IN
THE
WIND
P24
THAT'S A WRAP! MOTOGP TESTING
T
he 2015 season started as
the 2014 had finished—with
Marc Marquez on top.
In the same way, the first tests
were also troubled by the weath-
er. Since it was only a day after
the shower-struck final race, this
was not surprising.
Monday was a beautiful sun-
ny day, but Tuesday began in
torrential rain and was damp
throughout. Wednesday was a
little better, allowing riders to go
out on slicks as the day wore on.
It played badly for those, such
as the factory Honda pair, who
had decided to take it easy on
Monday, but it went well for a
hatful of new riders, or riders
with new bikes. At least the first
day could be used for familiariza-
tion.
Day two was a washout. Only
10 riders went out, including
Rossi and Marquez; Petrucci set
the best time.
Day three started similarly
but improved enough for some
serious work, with this time ev-
erybody in action, except for the
departed Ducati team, which
had nothing to test), and Abra-
ham and de Angelis with the
Ioda-ART.
There were a number of crash-
es, including both Smith and
Crutchlow, the latter once at low
speed then much harder in turn
one, where his dragging knee
scooped water from a remain-
ing puddle onto the back tire of
his satellite Honda. He suffered
a suspected broken thumb and
knee injuries.
By the end of it, Marquez was
on top but with a time set on the
2014 bike. "I felt better on [the
'14]. That's normal," he said.
"The 2015 bike has more poten-
tial."
His best time of 1:30.973 was
The first MotoGP
test of 2015 in
Valencia, Spain
ended like the
2014 season—Marc
Marquez on top.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
GOLD
&
GOOSE
