Vinales ends Phillip Island MotoGP test on top

Vinales pulled the same trick as he did on Thursday, putting in three laps under 1m29s just after an hour into the day’s running to storm to the top of the times.

The best of the three was a 1m28.549s, a time good enough to still be 0.294s clear of the rest of the field at the end of the day.

This time Vinales wasn’t alone in the 1m28s bracket, World Champion Marc Marquez pumping out a pair of sub-29s at the same time as his Yamaha rival.

It was his first that was fastest – a 1m28.843s – and it was still his best time when the session came to an end, despite the Spaniard dropping back under 1m29s for a couple of laps a little over an hour from the chequered flag.

Marquez's Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa finished the day third fastest, having set his best lap inside the last half hour.

He’d actually sat in fourth for the majority of the day thanks to his early 1m29.110s, but got shuffled down the pack when the likes of Alex Rins and Cal Crutchlow improved with a little over an hour to go.

Pedrosa, who missed most of yesterday’s running through illness, then put in a 1m29.033s with 23 minutes remaining to vault back into the ‘best of the rest’ spot behind Vinales and Marquez.

That demoted Jonas Folger down the fourth, the German hanging around the top of the time sheets all day after setting a 1m29.042s an hour in to the session. It wasn’t all smiles for the Tech 3 Yamaha rider though, Folger’s running briefly interrupted with a fall a little over an hour from the end.

He wasn’t the only rider at the classy end of the times to have an off-track excursion. Rins jumped from outside the Top 10 into what was fifth at the time with a 1m29.103s with just over an hour to go, only to low side at Turn 2 shortly afterwards.

The Suzuki rider still ended up sixth thanks to that time, just 0.002s behind LCR Honda’s Crutchlow.

Andrea Dovizioso was the best-placed Ducati with the seventh fastest time, while Jorge Lorenzo put in an improved showing to go eighth fastest, just under a tenth slower than his teammate.

Jack Miller (Marc VDS Honda) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) rounded out the Top 10, while everyone down to Alvaro Bautista in 19th managed to sneak into the 1m29s - including both KTM riders, Pol Espargaro again leading Bradley Smith.

Valentino Rossi was left disappointed with the final day of testing at Phillip Island, ending up in 11th spot, almost a second behind teammate Vinales.

Day 3 times:

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	1'28.549
2	Marc Marquez	Honda	1'28.843	0.294
3	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1'29.033	0.484
4	Jonas Folger	Yamaha	1'29.042	0.493
5	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'29.101	0.552
6	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1'29.103	0.554
7	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'29.248	0.699
8	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1'29.342	0.793
9	Jack Miller	Honda	1'29.358	0.809
10	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1'29.361	0.812
11	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1'29.470	0.921
12	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1'29.547	0.998
13	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1'29.615	1.066
14	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1'29.670	1.121
15	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1'29.791	1.242
16	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1'29.857	1.308
17	Loris Baz	Ducati	1'29.977	1.428
18	Bradley Smith	KTM	1'29.978	1.429
19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'29.984	1.435
20	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'30.005	1.456
21	Sam Lowes	Aprilia	1'30.200	1.651
22	Karel Abraham	Ducati	1'30.452	1.903