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The first day of Shakedown in Sepang has ended, with the rain as an unwanted guest. The sky was not an ally because, just after the lunch break, when the testers were ready to get back on track, it started to rain. So, the afternoon was wasted, even though all the testers took the opportunity to do a few laps in the wet, including Augusto Fernandez, the only rookie and therefore admitted to these tests.
The classification did not change from the morning and Crutchlow remained in the lead with a time of 2'01.146. We managed to catch up with Cal in the paddock and, as always, he commented on his day with irony: “I have a list of things to try as long as my legs... but they are quite short - he laughed - Seriously, it's all positive."
The times are far off the limit, Crutchlow lapped in 2'01.146 (the race record is Jorge Martin's 1'59.634, in qualifying he dropped below 1'58") but it is normal on the first day and with a track not in the best condition. If anything, it is interesting to see the maximum speed of the M1: 330.3 km/h, not far from the 332.3 of the Aprilia and the 331.3 of the Ducati.
The second time, 0.185s behind, went to Fernandez, who must make the best use of these days of testing to get to know his GasGas. There is no pressure for him, he just needs to find the right confidence before putting himself to the test with the official riders.
Looking down the standings, in 4th place we find Stefan Bradl who certainly has a lot of work to do on the Honda before leaving it in the hands of Marquez, but also in those of the newcomers Mir and Rins.
Important aerodynamic evolutions on the Aprilia (we talked about it HERE) with a fairing that evolves the concepts already seen last year. For Ducati, the important thing is not to make any missteps because the Desmosedici is the benchmark bike in the category, but Michele Pirro has the right experience to avoid making any mistakes.
Jonas Folger, the new test rider on the RC16, has arrived at KTM. Pedrosa is also on the track, but he is the only one who has not mounted the transponder on his bike, as he had already done in the past. However, our timing shows that Dani is the fastest, lapping in 2'00.4.
Tomorrow is the second day of Shakedown: the track will open at 10am and close at 6pm (Malaysian time).
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