Higher temperatures compared to day one greeted the riders at Sepang on Wednesday, but that did not slow down the progress of Alvaro Bautista and Bryan Staring as they put in further work on their MotoGP machines. The two worked hard alongside their technicians on several aspects of their bikes, until rain arrived at the Malaysian circuit and washed out the rest of the afternoon’s testing. Bautista worked on chassis setup and looked at new suspension and brakes, with positive conclusions drawn. He rode 44 laps and stopped the clock with a best time of 2’01.729. Australian rider Staring regained confidence after a crash on day one, going back to work and trying out new chassis settings to compare with last year’s. His top time was a 2’06.898.
Alvaro Bautista “It was a day in which we put in a lot of work. We focused above all on the setup, looking to improve upon the geometry of the frame. This bike is very different to last year’s. We dedicated practically the entire morning to that, but in the end we couldn’t quite find what we wanted. In the afternoon we tried out some new brakes, with which we weren’t paticularly satisfied. We put in a few laps in the wet, but the conditions weren’t optimal for riding. We hope for better weather tomorrow, so that we can finish off the work scheduled for this first test of the year.”
Bryan Staring “I’m still hurting a little today from yesterday’s crash, but after a few laps I was ready to get back on the pace. I worked with the technicians on the chassis geometry and tried things out against the data from last year. I am happy to have them working with me, because they are so professional and such a big help. I made a slight improvement on my time from yesterday, but I think that in order to make a big leap forward we will need another day of testing. I am determined to do well and convinced that we can get everything ready for the start of the season.”
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