Storylines abound in Malaysia – here’s a quick round-up and some photos from the Shakedown
Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) ends a busy Shakedown Test in Malaysia as the fastest, the only rider to dip into the 1:57s with a 1:57.794. That gave him three tenths of breathing space over new Yamaha stablemate Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) in second, with Honda HRC test rider Aleix Espargaro making a late lunge into third with his last lap of Day 3. But the stories go beyond the timesheets!
THE ROOKIES
Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) kept impressing, fourth overall and 0.414 off Quartararo on Day 3. He was fastest rookie – and second overall – on Day 1, before the Yamaha race riders joined the test, and he stayed ahead of Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Racing MotoGP) on Day 2 too, by a few thousandths.
Ogura, the reigning Moto2 champion, also did a longer run of laps in a race simulation. Amazingly, he was a few tenths quicker over the course of 17 laps than the top Aprilia finisher here last year.
Aldeguer was two tenths off Ogura and 0.627 off the top. He was the only rider to crash all test, but no harm done after he tipped off and rejoined at Turn 9 on Sunday. Had Ogura not been on track, his performance would have been the rookie star turn.
Thai rider Somkiat Chantra (IDEMITSU Honda LCR) remained a little further off as he put in his second day on track at the Shakedown, having sat out Day 1, saying he’s starting to get back in the groove – and giving a rocket review of his first MotoGP practice starts.
FACTORY TALKING POINTS AT A GLANCE
Yamaha reportedly had new chassis and swingarm for Quartararo and teammate Alex Rins, and updated aero on Day 3. Quartararo was top and Rins seventh.
Miller’s adaptation was notable. His final laptime was only half a second off his qualifying at the Malaysian GP last year on a different machine. At the Barcelona Test, his laptime on the Yamaha was 1.2 seconds off his quali at the venue on his previous bike. His Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP teammate Miguel Oliveira was P8, and the final Yamaha on track on Day 3 was new test rider Augusto Fernandez, who was also focusing on adapting to the bike.
At Honda, Aleix Espargaro led the charge on Day 3, his name appearing on the timesheets three times after splitting his workload across different machines. To compare his 1:58.106, the fastest Honda in Q2 at the 2024 Malaysian GP which was Johann Zarco with a 1’57.971 for CASTROL Honda LCR.
Amazingly, Aleix Espargaro’s Q2 lap that day was a 1:58.107 on his previous machine – a single thousandth slower than his Shakedown Day 3 with Honda. Takaaki Nakagami didn’t head out on Sunday and neither did we see any of the race riders, although as much was already confirmed before. That will come on Wednesday.
Aprilia had test rider Lorenzo Savadori working on a different spec of 2025 machinery on Sunday, but notably it seems rookie Ogura was also trying some new parts – already.
Pol Espargaro was fifth for KTM and Dani Pedrosa ninth on Day 3. The biggest thing to break cover so far from the Red Bull KTM camp is the new rear items spotted on Saturday.
Michele Pirro continued shaking down everything to prep for the arrival of Ducati Lenovo Team duo Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia. Later on Day 3, updated aero broke cover, as well as the chassis seen on one of MM93’s runs at the Barcelona Test.
Now it’s two days R&R – ish – in Malaysia as action starts again with the Official Test from the 5th to the 7th of February at this same circuit.
