Doha: Most of the teams waited until 6pm before heading out to the track of the Losail International Circuit here on Thursday in order to best replicate the conditions they will face in two weeks’ time when the 2015-2016 MotoGP season kicks off under the lights of the 5.4km circuit.
Ducati had said they were bringing a significant update to Qatar and the GP15 seemed to like the Losail Circuit as riders Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso led the way from early on.
Iannone topped the time sheets with a time of 1 minute and 55.265 seconds after being one of the most active riders of the day and completing a total of 50 laps. His team-mate Dovizioso was less than a tenth of a second behind in second, making it a one-two finish for the Italian manufacturer.
Even the Repsol Honda of Marc Marquez could not match the pace of the Ducatis as he ended the day in third place (+0.289s) with team-mate Dani Pedrosa putting in a late flying lap to finish in fifth as he tried out some different fork settings on his RC213V.
Team Suzuki Ecstar would have been encouraged by the competitiveness of Aleix Espargaro who finished fourth (+0.433). They were scheduled to test some updates to the GSX-RR yesterday.
Espargaro’s team-mate Maverick Vinales was a further 0.4 seconds back in 11th, having ended the day’s testing early after damaging both of his bikes in crashes, luckily without injury.
For the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team it was a case of continuing to develop their seamless shift gearbox, having officially announced they will use it during the season.
Jorge Lorenzo finished sixth (+0.563s), just one-tenth ahead of team-mate Valentino Rossi in eighth. Nine-time world champion Rossi was the first rider to crash earlier in the day but he managed to walk away unhurt.
Sandwiched between them on the time sheets was Cal Crutchlow on the CWM-LCR Honda. The British rider made a big leap forward throughout the day, setting a time of 1 minute and 55.837 seconds as he continued to try and solve the brake issue that was bothering him at the second Sepang test. His team-mate Miller made progress on his Open spec Honda and was less than two seconds slower than Iannone back in 19th place.
Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team’s Bradley Smith finished just one0hundredth of a second behind Rossi in 9th, while Pol Espargaro could not match his team-mate’s pace and finished in 14th. He was another rider to complete 50 laps around the Losail track.
Scott Redding seemingly made some big advances throughout the day as he managed to finish less than a second off the leaders, completing the top ten in the process on his Estrella Galicia 0.0 Marc VDS Racing Team Honda.
Yonny Hernandez continued his encouraging return from his shoulder injury for Pramac Racing, showing good pace to finish in 13th, just under two-tenths behind his team-mate Danilo Petrucci in 12th on the Factory class Ducati.
Karel Abraham was the leading Open class rider in 15th for his AB Motoracing team, just ahead of the Avintia Racing Ducati of Mike De Meglio.
Drive M7 Aspar Team’s Nicky Hayden finished in 17th place, 0.4 seconds ahead of rookie team-mate Eugene Laverty in 22nd, as they looked to try and find a good base setup on their open spec Honda.
Athina Forward Racing brought a new fairing to Qatar in their bid to win the open
title this year with riders Loris Baz and Stefan Bradl 18th and 20th on the time sheets respectively.
Testing resumes tomorrow at 4pm. THE PENINSULA
