MADRID, 5 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The British rider Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) has dominated the first ‘Shakedown’ test day of the 2023 MotoGP preseason, in which the test riders and the only rookie in the premier class, the Spanish Augusto Fernández (KTM), have had the opportunity to test their motorcycles and in which the factories have taken the opportunity to introduce new parts.
With a time of 2:01.146, the Englishman led the time sheets in Sepang on a rainy day. The Yamaha racer had three YZR-M1s available: two with 2023 specs and one with 2022 specs.
With the new Yamaha engine, Crutchlow set a top speed of 330km/h, faster than in the 2022 Sepang test -327km/h-, a hope for the two Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP riders: Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli.
For his part, the Moto2 world champion, Augusto Fernández (KTM), got back on a MotoGP after the Valencia test and finished the day second just 0.185 seconds behind Crutchlow’s best time. KTM’s new test rider, Jonas Folger of Germany, joined Dani Pedrosa – who worked with Jack Miller’s team – to underpin the work of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing.
At Honda, the German Stefan Bradl -fourth place this Sunday- rode with two RC213Vs, riding a renewed Honda with redesigned aerodynamics, a new exhaust and the 2023 engine, and the Italian Lorenzo Savadori drove up to six Aprilia bikes debuting new aerodynamics. Finally, the Ducati tester, the transalpine Michele Pirro, worked for the current world champions, who released a new fairing.