Repsol Honda team stamps authority on Sepang test, taking over first three positions
Casey Stoner was today, as yesterday, the fastest in the Malaysian track of Sepang in this second test day. He achieved it by setting a superb 2 minutes and 171 thousandths time, thus improving the Sepang record time set by Valentino Rossi in 2009.
His Repsol Honda team mate, Dani Pedrosa, was also able to improve the Italian’s time and finished 58 hundredths behind Stoner, after leading nearly all the testing session. Andrea Dovizioso, with a best time of 2 minutes and 531 thousandths was the third fastest rider of the day, completing a very positive session for the Repsol Honda Team.
The warmer temperatures in the morning -10:30 local time-, allowed the riders to take full advantage of the bikes’ potential in the first laps of the day. Dani Pedrosa took the lead of the overall classification in this second day of tests in only lap four of the 41 he completed. His team mate Casey Stoner was second also in the fourth lap, 113 thousandths behind the Spaniard of the Repsol Honda Team. An it only took Italian Andrea Dovizioso another four laps to be third, 302 thousandths behind Pedrosa’s register.
The day passed with the Repsol riders in that positions, as the MotoGP riders focused on taking full advantage of their time on track. When everything seemed settled in the times classification, Casey Stoner set a superb time of 2 minutes and 171 thousandths in his last lap of the day, an impressive time, very close to the 2-minutes barrier.
In this second day, Dani Pedrosa focused on trying the new front fork the Swedish brand Ohlins brought to Malaysia, after the report from the Spaniard at the end of the tests held on this track at the beginning of this month. The Repsol rider also concentrated on set-up and tyre tests with his Honda RC212V.
Dani Pedrosa 2’00.229 sec, 41 laps, 227 km.
“Today we were testing mainly suspension parts, a new front fork in the morning that gives us a more positive feeling on braking, and a rear shock in the afternoon that improves the feeling with the rear tyre, so I’m satisfied with the work we’ve done together with Ohlins. We also tried different settings for the chassis and I’d like to be in the position tomorrow to decide which one we will use for this season. Now, both chassis give me a good feeling and I have to put my head down and think about it because it’s a very important decision. Since coming into MotoGP, this test together with the 2006 winter test on the 990 cc. bike, is the best pre-season. In 2006 I remember we had a very good last test that allowed us to face the first race well prepared and with a lot of confidence; and now it feels very similar. The bike is responding in the areas we need, although the first race is where you see clearly where you win and where you lose. I think Yamaha will be closer than they are now, so we have to keep an eye on them”.
Source: Repsol Media
