Heavy overnight rain left a damp track today at Sepang and kept the riders in the pits for more than half of the second day of testing. Temperatures also were slightly cooler than usual in Malaysia, with a max of 30° C air, 38° ground.

Reigning World Champion Marc Marquez and teammate Dani Pedrosa took to the track as soon as it was dry enough, after 2 p.m. They continued their development work on their RC213V machines, both of which were equipped with the same engine’s new configurations. Tests of the Michelin tyres also continued for both.

Marquez’s fastest time of 2’00.531” (lap 27 of 33) placed him 10th for the day. Pedrosa finished in 14th place with his time of 2’00.886” (lap 38 of 44). The test will conclude tomorrow.

Marc Marquez

10th 2'00.531

“We started late like everyone this afternoon because of the track conditions, and generally speaking, it was a challenging day. We spent a lot of time in the garage working on sorting out many little things. It’s okay, as this is the pre-season and it’s better to work and solve all these issues now, but of course this takes time. We have a lot of work to do to find a good setup for the bike and the electronics. That said, our rhythm wasn’t too bad and hopefully tomorrow we’ll improve our pace and speed. We must keep focused and work hard. I’m sure that step by step we will get better!”

Dani Pedrosa

14th 2'00.886

“Today we started working as soon as the conditions allowed, even if the track was still damp here and there. We made a re-check of some setup details we wanted to improve, and the positive is that we actually bettered them by about 50%. We’re not yet where we want to be, but it’s still a step forward. Other positives to the day are that I did my fastest time on a quite used tyre and that we did some good work on the fork and on one front tyre as well. Unfortunately, at the end of the session we weren’t able to fit a new tyre and try a time attack, but hopefully tomorrow we’ll have time to do more tests on the tyres and setup and to try and improve our lap times.”

MotoGP 2017
Testing   Malaysia

Results Session

Mixed Conditions
Track Temp
38°C
Air Temp
30°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
Location Information

Specifically built for speed and exciting racing, the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia is one of the world’s best. The 2,300 acre complex cost around £50m to construct and was built in just 14 months, holding its first Grand Prix in April 1999 and setting the standard for race circuits… read more.

Length 5.543 kilometres / 3.444 miles
Width 25 metres
Left corners 5
Right corners 10
Longest straight 0.920 kilometres / 0.572 miles
Constructed 1998

Sepang International Circuit Klia Pahang Malaysia - View in Google Maps

Records

Pole Position 1m 57.491s (169.8km/h) Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 2023)
Race Lap 1m 58.979s (167.7km/h) Alex Marquez (Ducati, 2023)
2023 Race Winner Enea Bastianini (Ducati)
2023 Sprint Winner Alex Marquez (Ducati)