IN
THE
WIND
P32
DUCATI
DOMINATES
SEPANG
MOTOGP
TEST
T
he first three of just six days
of preseason MotoGP testing
came up with some surprises at
the Sepang International Circuit,
and several uncertainties, Febru-
ary 9-10.
The biggest surprise was that
rookie Francesco Bagnaia put
his 2018 Alma-Pramac Ducati
second-fastest in only his third
outing—one of six riders to break
the absolute Sepang certain re-
cord—the top four on Ducatis.
The uncertainties concerned
the fitness of defending cham-
pion Marc Marquez and challeng-
ing new Repsol Honda teammate
Jorge Lorenzo.
Marquez, still not fully recov-
ered from major shoulder surgery
in December, was fastest on day
one, but was forced to take it
easy after that, finishing up 11th-
fastest.
Lorenzo, who had surgery on a
broken left scaphoid (wrist) bone
mid-January, was not even at the
test.
This leaves the condition of
both in doubt for the first race,
the Qatar GP on March 10.
Lorenzo acknowledged he would
still not be fully recovered by
then.
Marquez said, "I
expected to be better
than I am, and I cannot
ride as I like. I have to
be very careful on cor-
ner entry and changes
of direction, but we
were able to test many
things all the same."
He is expecting to be at full
strength and full fitness only for
round two in Argentina, another
three weeks later.
With all three days unusually
dry, the best times came on the
morning of the third, with new
factory Ducati rider Danilo Pe-
trucci slapping in a 1:58.239, a
new lap record. Reigning Moto2
champion Bagnaia was 0.063
of a second slower, from Alma-
Pramac Ducati teammate Jack
Miller's GP19 version next on
1:58.366. Dovi's factory bike was
fourth fastest, at 1:58.538.
Two more riders, Monster
Yamaha's Maverick Vinales
(1:58.644) and LCR Honda's Cal
Crutchlow (1:58.780) were inside
Lorenzo's benchmark 1:58.830,
set last year on a GP18 Ducati.
Conditions lent themselves
to close times, with the top 12
Danilo Petrucci
crushed the
game at Sepang,
setting an all-
time lap record
for the MotoGP
class.
New year, new fairing.
The Ducati guys still have
one more test until they
decide what fairings they
will use in 2019.
