Two weeks on from the first test of 2013 the MotoGP teams and riders were back at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia today to continue in earnest with their preseason preparations. Including factory and test riders there were 27 participants on track today, compared to 28 last time, from 10am until 6pm. The final three hours were a washout due to a tropical downpour, by which time Dani Pedrosa had again proved to be the dominant force followed by Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Márquez. A lack of grip, perhaps caused by recent rain or a car event held yesterday, was the riders' principal enemy today but Aleix Espargaró showed no signs of holding back as he once again dominated amongst the CRT riders on track.
Twelfth fastest overall with a lap time of 2'03.941, it has been a positive start to the three-day session for the POWER ELECTRONICS Aspar rider. After being the standout CRT rider in the last test Aleix was again the reference point today, clocking his best time on his 27th lap of 28. The Spaniard worked on both his 2012 and 2013 bikes today, making back to back comparisons and working out a clear development strategy for the future. Meanwhile his team-mate Randy De Puniet worked on ironing out the front end chatter he had suffered in the last.
12th Aleix Espargaró 2.03.941 (28 laps): “There has been a lot of rain in the days leading up to this test and yesterday there were a lot of cars on track so I guess that's why the surface was so slippery today. You can see from the lap times that the conditions were not optimum but we focused our work today on comparing this year's bike with last year's. Unfortunately we didn't get through our full schedule because of the rain.”
18th Randy De Puniet 2.05.288 (22 laps): “Compared to the last test the track was vetry dirty today and there was very little grip. We did a couple of runs on the base setting we found in the last test and tried to iron out the front end chatter we had encountered. We had two different settings to try but it was difficult to draw any real conclusions because of the state of the track surface. We stopped for a little break halfway through the session and that's when it started raining so we couldn't carry on.”
Power Electronics Aspar Press Release
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