Sepang J3 mid-day tests: Vinales ahead of Iannone and Marquez

The track was in good condition for the start of this last day and most of the drivers set off quickly for two reasons: to carry out as many tests as possible before the rain possibly arrived, and to achieve a fast time with a tire tender. Andrea Iannone was the reference with a time of 1'59.452 achieved on Tuesday.

But they were already four under two minutes at the end of the first quarter of an hour, Iannone being accompanied by Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Maverick Vinales. They preceded Alvaro Bautista, Valentino Rossi, Johann Zarco and Jorge Lorenzo. This more or less reflected the trend of the first two days, with the Hondas struggling a little, Marc Marquez in eleventh position ahead of Cal Crutchlow. In the first hour, Bautista was the fifth driver to lap in 1'59. He took third position, confirming his good performances since the start of the week on the Ducati Aspar.

Johann Zarco moved up to sixth position ahead of Valentino Rossi, with a time of 2'00.221, which was excellent for a beginner in the category. Cal Crutchlow then preceded him by 0.2, which was rather reassuring for Honda who now had a rider among the six in 1'59. Loris Baz was then in twentieth position at 1.7.

At the end of the first hour, Vinales in second position moved up to 0.062 behind Iannone (at the combined time of the three days). They preceded Dovizioso, Bautista, Stoner, Crutchlow, Zarco, Rossi, Barbera and Lorenzo. Marquez was fourteenth. At KTM, we were working on braking stability, and at Aprilia on a shattering problem. Pol Espargaro fell lightly from the front with his KTM in turn 3. Andrea Iannone fell shortly after in turn 1 and immediately got up.

Marc Marquez put on a soft tire and set the second time in 1'59.507, 0.055 behind Iannone. He could then concentrate on endurance testing with a racing simulation. Ducati was preparing to do the same, attempting to cover the entire race distance on a soft tire.

Maverick Vinales hit hard by setting the best time of the three days in 1'59.369. He then preceded Iannone by 0.083, Marquez by 0.138 and Dovizioso by 0.185. Bautista occupied fifth position ahead of Stoner and Lorenzo, followed by the two well-recovered Hondas of Crutchlow and Pedrosa. Aleix Espargaro took the first Aprilia to tenth place ahead of Rossi and Zarco, while Baz was nineteenth. Happy birthday to Loris who is celebrating her 24th birthday today!

 

Results at mid-session (14 p.m. local time, 7 a.m. French time)

Reference times:

Test record: 1'59.053 by Dani Pedrosa (Honda) in 2015

Lap record: 2'00.606 by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in 2015

Test record: 1'58.867 by Marc Marquez (Honda) on February 6, 2015