MotoGP – Marquez leads official MotoGP 2014 testing in Valencia –

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Score the lead in official MotoGP 2014 testing in Valencia

MotoGP - Marquez leads the official 2014 MotoGP testing in Valencia -

After the superb 2013 final Sunday in Valencia, the MotoGP riders stayed on the Ricardo Tormo circuit for the first official practice of the 2014 season. Jorge Lorenzo set the best time on Monday on his Yamaha M1 (1’31.257) while the two Honda riders were not riding.

After the, the MotoGP riders stayed on the Ricardo Tormo circuit for the first official tests of the 2014 season. Jorge Lorenzo set the best time on Monday on his Yamaha M1 (1’31.257) while the two Honda riders were not racing.

On Tuesday, it was not too much of a surprise for Marc Marquez, who finished first on the second day of testing with a time of 1’30.536 in his 75th and penultimate lap ahead of Lorenzo (1’30.768) and Pedrosa ( 1’30.948).

“Today’s test was important because we collected a lot of data and tested two different motorcycles: the prototype that we had already tested in Misano, and a new one that we discovered here”, specifies Marquez: “the two are quite similar and we were able to make some improvements, but there are still settings to configure. I had good lap times with both bikes and had a steady pace ".

MotoGP 2014 test schedule

  • November 11-13: post-GP test in Valencia (Spain)
  • February 4-6: MotoGP test in Sepang (Malaysia)
  • February 11-13: Moto2 and Moto3 test in Valencia (Spain)
  • February 18-20: Moto2 and Moto3 test in Jerez (Spain)
  • February 26-28: MotoGP test in Sepang (Malaysia)
  • March 7-9: MotoGP test in Losail (Qatar)
  • March 11-13: Moto2 and Moto3 test in Jerez (Spain)

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Today, the young world champion had to "concentrate on a single bike to go into more detail in the settings" while his teammate Pedrosa claims to have "pushed each piece to its limits to identify their strengths and weaknesses".

Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) and Álvaro Bautista (GO & FUN Honda Gresini) allowed Honda to place four motorcycles in the Top 5 by finishing 4th and 5th respectively, 0.454 and 0.672 seconds behind the fastest time.

Two short days and then go away

At Yamaha, two days (of the three planned) will have finally been enough to validate the test program drawn up by the factory: "Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi have again tried a first version of the 2014 YZR-M1, while working on an adjustment to reduce fuel consumption in anticipation of "- which will require in particular smaller tanks.

"Next year’s bike has already shown some positive aspects", assured Jorge Lorenzo who "is waiting for Sepang to benefit from more important changes". For his part, Valentino Rossi believes that this second day on the new bike was "a little more difficult than the day before. We worked a lot to try new systems for consumption and new settings and it was a good test".

Rossi: "a day full of emotion"

"The day was very emotional, it was something different", explained Rossi after his first day of testing with: "With we worked together for a long time and today it was a new start , but I’m happy and satisfied with the day. I knew Silvano from Superbike since I had tested the R1 with him in 2010 and at the time I liked the way he worked ".

The Doctor, who now works with sound, recognizes that in the end "the performance was not fantastic (7th in 1’31.414, editor’s note), but we have well prepared the work of this winter to arrive competitive at the beginning of the year next: during the season I was not strong enough under braking, so that’s where I need to improve ".

The two official riders "will now take a well-deserved rest before the first official IRTA 2014 tests in Sepang, Malaysia (from February 4 to 6, Editor’s note)", specifies Yamaha .

Crutchlow 11th on the Ducati

On the Ducati side, the fastest rider was Andrea Dovizioso while his new teammate Cal Crutchlow finished eleventh behind Pol Espargaró (his replacement at Monster Yamaha Tech3!) And Andrea Iannone (still Pramac Racing)..

Nicky Hayden (Power Electronics Aspar) was able to make his first laps on the – given the day before to his team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama – by rolling 0.444 seconds faster than the Japanese. The American finished thirteenth ahead of Yonny Hernández (Pramac Racing).

Finally, Aleix Espargaró and Colin Edwards, the two NGM Mobile Forward Racing riders, released the Italian team’s brand new Yamaha-FTR by turning, like Hayden and Hernández, more than 2 seconds from the reference time.. 

"It was a pleasure!", Rejoiced Edwards back to Yamaha with whom he has "of course a long history with Yamaha and it’s good to come back home! The bike runs well, we are just starting and So there was a lot to see, the positioning of the saddle, the handlebars, all those things that you have to adjust when you assemble a new bike, but overall the feeling was good ".

To be continued on MNC: the third day of testing in Valence (without the official Yamaha team). Stay connected !

The times of the second day

  1. Marc Marquez (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’30.536
  2. Jorge Lorenzo (SPA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1’30.768
  3. Dani Pedrosa (SPA) Repsol Honda Team 1’30.948
  4. Stefan Bradl (GER) LCR Honda MotoGP 1’30.990
  5. Alvaro Bautista (SPA) Go & Fun Honda Gresini 1’31.208
  6. Bradley Smith (GBR) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1’31.397
  7. Valentino Rossi (ITA) Yamaha Factory Racing 1’31.414
  8. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA) Ducati Team 1’31.661
  9. Pol Espargarò (SPA) Monster Yamaha Tech3 1’31.836
  10. Andrea Iannone (ITA) Pramac Racing 1’31.844
  11. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Ducati Team 1’32.114
  12. Michele Pirro (ITA) Ducati Test Team 1’32.473
  13. Nicky Hayden (USA) Power Electronics Aspar 1’32.576
  14. Yonny Hernandez (COL) Pramac Racing 1’32.800
  15. Aleix Espargaro (SPA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’32.847
  16. Colin Edwards (USA) NGM Mobile Forward Racing 1’33.149
  17. Michael Laverty (GBR) Paul Bird Motorsport 1’33.672
  18. Randy de Puniet (FRA) Paul Bird Motorsport 1’33.833
  19. Scott Redding (GBR) Go & Fun Honda Gresini 1’34.541
  20. Mike Di Meglio (FRA) Avintia Blusens 1’34.618

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