Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales set the fastest time on the opening day of the second and final official MotoGP pre-season test at the Losail International Circuit yesterday. Alex Rins of Suzuki also impressed under the floodlights.
At the halfway through the first day, Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins led the way with a 1:56.148, 0.121 faster than Danilo Petrucci of Ducati. There was little action for the first hour or so, but every rider was out on the Losail Circuit and behind the leading duo was Vinales, a 1:56.280 leaving him 0.132 off Rins’ time. But the Spanish rider overtook Rins as the fastest rider in next session.
After completing 18 laps in the first three hours, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) was fourth on the timesheets – 0.402 off the top. Completing the top five is the impressing Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SIC), the rookie just 0.017 off Dovizioso after completing 24 laps on board his M1, with Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) jumping up to sixth on the times with 2h 40mins to go of the session – a 1:56.618 for the Japanese rider.
Nakagami bumped Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SIC) down to eighth, while Johann Zarco (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) sits P9 after completing 26 more laps. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) completed the top ten with a 1:56.921. Reigning World Champion Marc Marquez (Honda) suffered a small crash at Turn 16 as P14.
Jorge Lorenzo (Honda) returned to action as we saw the five-time World Champion take to the track in 2019 colours for the first time. The Spaniard was P17.