By Kate Adams
@MotoGP
The shakedown at Sepang this year held extra excitement, as the new concession rules meant that full-time riders from Honda and Yamaha could join rookie Pedro Acosta and test riders from each factory.
KTM, the manufacturer that seemed completely lost one year ago, appeared comfortable with their development. Test riders Dani Pedrosa and Pol Espargaro topped the timesheets on day one and two, respectively. At the end of day 3, rookie Pedro Acosta took the top spot, completing a KTM clean sweep for the first official event of the season.
While KTM certainly looked to come away the strongest this weekend it's Honda that looks to have made the most radical changes from the bike we saw race at Valencia last year. In what looks like positive steps for the manufacturer, they seem to have taken the departure of Marc Marquez to heart and arrived in Sepang with multiple different machines for their riders to try.
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Aprilia advanced their aerodynamics yet again with a new tail pictured above. Already nicknamed the Batmobile by some, it was far from their only new upgrade. They were also spotted with new rear wheel covers and possible swing arm upgrades. With only one rider on track, it will be interesting to see if we spot any more developments on the Aprilia in the first test.
Ducati also only had one rider on track, Michele Pirro who under the new concessions looses his wildcards this season. Having only one rider didn't stop them from trialing a new side panel fairing. I'm expecting we will see the big upgrades teased at the factory launch at this coming test, which will give everyone a much better understanding of where the Bologna Bullet sits pace-wise coming into the season.
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The final manufacturer, Yamaha, didn't seem to bring forward much in terms of development or upgrades until the final day of testing, on which day they tested a longer exhaust along with aerodynamic upgrades. It's a slightly worrying sign as Honda seems to be making major steps forward in terms of development. Yamaha, while not as far behind as Honda was at the end of last year, needs to do more or they risk losing their superstar Fabio Quartararo.
End of day 3 timings:
Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) | 1:58.189 |
Pol Espargaró (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) | + 0.066 |
Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) | + 0.211 |
Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) | + 0.249 |
Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) | + 0.289 |
Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) | + 0.328 |
Álex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) | + 0.354 |
Luca Marini (Repsol Honda Team) | + 0.746 |
Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha Factory Racing) | + 0.794 |
Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda LCR) | + 0.883 |
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