Marquez tops day one at Sepang

Marc Marquez has started 2014 where he finished 2013, outpacing his rivals to finish over half a second faster than second placed Valentino Rossi after the first day of official testing at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit.

In 30°C temperatures, the world champion completed his fastest lap on 52 of 62, setting a time of 2:00.286, only 0.2 slower than his pole position lap last year for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Rossi was second, ahead of Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo, with only 0.3 covering the trio, followed by the satellite Honda pair of Bradl and Bautista.

Aleix Espargaro was the shock act of the opening day of 2014, however, piloting his Forward Racing Yamaha to seventh ahead of the satellite Yamaha pair of brother Pol and Bradley Smith.
Andrea Iannone was also ahead of the Tech 3 pair in eighth, well clear of both the official Ducati factory bikes and the test machine of Michele Pirro.

Cal Crutchlow was back in 14th, a worrying start to the Coventry man’s season, as the Bologna factory run a 2013/14 hybrid machine in an attempt to escape the front-end problems they’ve been plagued with.

Scott Redding had a slow start to his season too, back in 21st on the Go&Fun Honda as he adapts to the step up from Moto2.

The test continues for another two days.

1 MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda Team  2:00.286  52 / 62
2 ROSSI, Valentino Yamaha Factory Racing  2:00.804 0.518 58 / 61
3 PEDROSA, Dani  Repsol Honda Team  2:00.906 0.620  73 / 75
4 LORENZO, Jorge  Yamaha Factory Racing  2:01.082 0.796 26 / 47
5 BAUTISTA, Alvaro GO&FUN Honda Gresini  2:01.240 0.954 48 / 52
6 BRADL, Stefan  LCR Honda MotoGP  2:01.320 1.034 31 / 61
7 ESPARGARO, Aleix NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:01.419 0.099 19 / 26
8 IANNONE, Andrea Pramac Racing   2:01.538 1.252 38 / 44
9 ESPARGARO, Pol Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:01.634 1.348 42 / 48
10 SMITH, Bradley  Monster Yamaha Tech 3 2:01.876 1.590  54 / 55
11 EDWARDS, Colin NGM Mobile Forward Racing 2:02.483 2.197 25 / 26
12 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati Team   2:02.497 2.211 21 / 27
13 PIRRO, Michele  Ducati Test Team  2:02.552 2.266 47 / 48
14 CRUTCHLOW, Cal Ducati Team   2:02.860 2.574 16 / 38
15 HERNANDEZ, Yonny Energy T.I. Pramac Racing 2:02.891 2.605 28 / 49 
16 NAKASUGA, Katsuyuki Yamaha Factory Test Team 2:03.126 2.840 14 / 35 
17 HAYDEN, Nicky  Drive M7 Aspar   2:03.319 3.033 53 / 56
18 AOYAMA, Hiroshi Drive M7 Aspar   2:03.328 3.042 49 / 51
19 DE PUNIET, Randy Suzuki Test Team  2:03.893 3.607 47 / 75 
20 AKIYOSHI, Kosuke HRC Test Team   2:04.267 3.981 27 / 64
21 REDDING, Scott  GO&FUN Honda Gresini  2:04.431 4.145 41 / 48
22 BARBERA, Hector Avintia Racing   2:04.922 4.636 34 / 44
23 DI MEGLIO, Mike Avintia Racing   2:05.825 5.539 50 / 51
24 PARKES, Broc  Paul Bird Motorport  2:05.889 5.603 32 / 40
25 LAVERTY, Michael Paul Bird Motorsport  2:06.070 5.784 14 / 14 
26 ABRAHAM, Karel Cardion AB Motoracing  2:06.755 6.469 21 / 41