P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Fabio Quartararo headed the opening MotoGP test day at Sepang from Marc Marquez, while Jorge Martin headed to hospital after a big crash
The Yamaha MotoGP team had a strong starting point in the 2025 season with Fabio Quartararo leading the first day of pre-season testing at Sepang. However, the day was marked by a serious crash for world champion Jorge Martin, impacting his running and potentially affecting his season. Quartararo showcased impressive lap times, leading the timesheets by a significant margin and regaining the top spot after being briefly overtaken by Alex Marquez. Despite setting a time short of the track record, Quartararo’s performance was notably faster than Martin’s from the previous season. New Ducati factory rider Marc Marquez narrowly missed surpassing Quartararo in the final minutes, finishing just 0.051s behind. The Ducati teams, especially the 2024-spec bikes, displayed strong performance, with younger Marquez and Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer closely trailing Quartararo in the timings. Honda took a cautious approach by not using its main riders in the shakedown, while KTM showed promising developments with Pedro Acosta leading the charge. Aprilia faced a challenging start, with Raul Fernandez sustaining injuries and potentially missing the upcoming tests due to surgery, adding to Martin’s early crash.
