Marco Simoncelli was saving the best for last. The San Carlo Honda Gresini rider claimed the best time during the final day of testing, which was also the fastest time out of all three days.
Simoncelli set a lap time of 2'00.757 on the second of 42 laps today, coming within .239 seconds of Valentino Rossi's track record at Sepang.
"I'm really happy," Simoncelli said after the test. "I was very firm this morning and I managed to set this extraordinary time... The team worked perfectly with the new entries... Of course this is only the first test so we must continue to work." (Translated from Italian with the help of Google Translate.)
Three other riders joined Simoncelli under the 2'01 mark. Casey Stoner was just .05 seconds back. Stoner's teammate Andrea Dovizioso also broke the 2'01 barrier, giving the Repsol Honda team another fantastic day at Sepang.
2010 Champion Jorge Lorenzo was also happy with his Sepang test, finishing in third on the final day, .08 seconds behind the pace setter. The Fiat Yamaha team was also pleased with the performance of Ben Spies who finished fifth for the day.
Valentino Rossi continued to better his time on day three, but he is still being cautious on his recovering shoulder. Rossi finished a second behind Simoncelli, 10th for the day.
MotoGP Sepang Test - Day 3 Times
- Simoncelli - San Carlo Honda Gresini - 2:00.757
- Stoner - Repsol Honda Team +0.054
- Lorenzo - Yamaha Factory Racing +0.088
- Dovizioso - Repsol Honda Team +0.188
- Spies - Yamaha Factory Racing +0.245
- Pedrosa - Repsol Honda Team +0.484
- Aoyama - San Carlo Honda Gresini +0.596
- Hayden - Ducati Marlboro Team +0.777
- Edwards - Monster Yamaha Tech 3 +0.89
- Rossi - Ducati Marlboro Team +1.085
