MotoGP: Repsol Honda Pre-Season Test Day 3 Report - Sepang

Repsol Honda Media Press Release:

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa have finished the first three-day test of 2015 on top of the time sheets, with both riders over half a second faster than their closest rival.

This morning during the cooler temperatures, 2014 World Champion Marc recorded the fastest ever time on two wheels around the Sepang circuit with his time of 1’58.867 on lap 8 – of 52 – (beating his own record of 1’59.533 from the 2014 Winter test), as all the riders took to the track in a time attack. In the afternoon, Marc completed a 20 lap race simulation, and gained valuable data about the current spec Honda.

Dani, who's morning time was just 0.139 off Marc, also did a 20 lap race simulation in the afternoon – with 10 laps under 2'01 – and fine tuned his settings on his 2015 RC213V in preparation for the next test here in two weeks. He recorded his time of 1'59.006 on lap 11 of 41.

The HRC engineers will now take the data collected from this test back to Japan to analyze and prepare for the second Sepang test, due to take place on the 23-25 February.

Marc Marquez 93:

1st 1’58.867 (52 laps)

"The truth is that when I saw the time I was surprised, just like everyone else! In any case, I must say that today the track was fast, as we all rode faster than before. I'm glad I was able to set a good lap, but more important is the fact that I felt very comfortable, right from the start. We did a race simulation later on, which also went very well and was perhaps even more important than a single lap. During the race simulation we tested different mapping and in every part we tried different things. The positive is that with the new bike we are already at the same level as in 2014, and there is still plenty of room for improvement. Now I can’t wait for the second test and to see what progress we can make.”

Dani Pedrosa 26:

2nd 1’59.006 (41 laps)

"I'm happy with the work we have done today, because we have made progress in some aspects with the rear. There is still room for improvement, but overall we've taken some pretty positive steps in this test and I think that's a very good thing. The team have also integrated well and we have worked very smoothly together, so I'm very happy about that. We did a race simulation in which we tested the bike for the first time in such a scenario. Obviously there are some things to improve but, considering it was the first time, the findings have been pretty good!”

MotoGP 2015 Sepang Test (Day #3) Results:

1     MARQUEZ Marc     93     SPA     Repsol Honda Team     Honda     1'58.867

** 2     PEDROSA Dani     26     SPA     Repsol Honda Team     Honda     1'59.006**

3     IANNONE Andrea     29     ITA     Ducati Team     Ducati     1'59.388

4     ROSSI Valentino     46     ITA     Movistar Yamaha MotoGP     Yamaha     1'59.401

5     LORENZO Jorge     99     SPA     Movistar Yamaha MotoGP     Yamaha     1'59.624

6     ESPARGARO Pol     44     SPA     Monster Yamaha Tech 3     Yamaha     1'59.851

7     DOVIZIOSO Andrea     4     ITA     Ducati Team     Ducati     1'59.874

8     BRADL Stefan     6     GER     NGM Forward Racing     Forward Yamaha     2'00.294

9     SMITH Bradley     38     GBR     Monster Yamaha Tech 3     Yamaha     2'00.384

10     ESPARGARO Aleix     41     SPA     Team Suzuki MotoGP     Suzuki     2'00.486

11     CRUTCHLOW Cal     35     GBR     CWM LCR Honda     Honda     2'00.536

12     VINALES Maverick     25     SPA     Team Suzuki MotoGP     Suzuki     2'00.964

13     PETRUCCI Danilo     9     ITA     Pramac Racing     Ducati     2'00.970

14     AOYAMA Hiroshi     7     JPN     HRC Test Team     Honda     2'01.029

15     BARBERA Hector     8     SPA     Avintia Racing     Ducati     2'01.183

16     PIRRO Michele     51     ITA     Ducati Team     Ducati     2'01.232

17     REDDING Scott     45     GBR     Marc VDS Racing Team     Honda     2'01.263

18     HAYDEN Nicky     69     USA     Drive M7 Aspar     Honda     2'01.508

19     BAZ Loris     76     FRA     NGM Forward Racing     Forward Yamaha     2'01.624

20     MILLER Jack     43     AUS     CWM LCR Honda     Honda     2'01.895

21     BAUTISTA Alvaro     19     SPA     Factory Aprilia Gresini     Aprilia     2'01.924

22     DI MEGLIO Mike     63     FRA     Avintia Racing     Ducati     2'02.128

23     ABRAHAM Karel     17     CZE     Cardion AB Motoracing     Honda     2'02.297

24     LAVERTY Eugene     50     IRE     Drive M7 Aspar     Honda     2'02.334

25     NAKASUGA Katsuyuki     T1     JPN     Yamaha Test Team     Yamaha     2'02.363

26     TAKAHASHI Takumi     72     JPN     HRC Test Team     Honda     2'03.113

27     DE ANGELIS Alex     15     RSM     NGM Forward Racing     Forward Yamaha     2'03.471

28     MELANDRI Marco     33     ITA     Factory Aprilia Gresini     Aprilia     2'03.641

Upcoming Races:

- Round 1, March 27, 2015 - March 29, 2015: Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar

- Round 2, April 10, 2015 - April 12, 2015: Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas

- Round 3, April 17, 2015 - April 19, 2015: GP Red Bull de la Republica Argentina

For more information: www..hondaracingcorporation.com

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