It was not raining this Tuesday morning on the Malaysian circuit, but the heavy precipitation the day before at the end of the afternoon had left numerous traces of humidity on the track. The poor evacuation of the water caused it to stagnate on the asphalt, preventing the drivers from taking off.
In fact, the asphalt was not uniformly damp, but soggy in places. It was therefore not possible to use slicks, which would have been too dangerous, nor rain tires which would have worn out too quickly. Furthermore, it was decided that Michelin would no longer supply intermediate tires this season.
The weather itself did not make it easy to dry the circuit because there were big clouds in the sky and no sun at all. The temperature was 26° at 10 a.m., the scheduled start time for the tests, with 83% humidity. Clouds were expected to stay over the runway until around 15 p.m., when thunderstorms were forecast until midnight.
“The track is neither wet nor dry, estimated Pol Espargaro. It's a shame because we can't ride in these mixed conditions. We can't do any development there, try it effectively when we need it at KTM. There is also a risk of injury. On the other hand, if it really rains, we will ride to develop the bikes in these conditions. But currently this partial humidity is the worst situation.”
Jorge Lorenzo took the track with his Ducati, lapped 25 seconds behind his time yesterday and returned to his pits after 3 laps. Then he continued and completed 9 loops with his best time in 2'14.
