HONDA’S POL ESPARGARO TOPS THE TIME CHART ON THE FIRST DAY OF MANDALIKA TESTS

MANDALIKA, INDONESIA: After a dirty track fiasco due to the rain that fell the previous night prompting a red flag of the session, Repsol Honda Team’s Pol Espargaro topped the timing charts for the new Pertamina Mandalika Circuit during the opening day of the MotoGP Mandalika Tests.

The Spaniard set the pace of the day with 69 laps in total at the new circuit and sealed the top time on his penultimate lap. His time of 1:32:466 was 0.471 seconds faster than his elder brother Aleix Espargaro.

The top 5 fastest riders of the day are then followed suit by South African, Brad Binder of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing which was 0.592 seconds shy of Aleix Espargaro. The order was then followed by Alex Rins of Team SUZUKI ECSTAR at 1:33:058 and 2021’s World Champion, Fabio Quartararo at 1:33:108.

Riders that broke Sepang’s lap record during last weekend’s Sepang Tests also seemed to struggle in adapting to the conditions at Mandalika as Enea Bastianini from Gresini Racing who was placed at P18.

Not to mention some crashes by the riders, namely Marco Bezzecchi of Mooney VR46 Racing Team and Ducati’s Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia.

As the teams keeps an eye on the conditions at Mandalika, there is plenty of action awaits as the #MandalikaTest gears up for Day 2 of testing tomorrow.

Credits : Content courtesy of Fuad Nizam. Photos courtesy of MotoGP.com