VOL. 54 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 31, 2017 P35
the other side of the garage as
new Ducati star Jorge Lorenzo
finished a disconsolate 17th on
day one.
"At this circuit I noticed a
bigger difference between my
Ducati and the bike that I have
ridden for the last nine years,"
Lorenzo said. "Now we have to
do two things to be quicker: the
first is to gradually adapt the bike
to the way I like it, and the sec-
ond and more important, is to
know how to do that and under-
stand how to be quicker. I still
need some more time for that."
Third at Sepang on day one
went to new Movistar Yamaha
rider Maverick Vinales. It was
another strong performance by
the Spaniard, who earlier topped
the final 2016 MotoGP test at Va-
lencia. Vinales headed a surpris-
ingly fast Alvaro Bautista on the
satellite Ducati in fourth place,
with new Suzuki signing Andrea
Iannone completing the top five.
Iannone's teammate Alex Rins
is one of a group of riders step-
ping up from Moto2 this year,
finishing day one in 20th place.
Rins' fellow MotoGP rookies had
mixed results, with Aprilia Racing
Team Gresini's Sam Lowes down
in 26th, 2015 and 2016 Moto2
World Champion Johann Zarco
in 14th on the Tech3 Yamaha and
Jonas Folger (Tech3 Yamaha)
showing well in seventh.
The lead Honda rider was
LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow in
sixth, with Movistar Yamaha's
Valentino Rossi eighth, heading
archrival Marc Marquez (Rep-
sol Honda) in ninth with Hector
Barbera on the Avintia Ducati
completing the top 10.
Rounding out the top 15 was
Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac
Yaknich Ducati) from teammate
Scott Redding, Dani Pedrosa
(Repsol Honda), Zarco and Aleix
Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team
Gresini).
The second day of testing
wraps up on Tuesday, January
31. CN
(Above) Bautista surprised many
with his speed and consistency
to go fourth quickest.
(Below) Iannone slotted in well
to his new home at Suzuki,
finishing day one in fifth.
