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Spain’s Dani Pedrosa maintained his dominance of pre-season MotoGP testing yesterday as rivals said their machines lagged behind his Honda at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit. |
The first day of tests saw Pedrosa clock 2 minutes 01.580 seconds, meaning the three-time MotoGP runner-up has led the pack in pre-season testing after topping the timesheet across the opening session three weeks ago.
Both his rivals on Yamahas, current champion Jorge Lorenzo and nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi, said their team needed to work on acceleration after seeing Pedrosa’s Honda pull away.
“I stayed behind him (Pedrosa) for two or three corners and in acceleration, the Honda is very fast,” said Rossi, who was 0.448 seconds off the pace in fifth.
Lorenzo finished second, sandwiched between his two countrymen on the Hondas, 0.235 seconds behind Pedrosa but 0.127 seconds ahead of rookie Marc Marquez.
The Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden stood at eighth and ninth respectively, over a second off the pace.
American Hayden added that he faced harshness over bumps but expressed hope that by the first race in Qatar on April 7, “we are not a second, two seconds off.”