Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo shook off any rust from missing the final three races of 2011 due to injury by posting the fastest time on the first day of pre-season MotoGP test runs Tuesday. Yamaha dominated to open the three days of tests at Sepang, with three of its riders among the top four, while 2011 champ Casey Stoner of Australia was sidelined by a pulled back muscle as teams unveiled their new 1,000cc bikes. The testing session marked an emotional return for riders to the Sepang circuit for the first time since Honda rider Marco Simoncelli died here in a shocking crash in October's Malaysian MotoGP. On Monday, Honda team officials laid a flower wreath at turn 11, where the 24-year-old Simoncelli was killed, and observed a moment of silence. Lorenzo's 2011 season ended prematurely when he crashed during warm-ups for the Australian GP. But he set the fastest pace Tuesday on his Yamaha in hot and humid conditions with 2.0 min 01.657 seconds while his countryman Dani Pedrosa with rivals Honda was next with a time of 2:02.003. Yamaha's Carl Crutchlow of Britain posted a third-best 2:02.221 while his teammate Ben Spies of the United States followed up in 2:02.234. MotoGP has moved to 1,000cc bikes this year in place of the earlier 800cc engines. The MotoGP 2012 season will officially start April 8 in Qatar.
