Vinales heads Yamaha 1-2-3 in Qatar as test ends

Maverick Vinales

Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) has ended the Qatar Test at the summit thanks to a 1:53.858 on the final day in Doha. The Spaniard pips Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) to top spot by just 0.033 after the three days, with fellow Petronas Yamaha SRT rider Fabio Quartararo finishing P3 on the combined times, despite failing to go quicker on Monday.

Overall it was a great test for Yamaha, but there will be slight worry that Quartararo suffered technical failures on both Sunday and Monday, in addition to Valentino Rossi’s (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) Turn 2 crash on Day 3.

The Doctor was uninjured and ventured back out during the last hour of the test, with teammate Vinales completing the most laps of anyone on the final day – 84 for the number 12. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team Director Massimo Meregalli was pleased with the progress made with improved grip and on acceleration, saying the 2020 package “is very competitive" – good news for Yamaha fans. Rossi finished 0.474 off his teammate’s time, placing the nine-time World Champion in P12. Overall Rossi was happy, the feeling with the bike is good and he “isn’t far" but he needs to work more with the tire.

Quartararo said his race simulation on Day 3 was very pleasing, pretty much every lap was in the 1:54s and the Frenchman didn’t go for a proper time attack – the 20-year-old going as far as saying “there’s margin for more". That bodes very well for the 2019 Rookie of the Year and teammate Morbidelli was also very upbeat.

Poor Alex Marquez is over 1-sec slower than his brother on the same bike.

It was a busy and intriguing day for reigning Champions Honda as Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) started with three bikes in his garage, one of those being Takaaki Nakagami’s (LCR Honda Idemitsu) 2019 RC213V. Later on Day 3 Nakagami’s teammate Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) completed 70 laps as HRC went in search of finding improvements on the final day in Qatar, with the Japanese giants testing things “from two or three years ago" according to Repsol Honda Team Manager Alberto Puig. Crutchlow said he was happy with his pace, but over one or two laps the number 35 is struggling with stopping the bike and grip with the new tire. A predicament for HRC for sure.

Premier class rookie Alex Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) completed another 47 laps as the Spaniard admitted it was a difficult test for himself and the team, but the reigning Moto2™ World Champion was reasonably confident that he has a decent pace for the race weekend.

Day 3 Results

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nat	Team	Bike	Time/Gap
1	Vinales Maverick	12	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1'53.858
2	Morbidelli Franco	21	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	0.033
3	Quartararo Fabio	20	FRA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	0.180
4	Rins Alex	42	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.210
5	Miller Jack	43	AUS	Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.247
6	Mir Joan	36	SPA	Team Suzuki Ecstar	Suzuki	0.271
7	Marquez Marc	93	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	0.291
8	Nakagami Takaaki	30	JPN	LCR Honda	Honda	0.381
9	Binder Brad	33	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.425
10	Dovizioso Andrea	4	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	0.454
11	Bagnaia Francesco	63	ITA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	0.468
12	Rossi Valentino	46	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	0.474
13	Espargaro Aleix	41	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	0.574
14	Zarco Johann	5	FRA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	0.707
15	Espargaro Pol	44	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	0.765
16	Petrucci Danilo	9	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	0.776
17	Rabat Tito	53	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	0.816
18	Crutchlow Cal	35	GBR	LCR Honda	Honda	0.972
19	Oliveira Miguel	88	POR	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	1.150
20	Lecouna Iker	27	SPA	Red Bull KTM Tech 3	KTM	1.443
21	Marquez Alex	73	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1.661
22	Smith Bradley	38	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	2.058