Sepang, Malaysia

The Repsol Media Service, ever eager for publicity, issued the following video after the second MotoGP test at Sepang. In it, we ride with Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez around the Sepang track, viewed from a number of different perspectives. Observant viewers will note that the dashboard has been carefully blacked out, and music has been added to disguise the engine note, with some ingenious souls having used previous videos to measure engine revs and guess at firing orders. The press release and video are show below:

The best footage of the Repsol riders in Sepang testing

After two testing visits to Malaysia, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Márquez leave Sepang with their homework completed and with a positive outlook.

With the second preseason test of 2013 completed and riders and with the roar of the MotoGP bikes still ringing in the ears, we look back at the best footage of the Repsol riders at the test in the following video.

Press releases from the MotoGP teams and Bridgestone after the final day of testing at Sepang:

Dani Pedrosa was once again fastest on the final day of testing at Sepang, topping the timesheets for the fifth time in six total days of testing at Sepang. Though the Repsol Honda man looks to be the preseason favorite so far, he does not leave the test as fastest overall, however. That honor goes to Jorge Lorenzo, who put in a scorching lap on Wednesday to set the fastest time over all three days of the test.

The riders got off to a late start on Thursday, rain meaning that the bulk of the riders kept to their garages until the track started to dry out at the end of the morning. A few men put in laps in the wet, but once the track dried out, enough riders started putting in laps to clean the worst of the dirt left by the rain from the track, though track conditions were never as good as on the first couple of days. Pedrosa soon took charge of proceedings, later knocking another half a second off his time late in the afternoon. Rookie Repsol teammate Marc Marquez impressed yet again, taking 2nd on the timesheets with his very last lap, after the final 30 minutes of the session turned into a qualifying session. Marquez continued to concentrate on learning the ropes on a MotoGP machine, and the longer runs he put in were a little further off the pace of Pedrosa, and still not as consistent as they will need to be, but he proved with his flying lap that he will be starting from the front of the grid by the time the season starts.

Jorge Lorenzo ended the final day of the test with the 3rd fastest time, but leaves Sepang as fastest overall. Lorenzo's best time was over four tenths slower than Pedrosa's on Thursday, but the Spaniard spent the latter part of the day working on race set up, ending the test with a mightily impressive race simulation of 20 laps, 16 of which where in the 2:01s, most of them fast 2:01s. Lorenzo's race simulation follows the pattern from his championship-winning season in 2012, making a very long race simulation to test the bike and himself in punishing conditions. Less characteristic was a mistake the Spaniard made, putting in one lap of 2:05 towards the end, an anomaly among the scorching laps that surround it.

Press releases from the MotoGP teams after the second day of testing at Sepang:

Jorge Lorenzo has topped the second day of testing at Sepang during the MotoGP class' second visit to the circuit, the factory Yamaha man finding the three tenths of a second he was seeking on day 1 of the test. Lorenzo was quick right out of the gate, setting a blistering mid-2:00 lap on his first exit, a time nobody would better except himself before the afternoon break. Even more impressive than his time is his consistency, however: Lorenzo is seemingly able to crank out mid-2:00 laps at will. The Spaniard's performance so far has been eerily similar to the test last year, where he laid the foundation for his 2012 title by grinding out lap after lap at race pace.

With Lorenzo on top of the timesheets, Dani Pedrosa was forced to settle for second, over a third of a second behind his main rival for the title. Pedrosa had spent most of the day working on suspension settings for Honda RC213V, but had been hampered by a problem with one of his bikes. Tomorrow, he told reporters, his team would try to put the best of what they'd found at the test together. 

Press releases from the MotoGP teams after the first day of the second test at Sepang:

Dani Pedrosa has taken up at the second Sepang MotoGP test where he left off after the first. The Repsol Honda man led for most of the day, having set a fast time fairly early in the morning. His rival at the Factory Yamaha squad did much the same, Jorge Lorenzo taking 2nd a couple of tenths behind Pedrosa.

Marc Marquez continues to impress, the Spanish prodigy ending the day with the 3rd fastest time, just over a third of a second off his Repsol Honda teammate, and a little over a tenth behind reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo. Also  impressive was Stefan Bradl, the LCR Honda man achieving his stated aim for the test of matching the pace of Valentino Rossi. The strong times by Marquez and Bradl demoted the Factory Yamaha returnee to 5th, though the difference was minimal, just a few hundredths separating the threesome.

Cal Crutchlow led another close duo, the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha man some seven tenths off the pace of Pedrosa and a quarter of a second behind Rossi. He just kept ahead of Alvaro Bautista, the Gresini Honda rider taking 7th less than a tenth behind Crutchlow.

After an absence of some three weeks or so, the MotoGP teams once again return to action at Sepang for the second official test of the preseason. The intervening period has seen a flurry of activity in the factories in Japan and Italy, and at CRT team headquarters around Europe. The data accrued on the first visit to the Malaysian circuit has been analyzed, assessed, and more modifications made and ideas worked out for the second Sepang test. So what can we expect to see in Malaysia for the next three days? And what are the key details to keep an eye on?

The results of the first visit to Sepang went much as expected: Dani Pedrosa continued on the upward path that saw the Repsol Honda rider dominate the second half of the MotoGP season in 2012. Jorge Lorenzo kept Pedrosa honest, the factory Yamaha man sticking close to Pedrosa on all but the last day of the first test. Valentino Rossi demonstrated that he is still competitive, though he conveniently left the question of whether that is going to be good enough for podiums, wins or championships up in the air. Marc Marquez lived up to expectations, though given just how high those expectations were, that is an impressive enough feat on its own. Cal Crutchlow confirmed that he is the best of the rest, though Stefan Bradl ran him close; Bradley Smith made the kind of transition to MotoGP that validated his team boss' faith in the young Briton; and the Ducatis proved just how deep a hole they find themselves in, by finishing the test two seconds or more off the pace.

Wherever racing paddocks assemble, rumors accumulate. The latest piece of gossip to hit the racing grapevine concerns Casey Stoner, and is emerging from the paddock he has just entered - the Australian V8 Supercars series - and revolves and the paddock he has just left, MotoGP. According to the V8 gossip*, Casey Stoner is to wildcard in at least two MotoGP races in the 2013 season, aboard a Honda RC213V.

The paddock gossip was picked up by the Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, who contacted Repsol Honda team principal Livio Suppo for confirmation. Suppo denied any knowledge of such an agreement, though he did state that Stoner would be more than welcome to race as a wildcard for Honda, should he wish to do so.

The rumors do not exist only in the V8 Supercar paddock. The rumors are also doing the rounds among those with connections to Honda in the MotoGP paddock as well. Anonymous sources suggest that Stoner has been signed to do all three flyaway races - Sepang, Phillip Island, and Motegi - as well as private testing for HRC.

After yesterday's interview with Dani Pedrosa, the Repsol Media Service issued a press release containing an interview with MotoGP rookie Marc Marquez. In the interview, the 2012 Moto2 champion talks mainly about the process of learning to ride a MotoGP bike. The interview is shown in full below:

"You can have a lot of fun on this bike"

Repsol rider shines in first test of the year in Malaysia.

After first wearing the Repsol Honda Team uniform in the team presentation at the end of January, last week Marc Márquez was back on his new MotoGP bike to ride alongside the stars of the class. He made a positive assessment of the three days of testing in Malaysia.

What is your assessment of these three days of testing at Sepang?

"The first practice is always special, because you're always nervous after winter. I felt very good, better than I expected with the bike. With the team everything is working well and we're integrating slowly. I've tried new things and I also had my first crash with the MotoGP bike. It was not a big one and little-by-little we are getting to know the bike, which is what preseason is all about."

After three days of testing on the RC213V, what do you most enjoy and what was hardest when riding?

As is their custom, the Repsol Media Service released a press release interview with Dani Pedrosa after the first MotoGP test of the year at Sepang. In the interview, Pedrosa talks about his experience of the first test, the things he expects Honda to improve for the next test, and the problems created  by the weight increase from 157kg to 160kg and the decrease in engine allocation, requested by the MSMA, from 6 to 5 engines. He also has a word for his new teammate Marc Marquez. The interview follows below:

“As long as there is a desire to take steps forward, you can always improve”

Repsol rider has started 2013 motivated and focused on riding this season as strongly as in the second half of 2012.

Dani Pedrosa finished the first official test of the year at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia as the dominant rider over the three days. The Repsol Honda team rider never ceded the top spot on the time sheets and continually had the best time of the entire grid. Satisfied with this first test, Pedrosa is happy to be back to work on the Honda RC213V in 2013 and also has compliments for new teammate, Marc Márquez.

Three days of testing, and you had the fastest time in all of them. Are you happy with how things went in Sepang?

The Repsol Media Service issued the following press release, complete with video interviews, after the first MotoGP test of the year at Sepang:

Repsol Honda head standings at opening test of the year

Dani Pedrosa and Marc Márquez leave Malaysia after three days of strong results. Pair take first and fourth best times, respectively.

Repsol Honda’s two riders returned to action in Sepang after the winter break in top form. Dani Pedrosa could not be knocked from the top spot on the timesheets and managed to smash the circuit record with a 2’00.100 lap.

Joy, determination and despair. If you had to choose three words to describe the first test of the 2013 MotoGP season, these are the words you would choose. Joy: for Valentino Rossi and his crew at finally having a bike that Rossi can ride and his team understand how to work with; for HRC, at seeing both their hopes and their expectations of Marc Marquez' ability confirmed; for Bradley Smith and Michael Laverty, at making such rapid progress on their early days in the class.

Determination: for Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo, both working hard at preparing for their assault at a title which either could win. For Marc Marquez, focused on learning everything he can to add the consistency he needs to his raw speed, if he is to match Pedrosa and Lorenzo.

Despair: for the factory Ducati riders. Sepang showed the bike is uncompetitive, and with few avenues left to explore with the machine in its present state, despair at knowing they have many months of hard, dispiriting work ahead of them before they can even start to turn the situation around.

The production racer version of Honda's RC213V is another step closer to reality. At Sepang, HRC Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto spoke to reporters and the MotoGP.com website about the new bike, and the progress being made on the machine which will take the place of the CRT machines from 2014 onwards. The bike is delayed, Nakamoto said, but it will be ready in time for the tests at Valencia, after the final race of the season in November.

Nakamoto gave a brief rundown of the specifications of the production RC213V - a bike which, given the amount of publicity it is going to be generating over the next few months, badly needs a new name - though the list contained few surprises. The bike will have conventional valve springs, as opposed to pneumatic valves on the factory machine. It will not have the seamless gearbox used by the prototypes - again, not a surprise, as maintenance on the gearbox is still an HRC-only affair. This was not a matter of cost, Nakamoto said, claiming the seamless gearbox now costs almost the same as a standard unit.

The first test of the 2013 MotoGP season is completed, and Dani Pedrosa has completed a clean sweep, topping the timesheets on all three days. The Repsol Honda man confirmed his role as title favorite by posting a fast lap under the existing pole record set by Jorge Lorenzo last year. He also opened up a serious gap to the trio who have been chasing him all test long, putting nearly a third of a second on Jorge Lorenzo, the Yamaha man falling just short of his own pole record. What may worry Lorenzo more is the fact that Pedrosa declared at the end of the day that his objective was not to be fastest, but test the bike.

Valentino Rossi closed the gap to his teammate, ending the test a tenth from the time set by Lorenzo, though still four tenths from Pedrosa's best lap. Rossi also leapfrogged over Marc Marquez, finally finishing ahead of the Repsol Honda rookie after ending the first two days behind him. Marquez finished as 4th fastest, six tenths behind Pedrosa, and the young Spaniard also had his first crash of the season, losing the front end on the way into the final corner. Marquez walked away unhurt, his Repsol RC213V did not fare quite so well.