Dani Pedrosa finished this MotoGP pre-start at Sepang with the best time. A performance that is certainly symbolic but which is good for its author and for the brand which is therefore entering the year 2020 in a positive way. Michele Pirro follows closely with the Ducati while the rookies have made their mark. For Yamaha, it will be tomorrow.
Dani Pedrosa completed 60 laps, finishing with the best time of the day at Sepang. Behind him is another test pilot, also active today, Michele Pirro. The Apulian rider took to the track with two versions of Ducati: the new Desmosedici GP20, still equipped with the old aerodynamics from last year, and another with new fins. Suzuki's colleague, Sylvain Guintoli, was also a workhorse with more than sixty laps completed. He finished in the top three of test drivers.
It is Alex Marquez who leads the rest of a motley peloton, gradually discovering his Honda, for the moment still painted with the ephemeral HRC livery, while awaiting the official presentation the next day in Jakarta. The second rookie is Brad Binder, with the other official KTM, victim of a fall at turn 5 in the afternoon, fortunately without consequences. Behind him, the Honda test driver Stefan bradl, still working on the latest model of the RC213V.
The Aprilia duo closes the ranking: the test rider Bradley Smith, who at the end of the round presented the revolutionary 2020 model of the RS-GP, but was also the protagonist of a fall at turn 7, apparently also reporting a slight injury to a finger. His cubicle neighbor today was Lorenzo Savadori, who started his MotoGP apprenticeship from last year's bike.
In the absence of Lorenzo, Yamaha decided not to take to the track with its new M1, but simply to run the two Japanese test riders Katsuyuki Nakasuga et Kohta Nozane, But also Broc Parkes with the R1 Superbike. It should be emphasized that these are unofficial tests, therefore pilots are not obliged to mount the transponders on their machines. So the pilots Tech3 do not appear in the ranking. For this reason, the times indicated in the classification must be understood as partial and unofficial.
Day one back at school is done and dusted ✅
Our rookie started to learn the @sepangcircuit aboard his KTM ahead of two more days of #ShakeDownTest a small break and the official preseason test 😅💪🏻🇲🇾 #KTM # Tech3 #MotoGP @MotoGP #IL27 #SepangTest #ShakedownTest #DayOneAtSchool pic.twitter.com/fclttHJtp2- Tech3 Racing (@ Tech3Racing) February 2, 2020
MotoGP Test Sepang J1: times
1 – Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull KTM Factory) – 2:00.625
2 – Michele Pirro (Ducati Team) – 2:00.642 – +0.017
3 – Sylvain Guintoli (Team Suzuki Ecstar) – 2:01.220 – +0.595
4 – Álex Márquez (Repsol Honda Team) – 2:01.317 – +0.692
5 – Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory) – 2:01.616 – +0.991
6 – Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda Team) – 2:01.637 – +1.012
7 – Bradley Smith (Aprilia Racing Gresini) – 2:02.760 – +2.135
8 – Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing Gresini) – 2:04.888 – +4.263
