Marquez fires at Malaysian MotoGP testing

World MotoGP champion Marc Marquez has led the pack for two of three days of pre-season winter testing which has ended at Malaysia's Sepang circuit.

World champion Marc Marquez showed why he is still a force to reckon with as he led the pack for two out of three days of pre-season MotoGP winter testing which ended on Friday at Malaysia's Sepang circuit.

The Honda rider, mostly using a new version of his 2014 bike, ended the final day of testing clocking 1 minute and 58.867 seconds, breaking his own unofficial track record set last year at 1 min 59.533 secs.

Marquez was the fastest out of 28 riders on the opening day of testing on Wednesday as well, clocking 2 min 0.262 secs during his second-last lap in typical sizzling Malaysian temperatures.

The Spaniard became the youngest rider to win the world title in 2013, and the first rookie to win in 35 years.

Hot on his heels on Friday was teammate Dani Pedrosa, who was the second fastest rider of the day, trailing Marquez by 0.139 seconds, while Ducati team's Andrea Iannone took the third spot on the timesheets with a 0.521-second gap.

Nine-time GP champion Valentino Rossi, hungry for more silverware, was the fourth fastest rider at 1 min 59.401 secs.

Trailing Rossi was Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo on 1 min 59.624 secs.

Top riders come to Sepang early each year for a pair of test sessions - the next one starts on February 24 - putting bikes and equipment through their paces on the tight-turning circuit in preparation for the new season.

The 2015 season officially starts in Qatar on March 29 and Malaysia will host the second-last leg of the championship on October 25.


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Source: AAP


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