Lorenzo Ends Day 1 At Sepang Fastest
- Oct 23, 2015
- 2 min read
Track temperature had risen to forty-one degrees for the second free practice session of the day. This session is a more accurate look into the possible pecking order for the race, as FP2 takes place around about the same time as the race.
Jorge Lorenzo topped the session and heads into day two of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend as the fastest man after setting a best lap of 2:00.246 towards the end of the forty-five minutes. The Spaniard spent the opening part of practice running a race simulation on a used set of Medium tyres before switching to a fresh set in the final ten minutes. This is a crucial weekend for the Yamaha rider as he could lose the championship. His long-run pace is very good, consistently lapping in the low to mid 2:01s.
Concerning for him is the pace of the Factory Hondas. Dani Pedrosa was only a few hundredths adrift of his compatriot in FP2 in second, and his race pace is actually better than Lorenzo's. Marc Marquez was third quickest and he too is looking better than the Yamaha rider on race pace.
Lorenzo will also be hesitant to write off his team-mate and championship rival, Valentino Rossi, who didn't get a clear run at the end of the session on fresh slicks. The Italian has spent most of his session trying the Hard front/Hard rear combination to evaluate its usefulness over race distance. The Italian was almost identical on pace to Lorenzo and has more time over a single lap to give after he pulled in on his initial flying lap unhappy with the set-up of his YZR-M1. Rossi ended the session eighth fastest on a 2:01.305.
Andrea Iannone was once again very quick, brushing off a crash at turn eight at the start of the session to finish fourth with a lap of 2:00.486 on the soft rear slick. His race pace is a little of in comparison to the others, but he proved in Australia that he just needs a good qualifying and start and he can run with the top guys. Team-mate Dovizioso looked a little stronger in seventh, but still seems to be struggling to find a good balance with his GP15.
Aleix Espargaro utilised a tow from Rossi early in the session to, initially, go third fastest before dropping to sixth. The GSX-RR is really struggling down the straights and on acceleration from the slow corners, but proved that a tow can really propel them up the grid. If they can replicate that in qualifying then they could be on for a good result. Maverick Vinales was just outside the top ten in eleventh.
Scott Redding completed the top ten, the Satellite RC213V going really well around Sepang. Compatriot Cal Crutchlow was fifth. Their main Satellite rivals, Tech 3, are finding the going tough. Both Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro only fourteenth and fifteenth at a track they should be going well at. The team really need to dig deep tomorrow morning if the want both riders into the QP2 session.
Full results can be found here: http://resources.motogp.com/files/results/2015/MAL/MotoGP/FP2/Session.pdf?v1_eb6a059b
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