Submitted by David Emmett on
Dani Pedrosa has dominated the first day of practice at Sepang, adding the fastest time in the second session of free practice to his fastest time in FP1. If the Repsol Honda rider was impressive in FP1, he was terrifying in FP2, setting a lap a quarter of a second faster than last year's pole time, and close to a second faster than Casey Stoner's race lap record.
Pedrosa led a Honda clean sweep, the first five places taken by five Hondas. Pedrosa led his Repsol Honda teammates Casey Stoner and Andrea Dovizioso, Stoner the only man inside a second of the Spaniard, with the San Carlo Gresini Hondas of Marco Simoncelli and Hiroshi Aoyama in 4th and 5th. Colin Edwards was the first non-Honda, the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha man taking 6th place ahead of Rizla Suzuki's Alvaro Bautista, while Pramac Ducati's Randy de Puniet was the fastest Ducati rider and the last man within 2 seconds of Pedrosa. The Marlboro Ducati riders continue their Calvary, Nicky Hayden ending the session in 11th and nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi just 13th, nearly two-and-a-half seconds behind Pedrosa.
Results:
| Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Diff Previous |
| 1 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | HONDA | 2'01.250 | ||
| 2 | 27 | Casey STONER | HONDA | 2'02.070 | 0.820 | 0.820 |
| 3 | 4 | Andrea DOVIZIOSO | HONDA | 2'02.664 | 1.414 | 0.594 |
| 4 | 58 | Marco SIMONCELLI | HONDA | 2'02.823 | 1.573 | 0.159 |
| 5 | 7 | Hiroshi AOYAMA | HONDA | 2'02.951 | 1.701 | 0.128 |
| 6 | 5 | Colin EDWARDS | YAMAHA | 2'02.991 | 1.741 | 0.040 |
| 7 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | SUZUKI | 2'03.123 | 1.873 | 0.132 |
| 8 | 14 | Randy DE PUNIET | DUCATI | 2'03.159 | 1.909 | 0.036 |
| 9 | 11 | Ben SPIES | YAMAHA | 2'03.312 | 2.062 | 0.153 |
| 10 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | DUCATI | 2'03.318 | 2.068 | 0.006 |
| 11 | 69 | Nicky HAYDEN | DUCATI | 2'03.445 | 2.195 | 0.127 |
| 12 | 65 | Loris CAPIROSSI | DUCATI | 2'03.595 | 2.345 | 0.150 |
| 13 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | DUCATI | 2'03.677 | 2.427 | 0.082 |
| 14 | 21 | John HOPKINS | SUZUKI | 2'03.885 | 2.635 | 0.208 |
| 15 | 35 | Cal CRUTCHLOW | YAMAHA | 2'03.901 | 2.651 | 0.016 |
| 16 | 24 | Toni ELIAS | HONDA | 2'04.071 | 2.821 | 0.170 |
| 17 | 8 | Hector BARBERA | DUCATI | 2'04.603 | 3.353 | 0.532 |
| 18 | 89 | Katsuyuki NAKASUGA | YAMAHA | 2'05.996 | 4.746 | 1.393 |
Comments
What is really happening?
What tyres are they using and what are the conditions like?
They are still much slower than the pre-season testing where Stoner went in the 1:59s:
http://motomatters.com/results/2011/02/24/2011_motogp_sepang_2_combined_...
Maybe they are saving the good gear for qualifying and race day.
I wont be surpised if the times have some more improvement!
Ducati
It is blatantly obvious that the Ducatis are not competitive. Also putting Rossi in charge of development of their bike seems to not have given siginificantly better machines than the old ones with RdP and Abraham faster than the factory Ducatis.
Personally I think they must start over from scratch with a more compact engine design in combination with a frame that does not limit setup in the way the current design does. Yes, this means ditching CF and engine as a stressed part and the 90 degree L engine, all of it must go.
Or they could go back to last year!
Hayden qualified 2nd at Sepang last year with a 2'01.637
It was OK for Lorenzo to go back to 2010 parts with Yamaha.
Seems to me that Hayden could roll out a GP10 and chop a couple of seconds off his time ...
anyone noticed how improved
anyone noticed how improved the suzuki is? bautista was 4th fastest on the speed traps in both sessions, only 3km/hr slower than 3 hondas and ahead of all the ducatis. impressive! i fancy stoner on the blue machine...winning the title
Have to say, very impressed
Have to say, very impressed with Bautista and the Suzuki... again.
If by any (sad) reason Suzuki can't continue on 2012, he could become a rider to keep an eye on, aboard the LCR Honda RCV213.
Nicely done so far, discreetly, without much fanfare. Even if the race results don't show that (various DNF).
Funny remark (or maybe not!), a year ago plenty people were mentioning that the Suzuki would have been the best alternative to Yamaha, for the next chapter of the Rossi, Burgess & Co. adventures (instead of the Ducati).
Supposedly would have delivered the kind of interesting results that everybody expected... I guess even them can agree!
Sepang and Suzuki
The GSXV has always been stronger at Sepang than most other tracks, but yes I agree that Bautista has been doing the business. Always enjoyed watching him in the smaller classes.