Yamaha's Maverick Vinales in action on the second day of MotoGP testing at Losail International Circuit on Saturday night.
Yamaha's Maverick Vinales topped the timesheets on the second day of the MotoGP testing at the Losail International Circuit on Saturday night to put behind his disappointment of finishing second on the opening day.
The Spanish, the fastest man in Valencia, Sepang and Phillip Island struck back in style on Day 2 – edging team-mate Valentino Rossi while satellite rider Jonas Folger completed the top three lockout for the manufacturer.
Viñales jumped to the top of the times ahead of early leader Marc Marquez with around half of the session completed and finished a lap quicker than the Friday’s best notched by Andrea Dovizioso's of Ducati Team. The 2016 Silverstone winner did a best of 1:54.455 after 49 laps.
A much improved Rossi also crashed early in the session, but returned to action and ended up 0.277 seconds off his team-mate's pace, with Folger making up the top three as the only other rider to lap the circuit under the 1m55s barrier.
Despite the timesheets being dominated by blue, it was Ducati's new "aero-fairing" that stole the headlines - with a drastic new design unveiled in the latter stages of the second day on track.
Dubbed the "Hammerhead" after MotoGP™ asked fans on Twitter to name the new design, it was A Dovizioso charged with the first public evaluations of the innovation. The Italian put in a best of 1:55.583 on Day 2, seven tenths down on his best from Friday. His Saturday laptime was set on the 'traditional' fairing tested thus far.
Teammate Jorge Lorenzo impressed on Saturday with more progress as he dropped into the low 1:55s, with a best of 1:55.344 to go to P8. The 'Spartan' was quick out the blocks and went on to complete 53 laps, despite suffering a small crash with no consequence.
LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow was best of the rest in fourth, the Briton missing out on a chance to improve during the final hour after crashing at the end of one of his flying laps.
Aleix Espargaro, another rider to fall, brought his Aprilia into the top five ahead of early pacesetter Marquez - who did not improve on his earlier benchmark time of 1m55.196s on his Honda.
Alvaro Bautista (Aspar) was the fastest Ducati in seventh, beating factory rider Jorge Lorenzo by less than a tenth.
Day one pacesetter Dovizioso, who tried Ducati's new fairing during the day, was 13th-fastest.
KTM had a second low-key session in as many days, with its three riders ending up in the final three spots in the classification.
Reigning Champion Marc Marquez of Honda Team, however, kept it clean after two falls on Friday and ended the day in sixth place. The Spaniard set a 1:55.196 as his best, completing 50 laps. Teammate Dani Pedrosa had a tougher day at a track he finds more of a challenge, ending up P16 with a 1:55.875. Pedrosa was position three at the end of the Phillip Island test and will be looking to move forward on the final day of Qatar.
Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Racing) had a much improved second day to take ninth with a 1:55.353 on his last lap of the day, with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rookie and reigning Moto2™ Champion Johann Zarco completing the top ten on a 1:55.354.
Andrea Iannone was the fastest Team Suzuki Ecstar rider in P12 on a mid 1:55, with teammate Alex Rins in P17. Rins tried the Suzuki “aero-fairing” for the first time on Day 2, ending the session ahead of the EG 0,0 Marc VDS pairing of Tito Rabat – returning from injury – and Jack Miller.
Red Bull KTM Factory racing trio Pol Espargaro, Bradley Smith and test rider Mika Kallio got through another big program of work for the Austrian factory on Day 2, with Espargaro the fastest ‘Bull’ on a 1:56.648.
The third and final day of preseason testing kicks off today before the venue then prepares for the first Grand Prix of the season – with the lights going out on March 23.
