Repsol Honda’s Casey Stoner picked up where he left off last year by clocking the fastest-ever time by a motorcycle on the steamy final day of a three-day test at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.
On the second of 21 laps, the 2011 MotoGP World Champion lapped in 1:59.607, lowering the mark of 1:59.666 from his dominating performance here almost a year ago. The previous best lap was set in the second Sepang test. This year’s version of that begins on February 28.
Stoner might have gone faster if not for two factors, a recurrence of the back problems that kept him off track on the first day and sky-blackening showers that shut down the test about an hour early. Still, it was clear that the extra 200cc hadn’t changed the balance of the field.
“Yeah, I’m very surprised, to be honest, that we were able to be competitive,” he said. “After what happened on Tuesday, we went out Wednesday and tried to do everything we could and get as best a set-up as we possibly could in a short time. We just tried to make the test as productive as possible without doing more laps than necessary.
“We would’ve liked to have tested a couple more things, but they weren’t really necessary and they weren’t really going to make a huge difference on what we’ve got now. So I think the best thing we could do is compare back-to-back the chassis. A few suspension changes today, a couple of different modifications and then a clutch yesterday, as well, so we just had to try and weed out what was good and what was bad and try and go in the right direction for the next test.” Cycle News
The capacity of MotoGP bikes has increased from 800cc to 1,000cc this year and Stoner admitted that he was enjoying the extra power available.
Lorenzo, who won the world championship in 2010 and set the pace on the opening day of testing, is riding for the first time since losing the tip of a finger last year.
“It felt better than ever to be back on a MotoGP bike,” he said. “The finger is shorter and lighter - that’s why I went faster!
“The 1,000cc bike is much more powerful so, if you make a mistake, you have enough power to recover the time on the exit. With the 800 you could not make any mistakes.” BBC Sport
The Test concluded on a high note for the Ducati Team with Valentino Rossi moving up two spots in the ranks to fifth fastest, bettering his time by over a second from yesterday and happy with the changes to the front end of the GP12 thus far, as confirmed by Ducati Corse General Manager Fillipo Preziosi, who stated: “This test was mainly focused on understanding if this bike is better in the front and I can say that it is.”
Nicky Hayden was only able to complete a couple of laps in the afternoon due to weakness in his injured shoulder hindering his ability to hold onto the 1000cc bike with any corner exit headshake. The American confirmed that he will ride at the Jerez Test along with the CRT prototypes before the second Official Test at Sepang later this month.
The Pramac Racing Team wrapped up a successful Test with rider Héctor Barberá, who bettered his time from yesterday by eight tenths, breaking into the 2 minute mark with a best lap of 2’00.929.
Cal Crutchlow (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) made a handful of laps in the afternoon after his morning crash, and new team-mate Andrea Dovizioso wrapped up his second successful test aboard the 2012 Yamaha M1.The pair were 1.5 and 1.6 seconds of the lead time, respectively. Motogp.com
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