monday time. Several of the falls occurred in the closing hour of the session as riders pushed for a fast final lap. Despite his fall Lorenzo was able to set a 2’00.155 in the closing thirty minutes of the session, improving his Monday time and ending just 0.060s slower than Petrucci.

Rounding out the top three was Hector Barbera, the Avintia Ducati rider making perfect use of the soft tyres before his teammate’s fall. There were also major improvements for Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, able to get within 0.750s of Petrucci’s best. It was another Honda rider who rounded out the top five, Cal Crutchlow setting a 2’00.899 towards the end of the day on the harder option.

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi achieved his goal of getting within a second of teammate Lorenzo, ending the day in sixth. Just behind the Italian was Scott Redding; with Petrucci leading the day the satellite Ducati outfit can certainly be satisfied with their initial pace.

Andrea Iannone was the leading factory Ducati machine, spending the entire day on the GP16 bike and achieving a best time of 2’01.052. Aside from the developing situation with the tyres and Baz, much of the attention was on Casey Stoner who was out on track with the rest of the MotoGP™ World Championship grid for the first time since 2012. The 2007 and 2011 World Champion set a credible 2’01.103 to end ninth and ahead of Andrea Dovizioso, who was 14th.

A late charge from Bradley Smith saw the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 man pull himself into tenth, 0.314s clear of Maverick Viñales. The pair completed 59 laps each on Tuesday. Meanwhile Viñales’ Team Suzuki Ecstar teammate, Aleix Espargaro, was 16th and over half a second off the pace of the 2015 MotoGP™ Rookie of the Year.

Towards the end of the day there was a small crash for Yonny Hernandez, the Colombian walking away unharmed and ending 13th. His teammate, Eugene Laverty, fell heavily on Monday and although initial reports suggested a broken right hand, it was later revealed to be a heavy sprain. Although he didn’t take to the track on Tuesday, Laverty is hopefully of testing his fitness on Wednesday.

Both Stefan Bradl and Alvaro Bautista were able to improve their Monday times, Bradl ending as the top Aprilia rider with a 2’02.372 which saw him finish 18th. Bautista ended 21st.

The final day of testing in Sepang gets underway Wednesday at 10am Local Time. motogp.com will once again have coverage and analysis throughout the day.

More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:

SECOND DAY OF MOTOGP TESTS AT SEPANG, MALAYSIA

WORK ON THE APRILIA RS-GP MACHINES FOR BRADL AND BAUTISTA IS SLOWED BY A LONG PAUSE

Sepang (Malaysia), 2 February 2016 – On the second and penultimate day of MotoGP testing at Sepang the long stop due to a crash on the long straight stretch in front of pit lane (without consequences) by Loris Baz was the big news. The riders had gone onto the track with the green light to take advantage of the good weather conditions, with temperatures slightly cooler than the rest of the day.

So it was a long pause for Alvaro Bautista and Stefan Bradl as well, still hard at work on their Aprilia Racing Team Gresini RS-GP machines, focusing specifically on the new electronics package. When the track opened up again the riders were also able to assess the various tyre options, providing opinions that will influence which tyres will be chosen to start off the 2016 season.

Despite almost two hours of down time, a fair amount of work was accomplished with Alvaro Bautista putting in 52 laps and Stefan Bradl completing 45.

ALVARO BAUTISTA

“Today we focused on the new electronics again and that is our main goal. We need to find a good base setting to work from and at the moment we still can’t say that we have found one. We also analysed some new front tyre choices, finding a few improvements in some phases. We are working hard. Making progress is not simple, but we are moving forward one step at a time.”

STEFAN BRADL

“For now things are going pretty well. Coming here to Sepang in this heat for the first tests is not easy physically, but I am always happy to be riding again after the break. We are trying to do as much testing as possible, on the electronics and tyres, in order to make progress with our work. Many of the things that we test here will be very useful for the new bike, especially in terms of the electronics where there is still a lot of room for improvement.”

More, from a press release issued by Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:

Rabat improves by over a second on day two at Sepang

Sepang, Malaysia – 02 February 2016: Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS MotoGP rider, Tito Rabat, took maximum advantage of the track conditions at Sepang this morning to improve on his lap time from the opening day by over a second.

The 26-year-old Spaniard set his fastest time on the softer option tyre from Michelin, but this tyre was withdrawn from the test following a crash for Loris Baz, that also resulted in the track being closed temporarily.

Rabat struggled to find again the same good feeling he had with the hard tyre yesterday, with a lack of grip from the rear causing the bike to slide a lot in the turns.

The former Moto2 World Champion will sit down with his crew tonight to go through the data and try to identify a solution to his traction issues ahead of the third and final day of testing tomorrow.

Tito Rabat: 17th – 54 laps – 2’02.328 (+2.233)

“We made a good start to the second day of testing, with a big improvement to my lap time on the softer option tyre, but then this was withdrawn and we had to continue for the rest of the day using the harder compound. My feeling with the bike was not as good as it was yesterday with the same tyre. In the turns I didn’t have any grip and the bike seemed to be sliding a lot. We have to use this tyre, like everyone else, so we need to find a solution to give me a better feeling for tomorrow.”

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal

“The aim this morning was to set a lap time when conditions were good, and that’s exactly what Tito did, cutting more than a second from his best lap of yesterday. Today’s test plan was based around the softer of the tyre options available here at Sepang, but this was withdrawn from the test following Loris Baz’s crash. As a rookie Tito is struggling a little to get the hard tyre to work for him. While we would have preferred to get Tito comfortable on the bike using his preferred tyre, now we have no option but to work to improve his feeling with the hard one. It’s not ideal, but we need to be fast on all the tyre options, so we might as well start the work now.”

More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda:

Development work continues for Repsol Honda Team on day 2 of Malaysia test

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa took to the track this morning for the second day of testing at Sepang International Circuit, where Marc was quickly able to knock almost one and half seconds off his best lap from the opening day. Just an hour into the session, all action stopped following a massive crash by Loris Baz (who escaped unhurt), prompting a red flag that remained in place for over an hour.

When the track reopened, the riders were only allowed to use the harder of two available tyres and, due to safety concerns, Michelin imposed a higher minimum air pressure. Marc and Dani, who today used the new evolution of the 2016 RC213V engine, worked with their engineers on the electronics and on chassis setup. Marquez completed a total of 52 laps, with his fastest time of 2’00.843 coming on lap 5, while Dani managed a best time of 2’01.475 on lap 4 of 36.

Toward the end of the day, Dani suffered a crash in turn 5 during an out-lap; thankfully, he escaped unharmed, although the fall prevented him from testing a new spec front tyre, which he will instead try tomorrow.

The weather remained throughout the day, with maximum air and track temperatures of 33° C and 59°, respectively. The three-day test will conclude tomorrow.

Marc Márquez

2:00.843 52 LAPS

“We’ve taken a step forward on day two. Unfortunately during the day we didn’t manage to make steady progress and we tried out a lot of things, but we did make an improvement on yesterday. I think that it will be important to analyze well everything that we tested today, to see what works and what doesn’t, and tomorrow we will continue to try things because we have a lot of work to do. Today we used the same “evo” engine on both bikes in order to have the same reference for the electronics test that we are doing”.

Dani Pedrosa

2:01.475 36 LAPS

“It was a difficult day, because after the crash of Loris Baz this morning, we were told not to use the softest tyre. We had to use the hardest rear and, with the temperatures as high as they were today, we had almost no grip. We tried to use the time to improve the electronics, but it was very difficult to handle that and making improvements to the bike. We tried a different weight distribution, but in the end we weren’t able to draw many conclusions. We will see if tomorrow we can turn the situation around and improve. Unfortunately I had a crash towards the end of the day – probably because the tyre was cold, as I wasn’t riding fast”

More, from a press release issued by Octo Pramac Yakhnich Racing:

Stunning Petrux: fastest laptime at Sepang. Scott makes progress and ends up 7th

The second day of testing at the International Circuito of Sepang ended up with a great exploit for Octo Pramac Yakhnich as Danilo Petrucci managed to notch up a fantastic quickest laptime that allowed him to gain the first place of the standing.

Scott Redding made tangible progress too. The British rider has improved his feeling with the Ducati Desmosedici GP and this lets him looking with confidence at the final day of the first official test in the 2016 MotoGP season.

Danilo Petrucci made a great job taking advantage of the soft tyre in the first run of the morning as he set a laptime of 2: 00,095 (that represents the best crono in the combined ranking of the tests) lowering by 60 thousandths of a second the best lap recorded by Jorge Lorenzo on Monday. A laptime that no one could beat after the accident, fortunately without consequences, happened to Loris Baz and the decision of Michelin to suspend precautionary the use of the soft tires.

Positive news are coming also from Scott Redding who was able to lower by almost a second and an half his quickest crono set on Monday, taking full advantage of the soft rubber and lapping in 2:01,049, 9th laptime of day and 7th in the combined standings.

In the afternoon Scott worked hard in ergonomics completing 42 laps.

Stunning Petrux: fastest laptime at Sepang. Scott makes progress and ends up 7th

1° – Danilo Petrucci – Octo Pramac Yakhnich #9 – 2:00.095

I’m happy for this result. We were quick and we made the most of the situation considered what has happened with Loris Baz. It’s nice to set the fastest laptime although obviously it is not entirely representative. To end up the day in first place, however, gives much satisfaction even to the team who did a brillant job. In the afternoon I could not go fast as hoped and this remains an important goal that we will try to get tomorrow. Improvements? Yes, compared to Monday we have made progress. The confidence with the bike and the tires is growing and electronics is improving too. But we are still far from the top riders: tomorrow we’ll try to get closer.

7° – Scott Redding – Octo Pramac Yakhnich #45 – 2:01.049

The goal was to improve the feeling with the bike. We do not work yet to find the time but obviously we try to do it in the morning. With the hard tires we worked hard to look for the best position on the bike in order to increase traction. We found more stability but not enough traction. In this moment of the season it’s normal to try different set up and we’ll try again tomorrow. In the afternoon I did not go bad lapping consecutively in 2:01.8 and 2:01.9 but sincerely I hope tomorrow we can lower that half of a second that would make me competitive also on the race pace.

More, from a press release issued by Avintia Racing:

Top 3 for Barbera – lucky Baz walks away unhurt from a a 290 km/h

02/02/16 Avintia Racing MotoGP – Official Test MotoGP Sepang

The second day of testing at Sepang has being very intense for Avintia Racing. In the morning, Hector Barbera did a great lap and moved up to the top five in his first run and Loris Baz also improved his lap times from yesterday quite easily. But before reaching the first hour of the session, Baz had a problem on the main straight and crashed out at 290 km/h. Fortunately, he walked away without injury and after analysing all the data of the bike, no mechanical failure was detected on his Ducati Desmosedici GP. It is now up to Michelin to analyse in detail what was the cause of this tyre failure. Avintia Racing has always followed the recommendations of the engineer assigned to the team by the French tyre manufacturer.

On the same lap in which Baz crashed, Barbera improved his lap time even more and moved up to second place in the classification, a position he held until the last few minutes of the day, when world champion Jorge Lorenzo edged ahead. In the end, Barbera finished in third spot with a time of 2’00.387, less than two tenths of a second behind Danilo Petrucci, who was fastest today in Malaysia.

HECTOR BARBERA #8 / @HectorBarbera 2’00.387 P3

It was a positive day and I’m really happy with the third place. The improvement with the soft tyre was incredible and my lap was 1.7sec faster than yesterday, so I think we did a great job. After the problem with Loris’ tyre, we had to use the harder compound and I’ve been basically all the day inside the garage as he bike was set up for the soft tyre and we had to change it completely. I went back on track in the last two hours and, although it was a little bit difficult to get the rhythm, but the feeling was good and I feel really strong on the bike. We are in the right way and although I know this is not my real position, I also know that nobody makes presents in this championship.

LORIS BAZ #76 / @lorisbaz 2’02.611 P18

The start of the day was good. We used the soft tyre to try to improve the lap times and, although the lap was not incredible, we were able to improve the lap time from yesterday. But then we had a problem with the rear tyre and I crashed out at 290 km/h and my bike was destroyed. Fortunately I was unhurt, but you always loose energy after this kind of accident, because even I you don’t have anything serious, you feel all your muscles like if you have been training during 20 hours. My mechanics made a great job to put the bike back on track for the last two hours. It was not bad, but I felt a little bit tired riding the bike and I didn’t want to push and crash again. But I matched the same lap time from yesterday testing some suspension parts that I didn’t like too much.

More, from a press release issued by Movistar Yamaha:

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Keep Up Pace at Second Day of Sepang Shake Down

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP riders returned to the Sepang International Circuit today for a second day of testing in Malaysia. Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi continued to successfully work through a number of different test items and secured second and sixth place respectively in today‘s standings.

Sepang (Malaysia), 2nd February 2016

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team continued to book progress during the first three-day Official MotoGP Test of 2016. After yesterday‘s encouraging 1-2 finish, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were motivated to proceed with today‘s scheduled testing and both riders improved their times compared to yesterday by over half a second.

Lorenzo once again set the pace early in the session, taking over the top spot in the provisional rankings on his third lap. Despite not feeling a hundred per cent fit, he kept a strong pace going and even a small crash in turn five, which left him unhurt, could not slow him down. The five-time World Champion was able to make big strides as his team tried to find the right combination for the 2016 YZR-M1, the new electronics and the Michelin tyres. He concluded the day securing second place with a best lap of 2‘00.155, just 0.060s off today‘s best time, which was set on a hard rear tyre after Michelin withdrew the soft spec rear tyre option as a safety precaution following a crash from Loris Baz.

Teammate Rossi also had a positive second day at the Malaysian test. As the session was red flagged for the majority of the morning following Baz‘s crash, the Doctor was fully committed to making up for lost time. When he returned to the track he made a good step with his set-up and consistently improved his times, dropping under his best lap from yesterday by almost 0.7s. He spent the afternoon testing various tyre options and completed a total of 54 laps, setting a personal best of 2‘01.021s for sixth place.

MASSIMO MEREGALLI

TEAM DIRECTOR

We were glad to hear that Baz was OK, but unfortunately today‘s testing has been influenced by his accident as we lost more than one hour due to the red flag on track. Then also Jorge‘s crash didn‘t allow him to finalise the plan we had in mind, but anyway Jorge managed to compare the two bikes he had available and to understand which way to proceed. On the other side of the garage Vale managed to complete his schedule working on the front tyres and his feeling at the end of the day was quite positive. Tomorrow he will only have to fine-tune the bike and then move forward with the race simulation. Jorge, once he will find the the good compromise with the balance of the bike in the morning, will also be able to prepare for the long run to get all the possible information we needed from this test.

JORGE LORENZO

Today, after Baz‘s crash we couldn‘t use the soft rear anymore, so I had to adapt my riding. It‘s been a little bit difficult, but we still kept having a good feeling apart from the crash that I had with the hot track temperature and the hard front, which looks to be a little bit worse for me. In the afternoon, when we put in the softer tyre, I regained the feeling again that I had yesterday and was able to keep being the fastest rider on the track. Even with the hard tyre we could improve my time of yesterday by half a second, this is a good point. We keep having big margin over the rest and this is very encouraging.

VALENTINO ROSSI

I‘m quite happy, it was a good day. At first it was hard, because there was a lot of work to do, but I‘m quite satisfied, especially because we improved the setting of the bike a lot. My pace and my best lap improved quite significantly, so for this reason it‘s been a good day. We have a lot of important new data that will help us decide which way we should follow. It‘s sure that we will have a lot of things to do. I tried some tyres in afternoon, some were good, some things were bad, but I think also Michelin did a good job. At the moment I‘m more on the bike that‘s more similar to the 2015 model. Tomorrow we will try them both another time and maybe we will also try the other bike at another track, like Phillip Island, and after that we‘ll decide.

More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:

TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR CONTINUES EVALUATION AT SEPANG

Team SUZUKI ECSTAR has spent the second day of MotoGP™ testing at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia evaluating several new parts and settings from the R&D department in Hamamatsu, Japan.

Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales focused mainly on supporting engineers to better set up the new electronics, while late in the afternoon introduced the brand new 2016 GSX-RR, equipped with the new chassis. Both riders reported constant improvements and appeared satisfied with the new material introduced by the Factory.

Viñales, who finished the day in 11th with a time of 2m01.421s, had the opportunity to test with the new soft tyre, while Espargaro (16th with 2:02.092) couldn’t due to a problem on the track to another rider that forced him to lap only with a hard tyre. This was also one of the reasons why his best lap today was in the lower part of the classification.

Davide Brivio – Team Manager:

“It’s been another peculiar day but we kept on with our work plan. We’ve learned a lot and we could improve some areas, we got better into the new chassis and found some important areas on how to finalise them. We are working on the set-up, but also the main focus is the electronics: Until we find a good basic configuration our priority is just that. Also today, the riders did a huge amount of work, being very patient in supporting the engineers with their feedback, which allowed us to make some steps forward. Maverick did some good lap times while unfortunately Aleix couldn’t make any attempt due to his working plan. However we still have tomorrow for some more tries. From my side, everything is progressing smoothly, we know this is the preparation phase and we have to exploit it as much as possible to evaluate the different options we have.”

Maverick Viñales:

Best lap: 2m01.421s.

“To me it’s been a positive day, we tested so much with the new electronics and I also had the chance to try the new chassis. We did a positive job, although I still feel a lack of confidence from the rear. I still feel the rear tyre spinning a lot so we have to better understand this issue. We are very competitive on tracks with very grippy tarmac, but when we come to circuits like this or Austin and Argentina, where there is much less grip, we suffer this traction issue. I got very good sensations from the new engine, its power has increased, but the delivery is smooth and manageable. We improved a lot in the electronics today, but we still need to investigate, it gives us many options but we have to understand how to manage them. Apparently we won’t get soft tyres tomorrow so we will probably focus more and more to find a better confidence and set-up for the hard tyre, so that we create a consistent database of information.”

Aleix Espargaro:

Best lap: 2’02.092s.

“Today has been a very complicated day, the morning went pretty fast without being able to do much work: I had issues with the engine at the very beginning of the day and then when I switched to the second machine, an accident happened and the track was red-flagged. After Baz’s crash we couldn’t use the soft tyre, therefore we focused the whole day working with the hard tyre to better understand it. Then in the afternoon we had some issues with the electronics, of course it’s pretty normal that we had to make several attempts as it is brand new. At the end of the day I can count only few clean and positive laps in the whole day, for my satisfaction I would have hoped for something better but we have to consider that this is what tests are meant for. We have to stay focused and stick to our plans, I know the team has already planned further steps for tomorrow and my desire is only to continue working with them. I could make a few laps with new chassis and swingarm at the end of the afternoon and I got some positive impressions, which I’m curious to try again tomorrow.”

More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

 Second day of testing for the Ducati Team at Sepang

Ideal weather conditions greeted the MotoGP riders for the second of three days of testing organized by IRTA at the Sepang International Circuit on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Both Ducati Team riders have one of the new 2016 Desmosedici GP bikes available together with one of last year’s models. Today they used exclusively the 2016 version and they were accompanied in this development phase by the two-time world champion, Australian Casey Stoner, who focused on vehicle and electronics set-up work on the Desmosedici GP15 of the Test Team.

The morning’s favourable weather conditions allowed almost all riders to set their reference time right away, but a spectacular crash on the main straight involving Frenchman Loris Baz on the Avintia Racing Ducati brought out the red flags and a delay of more than one hour in track activities.

All three Ducati Team riders returned to the track again at around 4 pm to complete the rest of their work load, which included testing Michelin front tyres and further refinements to the electronics set-up.

Tomorrow, the third and final day of testing will see testing activities again in the hands of Andrea Iannone, Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stoner.

Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 2’01.052 (8th), 39 laps

“Today we focused mainly on tyre testing, seeing as Michelin they provided us with different compounds for the front. For the rest we tried to make a first few steps with the settings of the Desmosedici GP, even though there was very little time remaining. In this phase it’s important to continue comparing the new Desmosedici GP with last year’s bike, but tomorrow we will focus a bit more on searching for an ideal setting for the new bike.”

Casey Stoner (Ducati Test Team #27) – 2’01.103 (9th), 45 laps

“It’s been another good day today. Being on track with everybody else, with the good track conditions, gave us better indications of what we are feeling in comparison. We had a lot of different things to test, but unfortunately after Baz’s crash we had to change tyre compounds and retest everything. We went through a lot of the stack we had to do, and got some very positive input from the electronics, the engine braking, the clutch and in every aspect of the bike, together with a few things we can improve, and we gathered a lot of data to move forward from there.”

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 2’01.723 (14th), 35 laps

“It was a bit of a strange day, for several reasons. We had a few minor issues, which slowed us down a lot and conditioned the whole day. Unfortunately we were unable to carry out the scheduled back-to-back tests. This morning, after I had looked at some other riders, I got a better idea of the direction to take in my approach to the track with the Michelin tyres. We are still a bit off the pace, and for this reason there is still some way to go.”

More, from a press release issued by Avintia Racing:

 Yonny Hernández finds a second on day two at Sepang

Aspar Team rider completes positive day, setting best time on lap seven, as team-mate Eugene Laverty misses out through injury

The MotoGP riders were back on track today for the second day of the first preseason test at Sepang. Once again the track was open from 10am to 6pm, with the main headline being the return of double World Champion Casey Stoner, riding alongside the main championship riders for the first time since his retirement in 2012 in his capacity of Ducati test rider. It was a good day all round for the Italian factory, with Danilo Petrucci setting the fastest lap of the test so far and the likes of Barberá, Redding, Iannone and Hernández all featuring at the top end of the time sheets. As usual at this circuit the majority of the faster laps were set in the early part of the day, although Lorenzo, Crutchlow and Rossi did manage to improve their pace in the latter stages. Petrucci’s best effort of 2.00.095 improved the benchmark by six tenths from yesterday as the 1’59 mark comes into sight, with one more day of the test to come tomorrow.

Today’s session was only seven laps old for Yonny Hernández when he clocked his fastest time of the test so far. The Colombian improved on yesterday by over a second before going on to complete 34 more laps as he continued to work on his new electronics package and tried to gain more rear grip from his Ducati. Yonny is satisfied with his work here so far and confident of making more progress tomorrow. His team-mate Eugene Laverty was forced to watch today’s action from pit wall following the crash yesterday that left him with an injured hand. The Irishman returned to hospital for further assessments today and is hoping to take some part in tomorrow’s final day on track.

13th Yonny Hernández 2.01.644 (41 laps): “This morning we were able to immediately improve our best lap time from yesterday by more than a second on the soft tyre, but then we had a little setback. We think it was one of the lean angle sensors that wasn’t working but it meant that we couldn’t complete all the work we had planned. Anyway, the feeling continues to improve and tomorrow we will carry on working with the chassis to try and find more rear grip because we are getting some sliding on the hard rear tyre. We have improved the electronics a lot today, the bike is behaving much better than yesterday and it’s sweeter to ride. Traction control, anti-wheelie… we have taken a little step forward in all these areas that we only started working on yesterday.”

Eugene Laverty: “We went back to the hospital today for a CT scan just to double check everything and even though it showed up some fractures we think they are from ten years ago, when I broke my hand before. So there isn’t a new fracture in there and it feels okay that’s why I want to try and ride tomorrow. There is some pain in the hand and I won’t know exactly how it will be on the bike until I try it in the morning, but that is the plan at the moment.”

More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3:

Positive steps on day 2 leaves Tech3 duo confident for final test session

Monster Yamaha Tech3 team riders Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro maintained their tireless efforts on the second day of testing in Malaysia with encouraging progress being made in all areas. As a result, both riders remain optimistic for the final day tomorrow.

Bradley Smith continued his thorough testing programme as he prepares for his fourth season in the premier class. The 25 year old completed the day with a lap that was impressively 1.9 seconds quicker than yesterday’s, and just two tenths back from 5th place. Whilst Pol Espargaro also took a step forward as he cut sixth tenths off yesterday’s personal best after setting the time on only his 6th lap. The young Spaniard unfortunately fell twice during the day, yet he wasn’t injured and keenly awaits returning to the track tomorrow.

Bradley Smith

Position : 10thTime : 2’01.107Laps : 59

“Today was constructive and I am pleased with what we accomplished, but we still need to do more tomorrow. We ran all day on hard tyres, which wasn’t our original plan yet, after using this compound at the end of the yesterday, we decided to carry on with it this morning and then finally, we were all forced to use the hard tyre after Loris Baz crashed. Anyway, we used the 2016 electronics all day and worked well on finding solutions to some of issues we have had yesterday and now I feel a lot more confident with them. For the race distance, we need to do a bit of work. Here in Sepang, it’s obviously hot and slippery so we have to focus on building a bike that is consistent for 20 laps. At the moment, my pace on one lap is quite fast but if the tyre starts to drop, I want to be able to feel a bit more comfortable than I do now. We also tried a couple of different chassis configurations today and gained some interesting information, but although we didn’t find anything better than what we have, we have a clear program for the future. Tomorrow we will see if we can do a race simulation. I would like to do a lengthy run in order to get some fitness as well as a good idea about the performance of the tyres and the electronics over a distance. So hopefully we can run for as long as possible and have another positive day to close the test.”

Pol Espargaro

Position : 15thTime : 2’01.992 Laps : 32

“The day had some positives as we continued our work with the electronics and definitely found some improvements, but having said that, we have to understand what caused me to fall twice at turn five. On the data we can’t see any difference compared to the other laps. I may have been slightly faster but altogether, and compared to the other Yamaha riders, I am not particularly fast there, so it’s difficult to understand what’s going wrong. We may have to adjust the setting for turn 5 or maybe even change the front tyre pressure. Anyway, we got a bit lost because if you crash twice, you always take two steps back before making a step forward again and it disturbed the programme we were trying to run. All in all, we can’t say it’s been the best of days, but there are still some solid positives to take and we have to find our way back tomorrow. Despite this, I am really confident that we can be strong again on the final day.”