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Maverick Vinales sets the fastest time in the #QatarTest
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Andrea Dovizioso is at close second with the new Ducati Desmosedici GP17
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Dani Pedrosa highlighted as the top Honda rider
The trend in MotoGP for being the fastest rider out there during testing sessions is hand down dominated by Maverick Vinales of the Movistar Yamaha outfit. At the end of the third day of testing over in Qatar, Vinales was consistent in all three days and of course setting the fastest time in Day 2 and Day 3. Yesterday’s best time was at 1:54.330 during his 33rd outing in the Losail International Circuit.
The top Ducati man was Andrea Dovizioso who set a time of 1:54.401, just 0.071 seconds behind Vinales. Dovizioso caused quite a stir yesterday when Ducati broke the covers of their new aerodynamic fairing design in replacement of the now banned exterior winglets. His pace was also consistently fast and he sat on top of the timesheets in Day 1.
The less mentioned Repsol Honda rider, Dani Pedrosa made it to the top three spot with a time of 1:54.469, putting him just a tenth of second behind Maverick and his Yamaha M1. His 46th lap of the day also placed him just 0.068 seconds behind the Ducati rider. The same couldn’t be said about his team mate, Marc Marquez who suffered quite a few crashes putting him in P10 at the end of yesterday’s testing session.
Jorge Lorenzo kept increasing his pace and rhythm with his darling Ducati Desmosedici GP17. Placing fourth fastest yesterday with a time of 1:54.519, he was less than two tenths of a second behind his replacement in the Movistar Yamaha squad. His ex-team mate was way down in the sheets at P11 behind Marc Marquez although Valentino Rossi did placed second fastest in Day 2.
Alvaro Bautista from the Pull&Bear Aspar team again made headlines with his Ducati setting a time of 1:54.714. That in turn puts him in P5 ahead of another Ducati rider from the Octo Pramac Racing squad, Scott Reading. This is no surprise considering that the Losail International Circuit favours the top end power of the Desmosedici.
With the testing sessions over, it looks like the teams and riders now know what they all have to do heading to the first round of the 2017 MotoGP season. It will be at the same place but come 26 March 2017, they’ll need to bring it and lay it all out under the Qatar floodlights.
Stay tuned to Bikes Republic for more MotoGP updates.
Photo source: MotoGP
