Spain’s Dani Pedrosa remained the fastest rider on the final day of the first pre-season MotoGP testing at Malaysia’s Sepang circuit on Thursday, but times stayed extremely close.

Honda’s Pedrosa had led the pack on Tuesday and Wednesday and on Thursday he again edged out his countryman, Yamaha’s world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

While lap times improved across the board on a sunny final day, Honda’s rookie Marc Marquez suffered his first MotoGP fall but walked away unscathed.

Nine-times world champion Valentino Rossi, back with Yamaha after a frustrating time at Ducati, was third ahead of Marquez, a former 125cc world champion and reigning Moto2 title holder.

Unlike the first two days of cloudy skies and rain late Wednesday, the final test day was sunny and dry.

The gap between Pedrosa’s 2 minutes 00.100 seconds and Lorenzo’s best effort was just 0.329 seconds.

Rossi was 0.442 seconds off the pace.

Pedrosa said he was confident with the performance of his Honda but insisted there was still work to be done on shock absorbers and the clutch, which were a problem last season.

“I am satisfied because from the day we arrived here, the progress has been good. I feel confident not just because of the position but because of the feeling with the bike,” he said.

A rejuvenated Rossi hinted he was eyeing a podium finish from the first race of the season.

“I have to work a lot harder to stay with Lorenzo and Pedrosa. I cannot expect a better start for this new season,” he said after two frustrating years with Ducati.

The second test session will be at Sepang from February 26 to 28, while the third will be in Jerez from March 23 to 25.

The opening round of the MotoGP world championship will be in Qatar under floodlights on April 7.