#ThaiTest MotoGP Buriram J.2: New record for Marc Marquez (afternoon news in detail)

It is with panache and determination that the reigning World Champion became the first driver in history to go under 1'30 on the Buriram circuit. In 1'29.969, he preceded his teammate Dani Pedrosa by 0.1, while Jack Miller brought the first Ducati into third position, ahead of the two Yamahas of Maverick Vinales and Johann Zarco.

Halfway through this second day of Thai tests (see summary of the morning here), Dani Pedrosa occupied first position with a clear improvement in time compared to the day before. His new unofficial track record of 1'30.127 allowed him to beat his teammate Marc Marquez of 0.165, confirming the ideal domination the day before Cal Crutchlow on another Honda.

#ThaiTest MotoGP Buriram	Chronos
Jonathan Rea 2017 (WSBK SP2)	1'32.957
D.1 tests (mid-day)	1'30.912 Marc Marquez
J.1 tests	1'30.797 Cal Crutchlow
J.2 tests	1'29.969 Marc Marquez
J.3 tests

At midday, the ranking was as follows, even though no one was riding due to the intense heat:

The spectators were incredibly numerous for a test day:

Maverick Vinales was the first to return to the track at 14 p.m. local time, i.e. 3:15 a.m. from the end. He completed his sixtieth lap of the day, two more thanÁlvaro Bautista at the same time.

Note that on Sunday the test times are brought forward by half an hour (from 9 a.m. to 17 p.m., instead of 9:30 a.m. to 17:30 p.m.) so that certain team members can take the plane on time.

Sunday will also be an opportunity to test an improved pit lane entry and exit. “ Pit lane entry and exit are potential issues, so we are trying to find ways to improve it, within the limits of what is available », declared the MotoGP Race Director, Mike webb at Crash.net. “ We will do an experiment on the pit exit tomorrow, because there is a lot of asphalt everywhere and we can just reroute the drivers so they have a better chance of seeing any traffic arriving when they leave the pits. We will try the same thing for the pit entrance, but we are a little limited with space. So we have some things to try and that's a good thing about a test, then we'll talk to the riders in Qatar and ask them how it compared with the original outing. »

Webb added that the circuit facilities and staff are generally very well prepared for MotoGP due to three years of World Superbike experience. Regarding barriers and clearance zones, “It's not a huge problem, but there are places where a very narrow angle of impact is possible and in this case we normally cover the barriers. This is already in place in critical locations, but there are a few additional locations where we would like to do it.

“Obviously, wherever direct impact is possible, we use an airfence. There are large clearances in the fast zones. In some tighter turns it would be nice to move a wall, but the most important thing is to have the right coating [on the barrier] because we are talking about a very narrow impact angle. »

At 14:45 p.m., several teams began to warm up the engines, so that the drivers could return to the track around 15 p.m., like the first day. The first two to set off were Marc Marquez, then second time, and Mika Kallio, at this time nineteenth. The Finn became the driver having completed the greatest number of laps since the morning with 65 units.

The Spaniard and the Finn stopped at their pits and were relayed onto the track by alex rins, victim of a minor fall late in the morning. Takaaki Nakagami started in turn, at that time in eighteenth position in the general classification, but above all second among the rookies at 0.03 behind Franco Morbidelli. The other three rookies, Lüthi, Syahrin and Simeon, brought up the rear from twenty-second to twenty-fourth place, 0.7 behind Morbidelli and Nakagami.

Jack Miller was very satisfied with his tests so far, working a lot with a soft rear tire and managing to make it last: “ In the last four years, I don't think I've felt this comfortable. I haven’t been this confident with my riding since I was in Moto3.” Nine thousandths of a second ahead of the Australian, Jorge Lorenzo was trying to improve his seventh position 0.6 behind Pedrosa, without succeeding for the moment.

The times at 9:30 a.m., 2 hours from the end:

A little after alex rins fell while testing a new aerodynamic package on his Suzuki GSX-RR:

Honda asked Marc Marquez to test a different aerodynamic device:

At 16 p.m. the four Ducatis ofAndrea Dovizioso, Jack Miller, Alvaro Bautista et Xavier Simeon, the Aprilia ofAlex Espargaro and the Honda of Tom Luthi. Then alex rins started again after his little fall.

Jorge Lorenzo tested Ducati's new extra-wide fairing, knowing that the maximum width is 600 mm, as specified in the official sketch below taken from the FIM technical regulations:

The afternoon weather forecast, according to the Honda Racing Corporation device:

It was around 16:20 p.m. when most drivers chose to exit the pits. They then had less than an hour of driving left, knowing that the checkered flag was presented (like the day before) at 17:15 p.m. The drivers then had 15 minutes to carry out start tests. These were partly intended to enable them to determine the braking cue when arriving at the first corner after the start.

Cal Crutchlow was the first of the afternoon to progress, going from 12th place in 1'30.888 to 10th in 1'30.790. This meant that track conditions were good, despite the high temperature. Jack Miller confirmed it by going from eighth position in 1'30.738 to fifth in 1'30.495. He was a thousandth of a second behind Andrea Dovizioso!

Maverick Vinales left thirteenth place (1'30.963) for eleventh in 1'30.814. He preceded his teammate Valentino Rossi (thirteenth) by 7 hundredths.

The multitude of spectators present today for these tests…

… had paid for his place (tickets below). Imagine what it will be like on Grand Prix day!

At 16:45 p.m., before the final sprint of the second day, the ranking was as follows:

Hafiz Syahrin fell for the first time in his MotoGP career, without seriousness on his Monster Yamaha Tech3. Tom Luthi made good progress by gaining 4 tenths by taking the wheel of Dani Pedrosa. He passed twenty-second in front of Syahrin and Siméon.

Jack Miller improved his time to fourth place in 1'30.372, now 0.245 behind Dani Pedrosa, and 0.005 behind his teammate Danilo Petrucci. Then he took second position in 1'30.185, 0.058 behind Pedrosa, about a quarter of an hour from the end.

Johann zarco moved to fourth place, from 1'30.450 to 1'30.360, 0.068 behind third Marc Marquez. Cal Crutchlow, quite discreet until then, climbed into sixth position in 1'30.490, 0.363 behind the leader Dani Pedrosa.

Marc Marquez broke the circuit record 5 minutes from the checkered flag in 1'29.969. He preceded his teammate Dani Pedrosa by 0.158, Jack Miller by 0.216, and Maverick Vinales moved up to fourth position, by 0.378.

After two days of testing, on a circuit that the drivers were discovering, it was clear that the Hondas were very comfortable, with the domination of Cal Crutchlow on Friday, then Marc Marquez followed by Dani Pedrosa the Saturday. Marquez was beaming: “There is no better way to celebrate my 25th birthday than to ride my motorcycle like this. Thank you all for the congratulations. » For Dani, “ We improved the electronics and the choice of gear ratios, and my driving. The problem is that we will not be using the current tires for the Grand Prix, due to the temperature. » Crutchlow eighth had not pushed too hard on this second day: “The problem is that we don't have a sufficient allocation of the tires we prefer for this circuit. We have to work on the economy if we want to ride on the third day!"

Jack Miller was doing very well with his Ducati GP17 in third position, while the new GP18s were a little further away with Danilo Petrucci sixth, Andrea Dovizioso ninth and Jorge Lorenzo tenth. “I did 21 laps with the soft rear tire and I'm very happy with it, Miller said. The circuit resembles that of the Austrian GP, ​​which is good for Ducati. We still have work to do with the settings, and we should improve tomorrow.”

The Yamahas progressed in the rankings on this second day with Maverick Vinales fourth and John Zarco fifth, but Valentino Rossi was only fourteenth. According to Johann, “ I am very happy. All my laps were fast, including 15 on a single tire, with the fifteenth in 1'30.6. My ranking was significantly better than yesterday, with fifth place. I felt really good on the bike. To get down to 1'29, it's going to take some more work. »

Vinales was sullen: “ It took me a very long time to understand this circuit. When I finally managed to find settings that suited me, things were better. I prefer the old fairing to the new ". " We struggle with rear grip and corner entry,” explained his team leader Ramon Forcada. On the side of Valentino Rossi, Silvano Galbusera estimated that “ the circuit is too easy for him, more difficult technical parts are needed. We still have work to do with electronics ».

Despite two falls, alex rins brought the first Suzuki into seventh position. “The two chassis parts that we are testing are relatively different, but yet we achieve very similar times with both” thought Alex. Bradley Smith was sixteenth on KTM with a hundredth ahead of ApriliaAlex Espargaro.

Among the rookies, Takaaki Nakagami dominated with fifteenth place overall, less than a second behind Marquez's record, which was remarkable. Franco Morbidelli was eighteenth at 1.2, while Lüthi, Syahrin et Simeon closed the rankings more than two seconds behind the best time.

For the last day, Sunday, allow half an hour in advance, with the tests taking place from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. French time.

Final ranking of the second day: