Sepang MotoGP testing: Quartararo takes clean sweep of fastest times – MotoGP

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Fabio Quartararo completed a clean sweep of the Sepang MotoGP pre-season test after topping the third day, while Marc Marquez crashed again.

Quartararo took delivery of Yamaha’s 2020-spec YZR-M1 on Saturday, setting the pace immediately, and used the bike to once more end up fastest on Sunday.

The Petronas SRT rider guided the bike to a 1m59.787s early in the first hour of running to claim top spot back from Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller.

Miller would quickly depose Quartararo, though, before Suzuki’s Joan Mir moved to the top of the times with a 1m59.848s after the first 10 minutes.

By the end of the first hours Quartararo had returned to the top of the timesheets with a test-best effort of 1m58.349s, having tussled with LCR’s Cal Crutchlow briefly for supremacy on the timing screens.

Quartararo’s lap would go unchallenged as the day wore on, with much of the field ending the session early.

Crutchlow – who said on Saturday that the Honda’s turning woes had worsened – trailed Quartararo by 0.082 seconds, with Alex Rins completing the top three on the first of the Suzukis.

Pramac’s Francesco Bagnaia was top Ducati runner in fourth, beating his mentor Valentino Rossi by 0.039s in fifth.

Yamaha debuted its version of the holeshot device. Both Rossi and fellow works team rider Maverick Vinales had one each, as did test rider Kohta Nozane.

The team also trialled some aerodynamic add-ons to the front of the fairing on the M1s of Rossi and Vinales.

Danilo Petrucci was seventh on the first of the works Ducatis ahead of KTM’s Pol Espargaro, Miller and Espargaro’s Aprilia-mounted brother Aleix.

He was able to put in a long run on Sunday on the brand new RS-GP, having expected not to owing to the freshness of the Aprilia’s engine.

A 12-lap stint of mid-1m59s showed the promise of the new bike over race distance, though Espargaro was unable to get that far after an exhaust issue cut his run short.

Mir completed the top 10, edging ahead of Tech3’s Miguel Oliveira, while Marquez shadowed him in 12th after suffering his second fall of the test.

The Honda rider slid off his bike at the last turn late in the day, but walked away unscathed.

Andrea Dovizioso was a low-key 14th on his works Ducati, though was only 0.5s off the pace on a day when the top 18 were all within a second.

He headed Johann Zarco, who found almost a second compared to his Saturday best as he continues to adapt to the Avintia Ducati GP19.

Maverick Vinales spent much of his day comparing both of his 2020-spec M1s and trying race runs, and was 18th at the chequered flag.

Yamaha test rider Jorge Lorenzo completed 44 laps on his second day on the bike.

He lapped 1.3s off Quartararo’s pace in 20th having spent the entirety of his time on last year’s M1.

Testing resumes in Qatar on February 22-24.

Sepang day three times

Pos Driver Team Car Gap Laps
1 Fabio Quartararo Petronas Yamaha Yamaha 1m58.349s 57
2 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 0.082s 69
3 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 0.101s 42
4 Francesco Bagnaia Pramac Ducati Ducati 0.153s 53
5 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 0.192s 51
6 Danilo Petrucci Ducati Ducati 0.257s 51
7 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 0.261s 34
8 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati Ducati 0.267s 48
9 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 0.345s 45
10 Joan Mir Suzuki Suzuki 0.387s 32
11 Miguel Oliveira KTM KTM 0.415s 22
12 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 0.423s 47
13 Franco Morbidelli Petronas Yamaha Yamaha 0.489s 58
14 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 0.510s 51
15 Johann Zarco Avintia Ducati Ducati 0.602s 42
16 Alex Marquez Honda Honda 0.693s 49
17 Brad Binder KTM KTM 0.755s 45
18 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 0.820s 83
19 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati Ducati 1.200s 59
20 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha Yamaha 1.348s 46
21 Bradley Smith Aprilia Aprilia 1.492s 60
22 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Honda 1.511s 48
23 Iker Lecuona KTM KTM 1.549s 23
24 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki Suzuki 1.751s 27
25 Mika Kallio KTM KTM 1.799s 43
26 ? Yamaha Yamaha 2.774s 49
27 Takuya Tsuda Suzuki Suzuki 5.325s 16



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