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Lorenzo strikes first in Sepang

Jorge Lorenzo ends Friday on top of the combined timesheets to lay down a marker to his title rival Rossi who finished in fifth.

In the hot and humid conditions (Track temp. 47?C) at the Sepang International Circuit it was Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo who ended the day on top to send out a message to his title rival Valentino Rossi. All of the talk before the riders took to the track was about Rossi’s comments revolving around Marc Marquez from the Press Conference, but it was Rossi’s Movistar Yamaha teammate Lorenzo that stole the show amongst the haze at the Shell Malaysia Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Lorenzo had played second fiddle to Dani Pedrosa in the morning’s FP1 session, but after spending most of FP2 working on race pace, the Spaniard stuck in some fresh rubber to set a 2’00.246. This time was less than half a second off Marc Marquez’s 2014 Pole Record (1’59.791) as the riders hit the ground running at Sepang due to the fact all of the teams get to test at the circuit during preseason. Lorenzo’s time was 0.669s faster than his title rival Rossi as he struck an important psychological blow in the epic 2015 MotoGP™ World Championship title fight.

Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa had been quickest out of the blocks in FP1 but found himself 0.047s off the pace of Lorenzo at the end of the day in second overall. The Spaniard will be keen to be involved in the fight for the race win after having missed out on all the fun of the podium battle at Phillip Island.

His teammate Marc Marquez (+0.226s) responded to Rossi’s criticism on Friday by ending the day third fastest overall. The reigning MotoGP™ champion took his 50th GP victory Phillip Island last time out and won last year’s race at Sepang from pole.

Ducati Team’s Andrea Iannone (+0.240s) followed up his podium at Phillip Island by ending the day fourth fastest despite crashing at turn 8 in FP2. Following his crash the Italian immediately went out and set his quickest time of the day, just 0.014s further back from Marquez at the circuit where his GP15 made its debut during the preseason test.

Rossi found himself down in fifth overall after an issue with his first choice bike at the end of FP2 prevented him from setting a flying lap on fresh rubber. Rossi, who has won six times in the premier class at Sepang, failed to improve on his time from the morning session but has shown before that he can recover from a poor Friday to be competitive come the race. The ‘Doctor’ currently leads Lorenzo by 11 points in the standings and has his first chance to lift that elusive tenth title if results go his way on Sunday.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow (+0.793s) carried on his run of good form that has seen him record three top ten finishes in a row to end the day in sixth as the leading Satellite rider. Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro had expected his GSX-RR to struggle at Sepang due to the two long straights and its lack of acceleration, but he finished the day in seventh overall.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) recovered from his worst finish of the season at the Australian GP to finish in 8th, with Scott Redding (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) and Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing) completing the top ten.

Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera was the leading Open class rider in 11th, while the man who finished in sixth at the Australian GP, Maverick Viñales, was over 1.5s off the pace in 12th. British rider Bradley Smith on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 M1 struggled on the opening day and finished down in 14th.

Irishman Eugene Laverty was 16th, 0.001s ahead of his American teammate Nicky Hayden in 17th, while Australian Jack Miller (LCR Honda) ended the session in 20th.

Check out the combined results from MotoGP™ FP1 & FP2; FP3 starts at 9:55am local time on Saturday.

Results FP1:

Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 330.3 2’00.412
2 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 326.0 2’00.622 0.210 / 0.210
3 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 331.6 2’00.736 0.324 / 0.114
4 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 328.4 2’00.915 0.503 / 0.179
5 45 Scott REDDING GBR EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 323.7 2’01.218 0.806 / 0.303
6 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 329.4 2’01.235 0.823 / 0.017
7 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 335.0 2’01.421 1.009 / 0.186
8 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 321.1 2’01.616 1.204 / 0.195
9 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 323.7 2’01.741 1.329 / 0.125
10 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 334.5 2’01.917 1.505 / 0.176
11 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 326.4 2’01.957 1.545 / 0.040
12 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 326.2 2’02.258 1.846 / 0.301
13 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 329.1 2’02.259 1.847 / 0.001
14 6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 320.5 2’02.314 1.902 / 0.055
15 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 330.0 2’02.323 1.911 / 0.009
16 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 320.1 2’02.590 2.178 / 0.267
17 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 328.0 2’03.072 2.660 / 0.482
18 43 Jack MILLER AUS LCR Honda Honda 321.7 2’03.136 2.724 / 0.064
19 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 319.6 2’03.228 2.816 / 0.092
20 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 322.9 2’03.394 2.982 / 0.166
21 76 Loris BAZ FRA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 318.7 2’03.429 3.017 / 0.035
22 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 320.7 2’03.938 3.526 / 0.509
23 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 324.3 2’04.496 4.084 / 0.558
24 13 Anthony WEST AUS AB Motoracing Honda 320.8 2’05.793 5.381 / 1.297
25 55 Damian CUDLIN AUS E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 308.3 2’07.552 7.140 / 1.759

Results FP2:

Pos. Num. Rider Nation Team Bike Km/h Time Gap 1st/Prev.
1 99 Jorge LORENZO SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 326.3 2’00.246
2 26 Dani PEDROSA SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 330.2 2’00.293 0.047 / 0.047
3 93 Marc MARQUEZ SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 332.3 2’00.472 0.226 / 0.179
4 29 Andrea IANNONE ITA Ducati Team Ducati 335.2 2’00.486 0.240 / 0.014
5 35 Cal CRUTCHLOW GBR LCR Honda Honda 329.9 2’01.039 0.793 / 0.553
6 41 Aleix ESPARGARO SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 320.9 2’01.058 0.812 / 0.019
7 4 Andrea DOVIZIOSO ITA Ducati Team Ducati 333.0 2’01.127 0.881 / 0.069
8 46 Valentino ROSSI ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 327.1 2’01.305 1.059 / 0.178
9 9 Danilo PETRUCCI ITA Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 323.8 2’01.598 1.352 / 0.293
10 45 Scott REDDING GBR EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 325.5 2’01.607 1.361 / 0.009
11 25 Maverick VIÑALES SPA Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki 325.2 2’01.796 1.550 / 0.189
12 8 Hector BARBERA SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 323.2 2’01.796 1.550
13 44 Pol ESPARGARO SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 324.2 2’01.850 1.604 / 0.054
14 38 Bradley SMITH GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 326.0 2’02.101 1.855 / 0.251
15 6 Stefan BRADL GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 320.0 2’02.118 1.872 / 0.017
16 50 Eugene LAVERTY IRL Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 322.3 2’02.426 2.180 / 0.308
17 69 Nicky HAYDEN USA Aspar MotoGP Team Honda 318.3 2’02.427 2.181 / 0.001
18 68 Yonny HERNANDEZ COL Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 327.2 2’02.554 2.308 / 0.127
19 19 Alvaro BAUTISTA SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 320.4 2’02.626 2.380 / 0.072
20 63 Mike DI MEGLIO FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 320.3 2’03.480 3.234 / 0.854
21 43 Jack MILLER AUS LCR Honda Honda 321.2 2’03.485 3.239 / 0.005
22 24 Toni ELIAS SPA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 320.9 2’03.710 3.464 / 0.225
23 76 Loris BAZ FRA Forward Racing Yamaha Forward 315.3 2’03.731 3.485 / 0.021
24 13 Anthony WEST AUS AB Motoracing Honda 315.7 2’04.892 4.646 / 1.161
25 55 Damian CUDLIN AUS E-Motion IodaRacing Team ART 301.5 2’06.962 6.716 / 2.070