Wednesday 6th February 2013

PH2: Moto GP - Rossi's return

Rossi's back on Yamaha and looking hungry, which bodes well for the season ahead

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The first official MotoGP test of the year has kicked off in Sepang and it looks like 2013 is shaping up to be a cracker of a season. Not only are some of the rookies already well on the pace, there is the small matter of a nine times world champion with a bit of fire back in his belly...

Expect sparks to fly with teammate Lorenzo

Yep it was all smiles (for now) in the factory Yamaha MotoGP team with Jorge Lorenzo second on the timing sheets and Valentino Rossi fourth in his first proper dry outing on the M1 since splitting from Ducati. As rain cut short day two of the test, Lorenzo was just 0.019 seconds behind pace setter Dani Pedrosa with Rossi 0.489 adrift. However the big story was who was in third.

Dani Pedrosa topping the charts was kind of expected, but Marc Marquez, a class rookie, in third place and just 0.254 seconds behind Dani shows the raw talent the young Spaniard has. Honda has made no secret of the fact it expects Dani to win this year, if he fails it isn't going to take long for Marc to become the golden boy. PH2 reckons there will be a few Spanish dummies spat in the Repsol garage this year...

Team Brit, or Tech 3 as it is also known, is also looking good for 2013 with Cal Crutchlow fifth in the standings and Bradley Smith eighth. That's a solid start for Bradders considering he is also new to MotoGP. But it's not good news for everyone...

Ducati has started 2013 as it finished 2012 - in trouble! Hayden and Dovi are both propping up the bottom of the top 10 with times over 1.5 seconds slower than leaders while Ben Spies is a massive 2.453 seconds off the pace. And to rub salt in his wounds both the Yamaha and Honda test riders are quicker than him...

 

[Pugsey]

Very cool colour schemes.

[Pugsey]

CliveM said:

Despite F1 being more entertaining in recent years, MotoGP is still so much more spectacular to watch as it still has something that the road rider can relate to - whereas how many car drivers have any idea what driving a car with aero is actually like?

I'm with you re entertainment value. But.............I have a sneaking feeling a lot of people watching F1 secretly think (however wrongly) "I could do that with a bit of practice". Does anyone REALLY think they could emulate the MotoGP guys - even in my dreams I can't!