Marc Marquez sprint simulation lap times revealed

While Marc Marquez’s time attack speed left him only 14th on the day two timesheets at the Sepang MotoGP test, and the slowest Ducati rider, his Sprint simulation was much more impressive.

Marquez was among a handful of riders to try a longer run on Wednesday, including younger brother, Gresini team-mate and last November’s Sepang Sprint winner Alex Marquez.

While Alex (7th) was seven places higher than Marc on the timesheets in terms of a single flying lap, the pair were very closely matched during the Sprint sim.

• Marc Marquez “riding Ducati like a Honda, I need to take out 11 years of habit”

Marc completed the ten laps with an average lap time of 1m 59.059s, with Alex an average of 1m 58.836s. 

Only VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio appeared to be a match for the Marquez brothers if two very slow laps in the middle of his run were discounted. Honda riders Luca Marini and Takaaki Nakagami could only manage an average of 1m 59.8s.

While Alex dropped from a 1m 58.8s to a still very respectable 1m 59.2s by the end of his 10-lap run, Marc began with a similar 1m 58.9s, slipped back to a 1m 59.5s - but was then able to up his pace and finish, as he had started, with a 1m 58.9s.

Both Marquez brothers were faster than Alex's average victory pace in the Grand Prix weekend Sprint.

“Today was a better day, much better than yesterday. Today I felt better, I was able to do some laps, too many maybe. 72 laps, here in Malaysia, maybe it's too much!" Marc Marquez said.

“In the last part of the day, when I had one [new] tyre left to do the time attack, I did the Sprint race [simulation instead], because I feel like it was necessary for me to understand this bike with more laps in a row.

“During the Sprint [run] I started going slower, but then went faster at the end, so that means I was understanding the bike better lap-by-lap.

“Still I’m struggling a lot in the time attack - super far from the top guys. This is normal because it’s the most difficult thing for a rider to learn; how to use the new tyre with a new bike.

“With a used tyre, it’s easier to understand because you have 15 laps [with the same tyre] to understand. The time attack, you only have 2 laps and then two hours later maybe another 2 laps [with a new tyre].

“The plan for tomorrow is to do another time attack and another long run but I need to check my physical condition first of all!”

After technical issues on day one, Marc Marquez made up for lost time by riding the equivalent of 3.5 grand prix distances on day two, more than any other rider on Wednesday.

Marc Marquez - Sprint simulation:

1. 1'58.879
2. 1'58.787
3. 1'58.881
4. 1'59.114
5. 1'59.233
6. 1'59.545
7. 1'58.982
8. 1'59.156
9. 1'59.094
10. 1'58.919

Average 1m 59.059s

Alex Marquez - Sprint simulation:

1. 1'58.815
2. 1'58.534
3. 1'58.327
4. 1'58.544
5. 1'58.960
6. 1'59.034
7. 1'58.837
8. 1'59.118
9. 1'58.965
10. 1'59.229

Average: 1m 58.836s

Fastest (single) Sprint lap in November's Malaysian Grand Prix: 

1m 58.996s (Enea Bastianini)