Qatar MotoGP test: Maverick Vinales leads Yamaha one-two – MotoGP

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Maverick Vinales concluded 2019 MotoGP pre-season testing by setting the fastest time of the week in Qatar, leading a Yamaha one-two ahead of satellite rider Fabio Quartararo.

Vinales, who began the Qatar test by topping Saturday’s opening day of running and ending up second on Sunday, moved to the head of the times on Monday with a little over two hours remaining of the six-hour session.

His 1m54.208s was good enough to beat Suzuki man Alex Rins’ Sunday benchmark by more than three tenths, leaving factory Yamaha rider Vinales 0.233 seconds clear of the field.

Petronas SRT Yamaha rider Quartararo moved up to second around the same time, continuing his strong form to go 0.172s faster than reigning world champion Marc Marquez.

Honda rider Marquez was one of several crashers on Monday, falling at the Turn 6 hairpin in the penultimate hour.

His new factory team-mate Jorge Lorenzo also had a late spill at Turn 2, but ended the day only 0.040s behind Marquez in fifth place – a major improvement on his form in the opening two days of the test.

Valentino Rossi split the works Honda pair in fourth, 0.445s slower than Yamaha team-mate Vinales.

Franco Morbidelli ensured all four Yamaha riders finished inside the top six, ahead of lead KTM rider Pol Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami on the best of the LCR Hondas.

Ducati’s top representative was Danilo Petrucci in ninth, while Pramac rider Jack Miller rounded out the top 10.

Andrea Dovizioso concluded the test down in 15th place, four tenths slower than Petrucci and 1.025s off the pace.

After Rins topped Sunday’s times, both Suzuki riders ended up outside the top 10 on Monday, with Rins and Joan Mir occupying 11th and 12th places.

Aprilia’s efforts were led by new recruit Andrea Iannone in 17th place, one place ahead of Cal Crutchlow’s LCR Honda.

Johann Zarco’s struggles on the KTM continued as he languished down in 22nd place, nearly two seconds off the pace and ahead of only Tech3’s Hafizh Syahrin.

Zarco was another rider to crash on a cool and windy day in Qatar, along with Rins, both LCR riders, Smith, Miguel Oliveira, Francesco Bagnaia and Tito Rabat.

With pre-season testing now complete, the next on-track action will be the opening practice sessions of the 2019 campaign proper in Qatar on March 8, ahead of the season-opening race that weekend.

Monday testing times

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1m54.208s 50
2 Fabio Quartararo Petronas Yamaha Yamaha 1m54.441s 0.233s 48
3 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m54.613s 0.405s 53
4 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m54.651s 0.443s 38
5 Jorge Lorenzo Honda Honda 1m54.653s 0.445s 33
6 Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha Yamaha 1m54.660s 0.452s 61
7 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 1m54.770s 0.562s 37
8 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1m54.789s 0.581s 50
9 Danilo Petrucci Ducati Ducati 1m54.818s 0.610s 43
10 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m54.851s 0.643s 47
11 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 1m54.852s 0.644s 41
12 Joan Mir Suzuki Suzuki 1m54.997s 0.789s 38
13 Francesco Bagnaia Pramac Ducati Ducati 1m55.074s 0.866s 47
14 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m55.229s 1.021s 66
15 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m55.233s 1.025s 50
16 Andrea Iannone Aprilia Aprilia 1m55.343s 1.135s 39
17 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m55.690s 1.482s 39
18 Miguel Oliveira Tech3 KTM KTM 1m55.773s 1.565s 28
19 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 1m55.814s 1.606s 54
20 Bradley Smith Aprilia Aprilia 1m56.072s 1.864s 38
21 Karel Abraham Avintia Ducati Ducati 1m56.121s 1.913s 50
22 Johann Zarco KTM KTM 1m56.162s 1.954s 42
23 Hafizh Syahrin Tech3 KTM KTM 1m56.371s 2.163s 42



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