Sepang, Malaysia – 02 February 2016: Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS MotoGP rider, Tito Rabat, took maximum advantage of the track conditions at Sepang this morning to improve on his lap time from the opening day by over a second.

The 26-year-old Spaniard set his fastest time on the softer option tyre from Michelin, but this tyre was withdrawn from the test following a crash for Loris Baz, that also resulted in the track being closed temporarily.

Rabat struggled to find again the same good feeling he had with the hard tyre yesterday, with a lack of grip from the rear causing the bike to slide a lot in the turns.  

The former Moto2 World Champion will sit down with his crew tonight to go through the data and try to identify a solution to his traction issues ahead of the third and final day of testing tomorrow.

Tito Rabat: 17th – 54 laps – 2’02.328 (+2.233) 
“We made a good start to the second day of testing, with a big improvement to my lap time on the softer option tyre, but then this was withdrawn and we had to continue for the rest of the day using the harder compound. My feeling with the bike was not as good as it was yesterday with the same tyre. In the turns I didn’t have any grip and the bike seemed to be sliding a lot. We have to use this tyre, like everyone else, so we need to find a solution to give me a better feeling for tomorrow.” 

Michael Bartholemy: Team Principal
“The aim this morning was to set a lap time when conditions were good, and that’s exactly what Tito did, cutting more than a second from his best lap of yesterday. Today’s test plan was based around the softer of the tyre options available here at Sepang, but this was withdrawn from the test following Loris Baz’s crash. As a rookie Tito is struggling a little to get the hard tyre to work for him. While we would have preferred to get Tito comfortable on the bike using his preferred tyre, now we have no option but to work to improve his feeling with the hard one. It’s not ideal, but we need to be fast on all the tyre options, so we might as well start the work now.”