Doha: Ducati left Qatar the happiest team after torrential rain ended any chance of track action on the last day of the final pre-season test for the MotoGP class.
It was disappointing end to the test at the Losail International Circuit on Sunday, as torrential rain meant that race direction had to issue a red flag early on as conditions proved hazardous.
Although the green flag did appear with over three hours left to go, by that point most of the teams had packed up and were in the process of leaving the circuit, meaning that no riders made it onto the track today to set a lap time.
With Sunday’s action curtailed, Ducati will leave the test the happiest of the manufacturers, after dominating proceedings during the first two days.
The Italian manufacturer completed a 1-2 on Saturday and only missed out on achieving the same feat on the second day by 0.013s.
Andrea Dovizioso led the way on the overall timesheet’s as the only rider to get under the 1’55 mark, setting a 1’54.907 and beating Casey Stoner’s circuit record by over two-hundredths of a second in the process, while his team-mate Iannone finished in 3rd 0.197s back. The test also saw the revival of Ducati’s “winglets” as they appeared on Dovizioso’s bike during Sunday, with the fins designed to enhance the aerodynamics of the bike.
Dovizioso stated that he was happy with the GP15’s pace, which was even more even more impressive considering he said that they had not used the softer tyre available to them, as part of their concessions as a factory team without a race win since 2013.
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez was the only rider to threaten the domination of the Ducati’s and ended the three day test in 2nd place, just 0.184s off Dovizioso.
Marquez, who was focusing on finding his perfect race setup, was the only rider to get within a half a second of the Ducati’s, although he stated that he does not see the GP15 as serious competition come the start of the season, instead focusing on the Yamaha’s and his own teammate as his main rivals.
Dani Pedrosa on the other Repsol Honda finished the test down in 6th, having never really threatened the top of the timesheet’s as he tried out a different set of front forks on Sunday, and was 0.675s slower than the leading Ducati. Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi both admitted heir frustrations over the first two days, as they could not get within 0.5s of Dovizioso’s fastest time on their Movistar Yamaha YZR-M1’s.
Lorenzo improved over the course of the test, shaving three-tenths off his best time from Saturday, and finishing ahead of his teammate in 4th.
Rossi was a further 0.081s back, but managed to improve by over half a second over the two days as he put in his fastest lap late in the evening on Sunday. Cal Crutchlow was the leading satellite rider throughout the test on his factory spec CWM LCR Honda RC213V.
The British rider escaping unharmed form a small crash on Sunday to finish in 7th, just seven-tenths back from Dovizioso, and went on to say he was happy with the progress made by his team, although there was still room for improvement. His team-mate Jack Miller continued his adjustment to the premier class on his Open spec RC213V-RS, and he managed to finish within two-seconds of the leader in 22nd place. Team Suzuki Ecstar had a mixed test in Qatar, with Aleix Espargaro impressing for the returning factory team on the first day when he finished 4th fastest. Unfortunately he was one of only two riders not to improve his time on the second day, and ended up in 10th place overall.
Class rookie Maverick Viñales also had some issues as he had to end his testing early on day one after two minor crashes meant he had damaged both of his bikes. Unlike Espargaro he did manage to improve his time on Sunday, finishing the three days in 14th place, just over two-tenths behind his teammate.
The MotoGP paddock will return to Qatar on March 29 for the first race of the 2015 season.
The Peninsula
