SEPANG: Mop-haired Italian Marco Simoncelli erased the memory of a painful debut outing in Malaysia a year ago in style by upstaging his more celebrated rivals to top the timesheets on the final day of the MotoGP pre-season test at the Sepang Circuit on Thursday.
The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider was lightning quick right from the start of the morning session and clocked his fastest lap of 2:00.757 on the second run.
The 24-year-olds stunning performance was also the fastest time over three days of testing and a positive sign of his intention to live up to his dark horse billing in his second year in MotoGP.
Simoncelli won the 250cc world title in 2008 at the Malaysian track but his confidence took a severe knock at the same venue last year the first time he rode a MotoGP machine.
He suffered two big high-side accidents at Sepang in the space of three weeks, with the second crash so severe that his helmet cracked and he was left dazed.
His confidence was affected naturally and it was only in the second half of the campaign that he recovered posting four top-six finishes from the final five outings to secure eighth overall for last season.
New Honda recruit and 2007 world champion Casey Stoner, who has been in fine form throughout the test sessions, was one of four riders to join Simoncelli under the 2:01 mark on the final day.
The Australian clocked 2:00.811 on his 38th of 42 laps, thus continuing his pattern of setting his best time later in the day and showing no lingering effects of a fall at Turn 5 earlier.
Reigning world champion Jorge Lorenzo was just 0.088s off Simoncelli as he secured the third fastest time on his factory Yamaha bike.
The Spaniard, who performed a tyre test in the afternoon, was precisely 0.1s faster than Andrea Dovizioso of Repsol Honda while nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi was stuck in 10th place on his Ducati bike.
But it was Simoncellis blazing early lap that was the talk of the paddock.
He covered another 40 laps after the amazing run but could not match the awesome lap time that even stunned Dornas time-keeper Mike Lafuente, who was forced to make repeated checks upon enquiries by the competing teams.
My difficult first outing at this circuit last year is now a distant memory. Taking into account that this is not one of my favourite circuits, we have still managed to build on our consistency from yesterday and this morning I was able to set an awesome lap, said Simoncelli.
For the rest of the day we focused on a race simulation, setting a consistent pace and by the end of it I wasnt on the limit like I was in the race here. Overall I am 100% happy. The team worked brilliantly, the changes have integrated well and everything has gone perfectly.
We have all improved, starting with myself, the guys and the bike, and Im sure this year Ill be there too.
Sepang International Circuit chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Razlan Razali said he was happy with how the three-day tests had gone, especially the weather and the fan turnout.
Considering it was raining heavily when the teams arrived, there were some concerns on poor weather over the testing days, he said.
But it has been clear skies and hot conditions. I am sure the teams and riders obtained valuable technical feedback to further improve their bikes and to apply it in the next test here later this month.
The riders will return to Sepang for the second pre-season test from Feb 22-24.
After Sepang, they will have another session in Qatar ahead of the start of the new season at Losail Circuit in Doha on March 20.
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