Official Sepang MotoGP Test results – Day 1 (4pm)

New factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini is in charge of the timesheets heading into the final hour of Friday testing.

The Italian, who has tried the latest Ducati fairing (pictured), dipped 0.005s under long-time leader Jorge Martin’s best after the brief rain spots that interrupted the action around 2pm had cleared.

Team-mate and world champion Francesco Bagnaia has been pushed to third, with the Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro fourth and fifth.

Fabio Quartararo, using the new Yamaha prototype, has risen to sixth place, just ahead of top Honda rider Marc Marquez.

Quartararo has three different Yamahas in the Monster pits while Marquez has four different RCVs in the Repsol Honda garage (one with a new ‘ground effect’ style fairing).

While the other KTMs looked to start on 2022 spec, Jack Miller appeared to go straight to the new parts, including the carbon-black fairing tested by Dani Pedrosa at the Shakedown. Brad Binder switched to the new aero late in the day.

• PICTURES: 2023 MotoGP action begins at the Official Sepang test

Quartararo looks to have done his first run on the prototype fairing/bike. This is where he sits for top speed, similar to the figures for Crutchlow at the Shakedown. SV0wqRPfQ1

— (@McLarenMotoGP) February 10, 2023

Following the Shakedown earlier this week, which saw Pirro fastest from Yamaha’s Cal Crutchlow, the 2023 MotoGP race riders take over at the Malaysian circuit for the Official test from Friday to Sunday.

Rookie Augusto Fernandez was the only rider from this year’s 22-strong line-up eligible for both the Shakedown and Official test, while the factory test riders such as Crutchlow, Pirro and Dani Pedrosa are also set to ride again this weekend.

With Yamaha eying a significant improvement in top speed this year, much attention will also be on the max km/h of the M1s.

The Shakedown signs were promising, with Crutchlow recording a 335.4km/h. That was 5.2km/h faster than Fabio Quartararo managed during last October’s Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying and race (330.2). The Frenchman had clocked a 332.3 in FP3 with the aid of a slipstream.

But with the speed trap at Sepang located at the start of the turn-one braking zone, figures can fluctuate more than normal.

Testing takes place from 10am to 6pm…

* Rookie