Day two of the second Sepang test has concluded with Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez back at the top of the time sheets with teammate Dani Pedrosa finishing the day in 5th.
After a difficult first day, where he was unable to work properly due to an issue with the brakes, Marc was keen to get to work on his test programme. It wasn’t long before the reigning World Champion was out in front, becoming the first rider in this second test to lap under 2’00 just before midday. He spent the day working on electronics amongst other items and recorded his fastest lap of 1’59.844 on lap 22 of 63. He had a small crash in the afternoon at turn four, but thankfully remained uninjured. Dani continued to work on suspension settings and set his fastest lap of 2’00.275 on lap 36 of 57.
The three-day test will conclude tomorrow and will be followed by the first test by Factory riders on Michelin tyres in preparation for 2016.
Marc Marquez >> Audio
1st – 1:59.844, 63 laps, 349 km.
“I’m happy because today was a positive day. After what happened yesterday, we tried to make up for lost time and tried out quite a few things. Tomorrow we have to continue testing things out, in order to continue developing and eliminating anything that is not going to be useful. Today we focused on electronics and tomorrow we will work more on the chassis. I’m happy with how things went today and with the pace that we have achieved. We’ll see if tomorrow the rain holds off all day, because we need good weather.”
Dani Pedrosa >> Audio
5th – 2:00.275, 57 laps, 316 km.
“Today we focused on the bike’s suspension. We have been testing many different configurations looking to find a good setup. I’m happy with the hard work we have done today. Although it was very hot, we put in a lot of laps and at the end of the day we found a small step, which is positive. We still have many things to improve, but we have progressed and are already in good shape. I am getting more confidence with the bike and have a better feeling with the tyres. In addition, we have identified the good and bad points so I think that at future tests and races we can continue to develop consistently, which is good.”
