Marc Marquez finishes Day One of 2015 fastest; Pedrosa progressing
2014 MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez was back in action today, as he ended the first day of 2015 MotoGP pre-season testing fastest in Malaysia.
The 21-year-old was in action on his 2015 RC213V, and Honda also bought two other bikes along for the reigning World Champion to try. Along with his 2015 machine, Honda bought his 2014 title winning bike, and a bike in between the two, a bike the double World Champion said he ultimately preferred.
Marquez fastest time of the day, was a 2:00.262, which he posted on his penultimate lap of the day. The lap was 0.118 seconds ahead of Valentino Rossi, and 0.259 seconds faster than the second Movistar Yamaha of Jorge Lorenzo.
“I’m glad to finally get back on the bike,” said the Spaniard.
“It’s been a hard day and at the same time very positive, because on the first day after the winter break you have to regain confidence with the bike and adapt to the feeling of the MotoGP machine again.
“We tried three different bikes today, and this has been very important. I focused on testing them thoroughly and deciding which bike was the ideal one to continue working with at this test, and then this afternoon we focused more on one of the machines. I was able to start riding better and feel more comfortable on the bike.
With two days left in Sepang, there is plenty more for Marquez, to test before the weekend and the second Sepang test.
“There are still many things to try at this test, so we have to remain calm like we did today and keep working.”
Pedrosa meanwhile ended the test in fifth position, and just under half a second behind his younger team-mate, but he was happy with his first day of testing on the 2015 RC213V.
“I’m happy with the work we have done today on the first day of testing, because we were able to get back on the bike and we had a good pace,” said Pedrosa.
“It went pretty well and I think we have improved the bike compared to the one we tested it at Valencia. We had a lot of work to do and it has been positive to have a good first day: it was important and we are happy with what we have achieved.
“There is still more to do, but we have taken a good first step. Tomorrow we’ll see if we can continue moving things forward.”
Photo credit Repsol Honda