Valencia test ends on a high as Márquez shines on debut

Repsol Honda Team’s Marc Márquez, one of the most hotly anticipate switches this year, made an instant impact on his first ever outing on a MotoGP™ machine, as he set the seventh quickest time of the day, just over one second off the top. His teammate Dani Pedrosa, who was the first out on track with slick tyres, was evaluating the 2013 Honda against the one he raced with last Sunday. He topped the day with the fastest time of 1.32’322.

Ducati Team’s new-boy Andrea Dovizioso continued to familiarise himself with the Desmosedici on day two, finishing sixth, whilst teammate Nicky Hayden carried on his work evaluating new parts and chassis settings and ending the session in fourth. Pramac Ducati’s Andrea Iannone had been one of the riders to brave the wet track in the morning, yet continued with his familiarisation process in the afternoon, ending the timesheets in ninth. New Ducati test rider Michele Pirro, in for the injured Ben Spies, was well on the pace once the track dried out and finished in eighth place.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Bradley Smith was the first Rookie out on track this morning as he made his debut on the M1 Yamaha. The Brit looked pleased with his first outing, and ended the afternoon in 11^th, just over two seconds off the front. His teammate Cal Crutchlow, still nursing an injury in his hand from his crash on the weekend, took to the track with just under an hour remaining to evaluate some minor upgrades on his Yamaha, finishing in second place overall.

Go & Fun Honda Gresini’s Álvaro Bautista was pleased the track dried out in time, as the Spaniard set out evaluating his 2012 machine against an upgraded version with some new parts. LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl on the other hand was lapping on a similar machine to Pedrosa, the new 2013 model, where the only significant difference is the electronics package. It was however announced today that the German will continue with his team in the 2014 season as well, although the bike will be a "full factory" version. Bautista was fifth fastest and Bradl third.

Power Electronics Aspar’s Aleix Espargaró, who was one of the busiest riders out on track in the morning, put in a number of laps early on, whilst teammate Randy de Puniet was more active in the afternoon in the dry, as both continued work on their respective chassis. Espargaró ended the day in 15^th and De Puniet in 10^th. Came IodaRacing Project’s Danilo Petrucci was able to start work on his new Suter chassis for the final few hours, though commented with the introduction of standard electronics available from next year, the team may switch to those in future tests. Petrucci was 13^th fastest at the conclusion of the test.

Avintia Blusens’ Hiroshi Aoyama decided to sit out the day and will return in Jerez with the team for a test later this month, while Héctor Barberá kept putting in the laps to familiarise himself with his new BQR-FTR machine. His time saw him end the day in 14^th. NGM Mobile Forward Racing riders Colin Edwards and Claudio Corti decided not to go out on track.

Elsewhere, the Yamaha Factory Racing duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi had a difficult session at their test in Aragón, which was marred with rain and a crash for Lorenzo. Lorenzo was fortunately unhurt in the crash. Rossi commented afterwards that he was happy with the bike, and that apart from the increase in power, not much had changed from the last time he rode the 800cc bike in 2010.