Red-hot shakedown at Sepang: rookies in the spotlight, Yamaha V4 racks up laps, Ducati surprises

MotoGP kicked off again with the first day of the Shakedown in Sepang: here’s how it went.

A few mechanical issues, a crash, but above all plenty of track action. Test riders, rookies, and the only manufacturer still in class D of the concessions took over the Sepang circuit for the first day of the Shakedown. A way to shake off the winter rust ahead of the rest of the MotoGP grid, with all-black bikes and already some new features on this first day at the Malaysian track. As always, it’s hard to get precise information since these are private test days, but some tidbits have leaked out, along with some interesting images.

Two of the key talking points are inevitably the rookies for the upcoming MotoGP season. As reported by motogp.com, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Superbike world champion and new Pramac Yamaha rider, set the fourth-fastest time of the day in 1:59.647, while Diogo Moreira, Moto2 champion and new Pro Honda LCR rider, finished 8th in 2:00.894; note that both experienced some mechanical problems during the day.

As mentioned, a RC-V leads the way, ridden by Aleix Espargaro, the only Honda test rider on track today, ahead of the KTM of his younger brother Pol Espargaro (who also had a harmless crash), with third place for another RC16, that of Dani Pedrosa. Notably, the Austrian brand is making full use of all the time available with not two but three test riders: a few laps were also logged by the indestructible Mika Kallio, who has been with the KTM project since before its MotoGP debut.

Augusto Fernandez was also very busy, a cornerstone in developing Yamaha’s new V4 project alongside Andrea Dovizioso. The latter, however, was not seen today; Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins and Jack Miller were also confined to the garage. Lots of work at Ducati too with Michele Pirro, with some notable aerodynamic updates appearing on the Desmosedici; equally busy was Lorenzo Savadori, riding the RS-GP26 in both the Shakedown and the upcoming official tests in place of Jorge Martin.

The aerodynamic profile of the Ducati brought to the track by Michele Pirro is particularly intriguing. We used one image as the cover photo; here’s another shot.

It’s also interesting to note the “black parts” that appeared on the KTMs, as shown in these images.

Let’s continue the gallery with Aleix Espargaro, as mentioned today at the top of the timesheets on the opening day of the Shakedown in Sepang.

Finally, here’s a photo of the Yamaha M1 seen today. Work continues non-stop; the V4 project is very young and there’s still a lot of potential to be explored.

Tomorrow we’re back for the second of three Shakedown days at Sepang, again from 3:00 to 11:00 CET, 10:00–18:00 local time.