Dani Pedrosa had been simply two tenths of a second from Jorge Lorenzo’s quickest ever lap of Sepang as the Repsol Honda Team rider upped the speed on Friday mid-day. The 2012 winner topped the 2nd training session from teammate Marc Marquez and Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Cal Crutchlow, with Lorenzo sixth fastest for Yamaha Factory Racing.
As the upper class escaped the rainfall that did fall at the Sepang worldwide Circuit on Friday, Pedrosa – currently quickest in the early morning – took things to 2’00.554, half a second faster than teammate Marquez. Crutchlow made the top three while Yamaha Factory Racing’s Valentino Rossi and GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista followed quickly after Lorenzo, although the reigning World Champion had been in reality 5th quickest when using the combined timesheet.
All riders except five improved on their best times for the time during the mid-day session; one whom did not was Colin Edwards, whose NGM racer had been fastest of the CRTs in the early morning. By the end of the day, Aleix Espargaro (energy Electronics Aspar) had gone ahead and had been 11th quickest. Whilst Bautista had been a faller at Turn 4 and Damian Cudlin rounded out the field as the Australian made his 2nd ever appearance for PBM.