EWC 8 Hours of Sepang: Yamaha dominates the 2nd session on Wednesday

For their first organization of the 8 Hours, the leaders of the Sepang Circuit had planned for this first day a “private” session to discover the track and start adjusting the motorcycles, then a rather special free practice session.

It was not in fact the session officially taking place with the blue, then yellow, then red drivers, as provided for in the regulations and which will take place on Thursday. In this free session on Wednesday, everyone rode as they wanted.

This was unintentionally a good idea as this session took place in the late afternoon, when it traditionally rains in Malaysia. This therefore allowed the drivers to discover the track in a wet version. To be clear, the times counted for nothing, other than purely indicative for the teams.

Video: Late afternoon rain in Malaysia:

During the opening session, the best time was 2'05.796, but in the rain at this mid-session only two bikes were under 2'20.

In these delicate circumstances, the best time in 2'18.637 went to the Yamaha of the local team n°21 Yamaha Sepang Racing, with Franco Morbidelli, Hafizh Syahrin and Michael van der Mark.

We then found in second position in 2'18.770 the Webike SRC Kawasaki France, with Erwan Nigon, David Checa and Jérémy Guarnoni.

In third place in 2'19.187 was the FCC TSR Honda France, with Mike di Meglio, Freddy Foray and Joshua Hook as drivers.

First in the Superstocks in 2'19.461, the #80 BMW of the "TONE RT SYNCEDGE 4413 BMW" team, with Tomoya Hoshino, Kokoro Atsumi and Takeshi Ishizuka, occupied fourth position in the wet.

The YART Yamaha, ridden by Broc Parkes, Marvin Fritz and Niccolò Canepa, finished fifth in 2'20.277.

Then came in sixth position in 2'20.362 the BMW Tecmas GMC of Camille Hedelin, Alexis Masbou and David Perret.

She preceded the BMW Sepang Racing of Julien da Costa, Aslan Shah and Adam Norrodin in seventh place in 2'20.545.

Eighth overall and second in the Superstocks in 2'21.113, the Kawasaki Superstock of team 33 Coyotte Louit Moto of Christian Gamarino, Enzo Boulom and Kevin Manfredi.

The Wojcik Yamaha, second in the provisional World Championship ranking with Gino Rea, Christoffer Bergman and Axel Maurin, was in ninth position in 2'21.748.

Tenth place went to the Yamaha Moto Ain Superstock of Roberto Rolfo, Robin Mulhauser and Hugo Clère in 2'21.786.

They preceded the Yamaha Igol Pierret Experiences of Florian Alt, Florian Marino and Xavier Siméon, followed by the BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team, with Kenny Foray, Ilya Mykhalchyk and Markus Reiterberger on their official S 1000 RR.

Results of Wednesday's free practice session:

Private test results:

Live timing

Video: Niccolò Canepa on the YART Yamaha

Photos © FIM EWC, Eurosport Events