SEPANG, Jan 29 — Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Maverick Vinales blazed the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) to top the timesheet on the second day today of the 2018 MotoGP pre-season winter test.
The 23-year-old Spaniard upped his pace later in the run, blitzing the 5.543-km track with a time of one minute and 59.355 seconds to leave him 0.035s clear of his teammate and nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi in second place.
LCR Honda Castrol rider Cal Crutchlow of Great Britain, who finished ninth in the 2017 championship, came in third with a time of 1:59.443s while 2015 champion Jorge Lorenzo of the Ducati Team settled in fourth place after clocking 1:59.498s.
Reigning world champion Marc Marques of the Repsol Honda Team took the seventh spot with a time of 1:59.730s.
Today’s session saw Repsol Honda Team rider Dani Pedrosa, who set the opening day fastest time of 1:59.427s, couldn’t match his performance yesterday, clocking 1:59.730s to be in 12th position.
Today’s session was tainted by a red-flag situation following an incident involving Red Bull KTM Racing Team’s Pol Espargaro of Spain at Turn 4.
However, the session resumed a minute later and the 26-year-old rider was reported to be in good condition after a quick examination.
The three-day pre-season test was held from 10 am to 6 pm and the eight-hour official pre-season test continues tomorrow. — Bernama
