Qatar MotoGP test: Rins puts Suzuki on top on second day – MotoGP

Suzuki’s Alex Rins narrowly beat Maverick Vinales to the fastest time on the second day of MotoGP’s pre-season test in Qatar.

As was the case on day one, factory Ducati duo Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Dovizioso spent the most time on top during the day – with Petrucci the first rider to beat Vinales’ benchmark time from Saturday’s first day of testing by going below the 1m55s barrier.

But Petrucci was then demoted by Vinales – who went three tenths faster – then Rins with two hours left on the clock.

Rins’s eventual best time of 1m54.593s kept him on top for the rest of the afternoon, with Vinales a mere 0.057 seconds behind in second.

Petronas SRT Yamaha rookie Fabio Quartararo was an impressive third, 0.315s off the pace, while Petrucci ended up fourth ahead of the leading Honda of reigning champion Marc Marquez and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro.

Takaaki Nakagami improved on his eighth-fastest time on the first day by taking seventh, narrowly outpacing Dovizioso.

Nakagami’s LCR Honda team-mate Cal Crutchlow, who had both the 2018 and ’19-spec Honda at his disposal, was ninth.

Pol Espargaro led KTM’s efforts with the 10th-fastest time, but his team-mate Johann Zarco had another low-key session and was 17th.

Jorge Lorenzo improved by 1.3s compared to a day earlier but was only 18th, one place ahead of Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi.

Sunday test times