Testing report
MotoGP Sepang February testing
Petrucci leads Ducati 1-2-3-4 as Sepang test concludes
Danilo Petrucci smashed the unofficial MotoGP Sepang lap record on the final day of the pre-season test at the Malaysian venue, as he led an all-Ducati top four.
Valentin Khorounzhiy
Edited: Feb 8, 2019, 10:20 AM
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The Italian's 1m58.239s lap was almost six tenths better than the previous record that was held by his Ducati predecessor Jorge Lorenzo since last year's winter testing.
Petrucci logged the new benchmark towards the end of the session's opening hour.
He subsequently had a crash at Turn 5, destroying the new aero fairing Ducati had debuted on the day.
Moto2 champion Pecco Bagnaia was just 0.063s slower than Petrucci on his Pramac-run 2018-spec Ducati.
His Pramac squadmate Jack Miller was another six hundredths slower and crashed his GP19 bike late on, while Andrea Dovizioso made up an all-Ducati top four, three tenths off Petrucci.
Like Ducati, Yamaha also debuted a new fairing on Friday as its ranks were once again headed by Maverick Vinales.
The Thursday pacesetter was first to surpass Lorenzo's previous track record on the final day, but ultimately wound up best of the rest behind the Italian bikes in fifth.
Sepang test coverage:
- Injured Marquez tops first day of pre-season testing
- Vinales goes 0.5s clear on second day of Sepang test
- Rins boosted by "incredible" Suzuki pace on used tyres
- Marquez now targeting full recovery for Argentina race
- Ducati teammates cooperating like "never" before
LCR rider Cal Crutchlow led Honda's efforts in sixth and was the last rider to dip below Lorenzo's previous benchmark.
Aleix Espargaro was seventh for Aprilia, while Andrea Iannone continued to struggle with an infection and skipped the day entirely, replaced by tester Bradley Smith.
After finishing behind rookie squadmate Fabio Quartararo on Thursday, Petronas SRT Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli was back ahead on the final day, taking eighth place to Quartararo's 16th.
Takaaki Nakagami was ninth for LCR, ahead of Yamaha's Valentino Rossi and Honda's reigning champion Marc Marquez, who again ended his programme early but finished two places clear of Lorenzo's stand-in Stefan Bradl.
Suzuki's Alex Rins was only 12th after claiming the runner-up spot on the first two days, while his rookie teammate Joan Mir took 15th, 0.001s behind the Avintia Ducati of Tito Rabat.
Johann Zarco led the KTM contingent in 17th, right ahead of factory teammate Pol Espargaro and the satellite KTM RC16 of Tech 3 rookie Miguel Oliveira.
The MotoGP field will reconvene in Qatar for the final pre-season test later this month, before the 2019 season kicks off at that same venue on March 10.
Session results
Pos. Rider Team Time Gap Laps 1 Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1:58.239 32 2 Francesco Bagnaia Pramac Ducati 1:58.302 0.063 21 3 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati 1:58.366 0.127 47 4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1:58.538 0.299 36 5 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 1:58.644 0.405 79 6 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 1:58.780 0.541 61 7 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1:59.022 0.783 52 8 Franco Morbidelli SRT Yamaha 1:59.141 0.902 66 9 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda 1:59.148 0.909 61 10 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1:59.155 0.916 62 11 Marc Marquez Honda 1:59.170 0.931 39 12 Alex Rins Suzuki 1:59.180 0.941 75 13 Stefan Bradl Honda 1:59.368 1.129 57 14 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati 1:59.485 1.246 41 15 Joan Mir Suzuki 1:59.486 1.247 53 16 Fabio Quartararo SRT Yamaha 1:59.497 1.258 77 17 Johann Zarco KTM 1:59.640 1.401 44 18 Pol Espargaro KTM 1:59.751 1.512 57 19 Miguel Oliveira Tech 3 KTM 1:59.949 1.710 38 20 Karel Abraham Avintia Ducati 2:00.378 2.139 36 21 Hafizh Syahrin Tech 3 KTM 2:00.766 2.527 21 22 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki 2:00.990 2.751 56 23 Bradley Smith Aprilia 2:00.995 2.756 56 24 Mika Kallio KTM 2:01.020 2.781 38 25 Yamaha test bike 2 Yamaha 2:01.243 3.004 43 26 Yamaha test bike 1 Yamaha 2:01.719 3.480 49
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