Photo courtesy MotoGP.com
Other riders had their moments in the spotlight, but when it was all said and done, defending World Champion Jorge Lorenzo turned in the fastest time of the final pre-season MotoGP test aboard his factory Yamaha. Lorenzo’s 1:54.810 was not only the best time of Friday evening’s session at Losail International, but it was also the best overall time of the three-day test.
There was a slew of crashes on Friday on the sometimes sandy Losail Circuit. Most of the riders escaped unscathed, but there was some concern for Cal Crutchlow, who crashed later in the session, but he was later determined to be OK after a visit to the Mobile Clinic.
Lorenzo was not just the fastest, but substantially faster than the rest of the field with Scott Redding a surprising second on the OCTO Pramac Yakhnich Ducati. Lorenzo was over a half-second faster than Redding.
Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales was again outstanding, finishing third on Friday, after topping the charts yesterday.
Honda finally found some speed with former world champ Marc Marquez taking home the fourth fastest time. His rival Valentino Rossi rounded out the top five.
MotoGP Test Results from the Losail Circuit (Day 3 of 3)
1 LORENZO, Jorge Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1:54.810
2 REDDING, Scott Octo Pramac Yakhnich 1:55.326
3 VIÑALES, Maverick Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1:55.333
4 MARQUEZ, Marc Repsol Honda Team 1:55.402
5 ROSSI, Valentino Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 1:55.429
6 IANNONE, Andrea Ducati Team 1:55.535
7 CRUTCHLOW, Cal LCR Honda 1:55.592
8 DOVIZIOSO, Andrea Ducati Team 1:55.700
9 BARBERA, Hector Avintia Racing 1:55.733
10 ESPARGARO, Pol Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:55.882
11 HERNANDEZ, Yonny Aspar MotoGP Team 1:55.894
12 SMITH, Bradley Monster Yamaha Tech 3 1:55.966
13 BAZ, Loris Avintia Racing 1:56.057 1.247
14 PEDROSA, Dani Repsol Honda Team 1:56.142
15 ESPARGARO, Aleix Team SUZUKI ECSTAR 1:56.419
16 PIRRO, Michele Octo Pramac Yakhnich 1:56.591
17 RABAT, Tito EG 0.0 Marc VDS 1:57.027
18 BAUTISTA, Alvaro Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1:57.043
19 MILLER, Jack EG 0.0 Marc VDS 1:57.046
20 LAVERTY, Eugene Aspar MotoGP Team 1:57.146
21 BRADL, Stefan Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1:57.340
22 TSUDA, Takuya Suzuki Test Team 2:00.291
