Sepang J1 private tests: A wet first half-day

Before the permanent drivers take to the track next week from Monday to Wednesday, the test drivers have an appointment for three days starting this Wednesday to rough out the settings of the new machines on the Sepang circuit.

It rained last night and the teams discovered a track that was still very wet when they arrived in the paddock this morning. All they had to do was wait for more favorable circumstances, especially since Michelin no longer supplies intermediate tires. The track gradually dried and Michele Pirro was the first to hit the track (photo above) for Ducati at 11:50.

The lap record has belonged to Jorge Lorenzo since 2015 in 2'00.606, and the best time in practice belongs to Dani Pedrosa in 1'59.053, a time which earned him pole position in 2015.

Alongside Casey Stoner (who will ride from Thursday) and Michele Pirro (pictured below) also included Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Kohta Nozane for Yamaha, Hiroshi Aoyama for Honda, Mike di Meglio for Aprilia, Mika Kallio for KTM, Takuya Tsuda for Suzuki.

In parallel with the Grand Prix motorcycles, Toni Elias and Roger Hayden are expected to inaugurate with Yoshimura Suzuki the brand new GSX-R 1000 which they have this year in MotoAmerica Superbike. Takumi Takahashi should begin development of the Honda Fireblade (also a new model) which he will ride for Musashi RT Harc-Pro at the next Suzuka 8 Hours, probably with one of his two 2016 teammates Nicky Hayden, the other Michael van der Mark, left for Yamaha, perhaps being replaced by Stefan Bradl.