9 important things to come out of Sepang

1. Jorge Lorenzo smashed the lap record
It looks like Ducati Team’s Jorge Lorenzo has got his swagger back. The five-time world champion sliced tenths off the fastest ever lap time around Sepang on his updated GP18, posting a 1:58.830s. It bettered Marc Marquez’s time set in 2015, it was 0.4 seconds faster than Dani Pedrosa’s 2017 pole time and, probably more importantly, was 0.9 seconds quicker than the best time he could manage at the same test this time last year. “The most important thing is the bike is working,” a smiling Lorenzo said following the third day of the test. “It’s giving me good feeling, the bike has improved in many areas over the old bike.” Aussie Casey Stoner completed a private two-day test at Sepang ahead of the official one, and revealed the chassis was “quite different,” offered “more feedback through the ground” and “gave us what we’ve been looking for the last couple of years.” Lorenzo was asked whether his record-setting lap was the perfect lap to which he smiled and replied: “The perfect lap doesn’t exist.”

FULL SEPANG RESULTS HERE

2. Jack Miller ended all three days in the top five
Jack Miller’s consistency on the Ducati GP17 was remarkable during the first official test of the new year, with Australian finishing fifth fastest at the end of each of the three days. The Alma Pramac Ducati rider improved his time each day, and importantly, reduced the gap to the fastest rider each day, too. An impressive result for just his second time on the bike. On the opening day, his 2:00.178 had him 0.7 seconds shy of Pedrosa’s quickest time, and improved to just 0.154 seconds off day-two front-runner Maverick Viñales. On the third day, his best lap of 1:59.346s put him just over 0.5 seconds down on Lorenzo’s blistering fast record setter. What’s most impressive is Miller matched the pace that Viñales set to top the Sepang test with this time last year. “The performance through the whole three days have been very good,” Miller said at the end of the last day. “I’ve felt at home with the team, comfortable on the bike, I feel like every time we put a new tyre in I’m able to improve and take a few more risks.” The young Aussie also revealed he has been studying the data from the factory-backed riders and trying to find a blend of his and their riding styles in a bid to get the most out of the machine.

3. Aerodynamics will play a big part in the 2018 championship
We expected it last year but we only saw a handful of factories dabbling in aerodynamic-style fairings, most notably Ducati with its so-called hammerhead affair. The first test of the year however saw various versions of radical fairings from almost all of the manufacturers, which will make for an interesting technical subplot for the 2018 season.

4. Taka Nakagami was the quickest of the four rookies
LCR Honda rookie Taka Nakagami was the quickest of the four rookies on two of the three days, and ended the combined times as the 15th quickest rider out of the 30 men who posted times during the three-day event. It helped that the Japanese talent has a teammate in Cal Crutchlow who was willing to spend some of his own testing regime mentoring Nakagami on track and allowing him to not only follow him, but also shadowed the youngster and offered feedback as how he felt he could better adapt to the new bike. MarcVDS rookie Franco Morbidelli, who finished 20th overall, has ridden a Moto2 bike for almost all of his career, while Nakagami has had a bunch of big-bike experience in the past, including time on a MotoGP bike. Morbidelli’s teammate, Tom Lüthi, who sat the post-race Valencia test out due to injury, finished 25th overall but was quick to point out “to jump on a MotoGP bike for the first time in the wet was very difficult.”

5. Yamaha has got its mojo back – maybe
The Movistar Yamaha duo of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales finished first and second quickest at the end of the second day, signalling its off-season development had gone in the right direction for the pair, who struggled to find confidence in the chassis of the 2017-spec machine. The factory confirmed it had reverted back to a chassis based around the 2016-spec machine for the 2018 bike – the same chassis which Frenchman Johann Zarco achieved much success with last year – paired with a 2018-spec engine. But in an eerie resemblance to last season, both Viñales and Rossi struggled to find pace on the last day; Rossi was the least affected finishing eighth, however Viñales was 1.7 seconds off the pace down in 18th. Viñales finished two places higher than his teammate in the combined times, however, in seventh, with Rossi just inside the top 10 in ninth overall.

6. Honda put in a heap of long runs
All three HRC-supported riders were all about race simulation during the three-day test. While Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa topped the opening day to finish second overall in combined times ahead of Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda), reigning world champ Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) finished every day in seventh place, and eighth overall in the combined times. It transpired the Honda men spent the three-day test focussing on engines, with the Japanese manufacturer offering three for its riders to assess before their allocation is sealed ahead of the Qatar opener in March. Crutchlow, now a fully supported HRC rider, and who was third quickest overall and just 0.2 seconds off Lorenzo’s flyer, said he was really happy with the work he and the squad put in over the three days but revealed there was plenty left in the tank. “I ended the test with three new soft rear tyres on the rack,” he revealed. “I was happy with the lap time, I made some mistakes in the lap and I set it with a hard front tyre, which I don’t really like, so I could have been faster.”

7. Álex Rins will be a dark horse in 2018
Plagued with injury during the 2017 season and somewhat shadowed by his headline-grabbing Italian teammate Andrea Iannone, Team Ecstar Suzuki rider Álex Rins was nothing less than impressive at Sepang. Fully fit and focussed on getting the most out of his revised Suzuki, the 22-year-old showed signs of his true potential and finished just 0.002 seconds behind Aussie Jack Miller in the combined times in sixth overall. The Spanish talent has a unique and sublimely smooth riding style on the 2018-spec bike and out-performed Iannone who ended the test 13th fastest. “The new bike has improved on acceleration and top speed,” he said afterwards and revealed he hoped to receive a new aerodynamic package in time for the Thai test in two weeks’ time.

8. Pol Espargaro hit the wall at 250km/h
Red Bull KTM rider Pol Espargaro suffered a nasty crash on the morning of the second day, hitting the wall at 250km/h. Remarkably, the Spanish rider suffered no broken bones but, after a trip to a hospital in Kuala Lumpur for scans, opted to sit out the third day to let his bruised and battered body recover. KTM test rider Mika Kallio carried out the test regime Espargaro was to complete, so it wasn’t all lost. “Honestly, I feel really lucky,” Espargaro said.

9. The silly season has started!
Maverick Viñales is the first card to fall for the 2019 season having signed another two-year contract with Movistar Yamaha which will see him through to the end of 2020. His teammate Valentino Rossi said he’s “in no rush” to make a decision just yet, though with KTM and Suzuki both sniffing around Tech 3 Yamaha star Johann Zarco – who is desperate for a factory ride – pressure will be on the nine-time world champ to make a decision. Meanwhile, Alma Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci has confirmed the 2018 season will be his last with his current squad, saying he, too, is after a factory gig for the 2019 season. However with Ducati Corse’s Davide Tardozzi and Paolo Ciabatti both hinting strongly that Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso are all but confirmed to remain where they are for the 2019 season, the Italian rider will be forced to look elsewhere. Italian talent Pecco Bagnaia is rumoured to have already been in advanced contract talks with the Pramac Ducati squad for 2019.