SEPANG I
TEST REPORT
P74
LORENZO
ON HIS OWN
Jorge Lorenzo and the Movistar Yamaha team were miles
ahead after the first Sepang MotoGP test last week – an
ominous sign indeed for the rest of the field.
BY MICHAEL SCOTT
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
T
he more things change, the more
they stay the same? Yes, in the
case of the name at the top of the
time-sheets when MotoGP hostilities
resumed at the first official tests at
Sepang. Silky-smooth Jorge Lorenzo
and his M1 Yamaha were not just
fastest overall – but better than the
next-best factory rider by almost a full
second.
That was his uneasy and doubly
vengeful teammate Valentino Rossi.
Yet Rossi was only fourth overall, with
satellite Ducati riders Danilo Petrucci
and Hector Barbera between the
factory pair. Happily for the veteran
superstar, he was three tenths faster
than deadly enemy Marc Marquez,
top factory Honda rider.
Lap times and positions at this first
outing, over three days at Sepang,
were far from definitive, however.
They were skewed by tire restrictions
and circumstance, and despite the
high positions of non-factory riders it
is too soon to suggest that the new
control electronic software as well as
hardware have instantly closed the
gap between the haves and have-
nots.
The Magneti Marelli system suited
some better than others. Yamaha and
Ducati have both used MM electron-
ics for years, and are familiar also with
the unified software, itself an evolution
from last year's Open class software.
It is a far steeper learning curve for
factories which previously used dif-
ferent hardware and software–Suzuki
and Aprilia but more importantly also
Honda.
Electronics apart, the biggest
change was from Bridgestone to
Michelin tires, after seven years away.
And while lap times were impres-
sive, a major tire disintegration at top
speed dented rider confidence. It also
