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

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