Testing report
MotoGP Sepang January testing
Iannone sets the pace on second Sepang test day
Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone set the pace on the second day of MotoGP pre-season testing at Sepang.
Mitchell Adam
Edited: Jan 31, 2017, 12:06 PM
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Running during the first four hours of the day was limited, as the track surface again dried out slowly following rain on Monday afternoon and evening.
Riders started venturing out on slick tyres early in the afternoon, and times slowly dropped as grip levels increased.
Tech 3 Yamaha rookie Johann Zarco was the first rider to break the 2m01s barrier, and that benchmark was lowered by Alvaro Bautista, Maverick Vinales and Zarco again, before Iannone moved to the top.
The Italian set a 2m00.402s with just under two hours left on the clock, and the session was then red-flagged with one hour to go following a Turn 7 crash for Tito Rabat.
The Marc VDS Honda rider was taken to the medical centre and then to Hospital in Putrajaya for x-rays and further examination, with the team confirmed Rabat had injured his left knee and right wrist in the crash.
After the brief stoppage, the final 30 minutes featured a mini qualifying shootout, as riders tried fresh tyres.
Hector Barbera moved to the top with 25 minutes remaining, but was quickly pipped by Bautista and then Zarco, as Iannone fell to fourth in a lead quartet covered by just over one tenth.
With 11 minutes remaining, though, Iannone headed back out to turn a blistering 1m59.452s, 0.767 seconds clear of the field at the time and 0.228s faster than Casey Stoner’s Monday benchmark.
Vinales improved on each of his final four laps to become Iannone’s closest challenger, his 1m59.859s trimming the margin at the top to 0.407s.
Bautista wound up third, just ahead of Valentino Rossi, who along with team-mate Vinales jumped up from the base of the top 10 inside the final 15 minutes.
Both Yamaha riders also tried a new fairing designed to compensate the downforce that the now-banned winglets generated.
Zarco was fifth and Barbera sixth, ahead of factory Ducati pair Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo.
Surprised by how difficult his first day at Sepang was, having languished in 17th place, Lorenzo was more competitive on Tuesday, finishing 1.032s off the pace set by Iannone.
Jonas Folger joined Tech 3 teammate Zarco inside the top 10 in ninth, pipping reigning world champion Marc Marquez with his final lap.
Marquez’s Honda stopped on track early in the afternoon with an apparent electrical problem, with stablemates Cal Crutchlow 12th and Dani Pedrosa 14th.
Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro - who became the first rider to crash during the test on Tuesday afternoon - was fourth before the late flurry and fell to 11th in the order, with rookie teammate Sam Lowes 22nd.
Pramac Ducati pair Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci also fell on their way to 15th and 17th places, along with Avintia Ducati’s Loris Baz in 18th.
Pol Espargaro was the best of the KTMs in 20th place, 2.073s off the top spot, with teammate Bradley Smith five spots and one second further back.
The test concludes at Sepang on Wednesday, with Stoner rejoining the field after Michele Pirro’s running on Ducati’s test bikes on Tuesday.
Day 2 testing times:
Pos.RiderBikeTimeGap 1 
Andrea Iannone Suzuki 1'59.452 2 
Maverick Vinales Yamaha 1'59.859 0.407 3 Alvaro Bautista Ducati 2'00.219 0.767 4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 2'00.254 0.802 5 
Johann Zarco Yamaha 2'00.343 0.891 6 Hector Barbera Ducati 2'00.351 0.899 7 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 2'00.441 0.989 8 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati 2'00.484 1.032 9 
Jonas Folger Yamaha 2'00.495 1.043 10 Marc Marquez Honda 2'00.531 1.079 11 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 2'00.609 1.157 12 
Cal Crutchlow Honda 2'00.692 1.240 13 Alex Rins Suzuki 2'00.877 1.425 14 Dani Pedrosa Honda 2'00.886 1.434 15 Scott Redding Ducati 2'00.972 1.520 16 
Karel Abraham Ducati 2'00.981 1.529 17 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 2'01.124 1.672 18 Loris Baz Ducati 2'01.227 1.775 19 Michele Pirro Ducati 2'01.383 1.931 20 Pol Espargaro KTM 2'01.525 2.073 21 
Jack Miller Honda 2'01.557 2.105 22 Sam Lowes Aprilia 2'02.058 2.606 23 Tito Rabat Honda 2'02.190 2.738 24 
Takuya Tsuda Suzuki 2'02.266 2.814 25 Bradley Smith KTM 2'02.517 3.065 26 Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha 2'02.893 3.441 27 Kohta Nozane Yamaha 2'03.052 3.600
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