Official Sepang MotoGP Test results – Day 3 (FINAL)

VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini has finished the Sepang MotoGP test on top of the timesheets after a late flying lap kept Ducati’s reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia at bay by 0.080s.

It means that Marini, riding last year’s GP22, has now topped both winter tests having also been quickest at Valencia last November. The final pre-season outing will be held at Portimao next month, venue for the opening race on March 26.

Bagnaia, Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro were tied for the highest top speed of the day (and test) at 337.5km/h.

Sunday top speeds. JPuUIVB6Sr

— (@McLarenMotoGP) February 12, 2023

Another damp start in Malaysia meant only Johann Zarco (on wet tyres) set a lap time in Sunday’s opening hour.

Bagnaia was the first to try slicks at 11:20am, after which Saturday leader Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) was fastest for much of the final day.

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales moved ahead at 4:30pm, as dark clouds began to gather over the circuit.

Marini set the first 1m 57 lap of the test shortly after, with Bagnaia then slotting into second as the only other rider under 1m 58s.

The rain arrived later than expected, at 5:30pm.

* Rookie.

Fastest Day 2 Time:
Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati 1m 58.736s

Fastest Day 1 Time:
Marco Bezzecchi ITA VR46 Ducati 1m 58.470s

2023 Sepang MotoGP Shakedown Test:
Michele Pirro ITA Ducati Test Rider 1m 59.803s

Official Sepang MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Jorge Martin SPA Ducati 1m 57.790s (2022)
Fastest race lap:
Jorge Martin SPA Ducati 1m 59.634s (2022)

Morning drizzle meant a slow start to day two, while afternoon rain brought the slick-tyre action to an end at 3pm.

After a handful of laps on wets this morning, conditions soon became good enough for slicks, with day one leader Marco Bezzecchi becoming the first to break the 2min barrier today.

The pace of improvements saw Bezzecchi pushed down to tenth by 2pm, when Pramac’s Jorge Martin was fastest from RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira, GASGAS Tech3’s Pol Espargaro, Monster Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and Ducati’s reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia.

But drizzle returned shortly after, sending all riders back to the pits. The rain drops then cleared and riders began returning to the track… only for steady rain to soak the circuit from 3pm onwards.

Martin thus remained fastest, despite a fall that left him with deep abrasion cuts on his right hand, with the Pramac rider’s 1m 58.736s a few tenths shy of Bezzecchi’s Friday time.

Martin, who had one of the new Ducati fairings to try today, set his time on the 2023 bike and said he is ready to race.

Due to the rain, these will remain the best top speeds of day 2 at Sepang. AxMAK8V1kr

— (@McLarenMotoGP) February 11, 2023

“4

Quartararo, who has some lower fairing vents added to his prototype Yamaha today, set another impressive top speed of 335.4km/h, slightly better than yesterday.

The only riders faster through the speed trap on Saturday were the Ducatis of Bagnaia and Martin, who matched Enea Bastianini’s 336.4km/h from day one.

After riding on all three days of the Shakedown, then missing day one of the Official test, Yamaha called-up Cal Crutchlow for more development work on day two.

Many riders used the soaking late-afternoon conditions to conduct some wet weather testing…

“5

* Rookie.

Marco Bezzecchi, using a 2022-spec Desmosedici, stole the limelight with a late lap of 1m 58.470s, with Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales then moving into second place to break what had been an all-Ducati top three for much of the day.

New factory Ducati rider Enea Bastianini, team-mate and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia, plus Pramac’s Jorge Martin all took turns at the top on their way to third, fourth and fifth.

Other final-hour improvements by the likes of Johann Zarco, Fabio di Giannantonio, Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli pushed Fabio Quartararo and Marc Marquez to eleventh and twelfth.

Quartararo had three Yamahas in the Monster pits (and set an impressive top speed) while Marquez had four RCVs in the Repsol Honda garage (one with a new ‘ground effect’ style fairing, which he didn’t get time to try on day one).

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 later in the day.

Miller was the top RC16 rider in 16th.

Sepang Test day one top speeds: 4LVPmN7mHi

— (@McLarenMotoGP) February 10, 2023