Sepang MotoGP Test Results – Saturday lap times (FINAL)

Aprilia riders Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales have dominated the top of the timesheets during the opening day of Official 2022 MotoGP track action, at the Sepang Test.

Espargaro – who rode on the final day of the recent Shakedown for rookies, test riders and concession manufacturer Aprilia – led the way for almost the entire day courtesy of an early 1m 58.371s, set on his 9th of 42 laps and close to the all-time unofficial lap record by Danilo Petrucci.

Vinales then made it a close RS-GP one-two by climbing back up to second in the final minutes, with Suzuki’s Alex Rins likewise jumping to third ahead of Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianin (second to Espargaro for much of the day).

Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco and Yamaha’s world champion Fabio Quartararo were also late improvers, clocking the fifth and sixth fastest times respectively.

Quartararo – who spent the middle stages in tenth, just behind Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow – has cited improving top speed as his main priority for the new M1.

The Frenchman set a top speed of 329.2km/h, which compared with 337.5km/h by Marc Marquez and 336.4km/h for both Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia (who set the consistently highest speed) and Aprilia’s Vinales. Mir reached 330.2km/h for Suzuki, which was matched by Raul Fernandez at KTM.

Eight time world champion Marc Marquez edged out his Repsol Honda team-mate Pol Espargaro for eighth and top RC213V.

Saturday was the first time Marquez has ridden a MotoGP bike since winning at Misano last October, after which he was sidelined by a repeat of his 2011 double-vision problems triggered by an enduro training accident. The Spaniard suffered a small  at around 11:30, then another in the final 30-minutes.

VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi impressed as top rookie in tenth place, with fellow newcomer Raul Fernandez also making a late push to head the KTM challenge in 13th.

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Factory Ducati team-mates Bagnaia and Miller were just 19th and 22nd, while VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini was having his first ride on the GP22 today.

The Sepang test – which takes place from 10am to 6pm, followed by practice starts – continues on Sunday when, if track conditions allow, it’s possible we’ll see the very first 1m 57s MotoGP lap…

*Rookie

Key:
^X Rider is X positions higher than previous hour.
= Rider is same position as previous hour.
˅X Rider is X positions lower than previous hour.

Fastest Shakedown Time:
Maverick Vinales SPA Aprilia 1m 58.942s

Official Sepang MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Fabio Quartararo FRA Yamaha 1m 58.576s (2019)
Fastest race lap:
Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha 1m 59.661s (2019)

Unofficial Sepang MotoGP record:
Danilo Petrucci ITA Ducati 1m 58.239s (2019 testing)
 

 

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