Lorenzo takes charge on first day of Valencia test

Jorge Lorenzo was fastest on the opening day of the 2014 season at Valencia, as testing got underway immediately for next season. Cal Crutchlow also rode his first laps on Ducati, while Scott Redding made his MotoGP debut on for Gresini.

Lorenzo lapped at 1’31.257, faster than Sunday’s race pace, despite remaining on a 2013 bike, although he is expected to move to a 2014 machine tomorrow.

Teammate Valentino Rossi was second, working for the first time with new crew chief Silvano Galbusera, and lapping only 0.093s off Lorenzo.

Crutchlow, working alongside new Ducati manager Gigi Dall’Igna, also making his debut with the Bologna squad, was sixth overall, but more importantly was only 0.1 behind teammate Andrea Dovizioso. However, Ducati satellite rider Andrea Iannone was faster than the factory machines in fourth.

Stefan Bradl was the fastest Honda rider on track, finishing third as Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa sat out the day after Sunday night’s celebrations.

New Ducati recruit Cal Crutchlow has taken Italian Crew Chief Daniele Romagnoli with him from Tech 3 to the Italian factory Ducati and the pair were working alongside new Ducati Corse General Manager Gigi Dall’Igna for the first time on Monday.

Scott Redding got his first run on the new privateer Honda, finishing in 11th after working closely with Cristian Gabarrini from HRC to set up the all-new bike.

Hiroshi Aoyama also made his debut for Aspar on a second RCV1000R, finishing in ninth as new teammate Nicky Hayden sat the day out due to a lack of availability of the new production Hondas.

Testing continues on Tuesday and Wednesday (10am-5pm both days); with the action live on BT Sport from 10am tomorrow.

For eight pages of reaction to the weekend’s action and Marquez’ record breaking title see Wednesday’s Motorcycle News.