Movistar Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo kick-starts 2015 Shell Malaysian MotoGP weekend at the top of the time sheets.
The 2015 Shell Malaysian MotoGP weekend got off to a blazing start today with Friday’s two Free Practice sessions for all three categories, not forgetting the Practice and Qualifying sessions for the supporting Shell Advance Asia Talent Cup Moto3 series too.
At the top of the time sheets in the Premier MotoGP class was title contender Jorge Lorenzo. The Movistar Yamaha rider ended Friday on top after clocking in 2:00.622 in Free Practice 1 (FP1) followed by another blistering time of 2:00.246 in Free Practice 2 (FP2) later in the day. Crucially, this feat sees him edge ahead of title rival and teammate Valentino Rossi as both eye up the 2015 championship title here in Sepang.
Unfortunately for Valentino, the Italian superstar could only rank fifth fastest after clocking in his best of 2:00.915 in FP1 and 2:01.305 in FP2. In fact, his pace dropped in FP2 after an issue with his first choice bike at the end of FP2 prevented him from setting a flying lap.
Ahead of Rossi was Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa who ranked second in the combined timing sheet. Other notable riders in the top five today included Marc Marquez who was third fastest, followed by Ducati’s Andrea Iannone who was fourth fastest after capitalising on a set of radical new aerodynamics on his Ducati race machine.
Moto2, on the other hand, sees Thomas Luthi astride the Derendinger Racing Interwetten-Kalex machine on top. The Swiss rider’s best timing of 2:08.286 in FP1 and 2:07.453 in FP2 sees secured his top spot in the combined sheet. ahead of Jonas Folger of the AGR-Kalex team who was second fastest whilst newly crowned Moto2 champion Johann Zarco of the Ajo Motorsport-Kalex team is third fastest.
Moto3 title hopeful Danny Kent ends the day as the fastest rider of his category. The Leopard Racing-Honda team rider is now a step closer at clinching the Moto3 world title after having missed two opportunities previously. Kent’s best combined timing of 2:13.715 in FP1 and 2:14.190 in FP2 sees him ahead in the time sheet of title rival Miguel Oliveira of the Red Bull KTM Ajo team who is second overall.
All three classes will undertake a third Free Practice session and Qualifying tomorrow. Saturday starts early with FP3 for Moto3 at 9am, followed by MotoGP’s FP3 at 9:55am and Moto2’s FP3 session after at 10:55am. Then, Moto3 heads for its Qualifying heat at 12:35pm with Moto2’s heat later at 3:05pm.
MotoGP’s FP4 will kick off at 1:30pm before it quickly moves into its two Qualifying heats with the first Q1 knockout held at 2:10pm, followed by the final Q2 session at 2:35pm.
Stay tuned to our site for more updates as we cover the 2015 Shell Malaysian MotoGP weekend on the ground here in Sepang.
Combined Free Practice Times
Images: MotoGP official / Aspar MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 Official
