Sepang MotoGP test: Dani Pedrosa fastest as testing resumes
Dani Pedrosa continued his imperious start to the 2013 season by topping a rain-hit opening to MotoGP's second winter test at Sepang
Pedrosa, who completed a clean sweep of the first test, edged out 2012 champion Jorge Lorenzo by just over two tenths of a second.
Both men set their best times in the early part of the day, before the onset of rain effectively washed out the afternoon.
Marc Marquez continued his own impressive build-up to what will be his rookie season, finishing third fastest and getting to within four tenths of Pedrosa's time.
He was just 0.017 seconds quicker than Stefan Bradl, the man who beat him to the 2011 Moto2 crown.
Bradl, riding as a Honda factory supported rider this year, was in turn only 0.069s than Valentino Rossi on the second Yamaha.
After a poor start to the year and calls for major changes, Ducati's works team fared better in the second test as Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden locked out eighth and ninth.
That put them behind Tech 3's Cal Crutchlow and Gresini's Alvaro Bautista, but within 1.5s of the outright pace.
Crutchlow's team-mate Bradley Smith suffered his first MotoGP crash when he the lost the front end of his bike at Turn 7. He was able to walk away unhurt and ended the day 10th fastest.
Behind Smith Ducati's Pramac satellite duo of Ben Spies and Andrea Iannone were outpaced by the fastest of the CRT riders, Aspar's Aleix Espargaro.
The test attracted a 27-bike field, with the 2013 entrants once again bolstered by Yamaha test duo Katsuyuki Nakasuga and Wataru Yoshikawa. Honda's counterpart Takumi Takahashi and Ducati's Michele Pirro were also present.
Paul Bird's Michael Laverty was unable to get out however as the team spent much of the day putting the finishing touches to the in-house chassis it will run for the Northern Irishman this year.
Pos Rider Bike Time Laps 1. Dani Pedrosa Honda 2m01.580s 43 2. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 2m01.815s + 0.235s 25 3. Marc Marquez Honda 2m01.942s + 0.362s 23 4. Stefan Bradl LCR Honda 2m01.959s + 0.379s 38 5. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 2m02.028s + 0.448s 25 6. Cal Crutchlow Tech 3 Yamaha 2m02.272s + 0.692s 28 7. Alvaro Bautista Gresini Honda 2m02.362s + 0.782s 32 8. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 2m02.801s + 1.221s 22 9. Nicky Hayden Ducati 2m03.143s + 1.563s 46 10. Bradley Smith Tech 3 Yamaha 2m03.632s + 2.052s 24 11. Katsayuki Nakasuga Yamaha 2m03.734s + 2.154s 24 12. Aleix Espargaro Aspar Aprilia 2m03.941s + 2.361s 28 13. Ben Spies Pramac Ducati 2m04.047s + 2.467s 25 14. Andrea Iannone Pramac Ducati 2m04.050s + 2.470s 32 15. Wataru Yoshikawa Yamaha 2m04.590s + 3.010s 23 16. Michaele Pirro Ducati 2m04.626s + 3.046s 38 17. Hiroshi Aoyama Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m04.743s + 3.163s 30 18. Randy de Puniet Aspar Aprilia 2m05.288s + 3.708s 22 19. Takumi Takahashi Honda 2m05.510s + 3.930s 34 20. Colin Edwards Forward FTR-Kawasaki 2m05.518s + 3.938s 21 21. Danilo Petrucci Ioda Suter-BMW 2m05.827s + 4.247s 35 22. Karel Abraham Cardion Aprilia 2m05.838s + 4.258s 26 23. Yonny Hernandez Paul Bird Motorsport 2m05.908s + 4.328s 29 24. Hector Barbera Avintia FTR-Kawasaki 2m06.062s + 4.482s 30 25. Claudio Corti Forward FTR-Kawasaki 2m06.306s + 4.726s 26 26. Bryan Staring Gresini FTR-Honda 2m06.730s + 5.150s 34 27. Lukas Pesek Ioda Suter-BMW 2m07.991s + 6.411s 25 28. Michael Laverty PBM-Aprilia -
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About this article
| Series | MotoGP |
| Drivers | Dani Pedrosa |
| Teams | AB Motoracing |
| Author | Sam Tremayne |
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