Testing report

MotoGP Qatar March testing

Zarco leads Rossi as Qatar testing concludes

Tech 3 Yamaha rider Johann Zarco fell a tenth of a second shy of the lap record in Qatar to lead the final MotoGP pre-season test day ahead of Valentino Rossi.

David Gruz

Edited: Mar 3, 2018, 8:07 PM

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Johann Zarco, Monster Yamaha Tech 3

Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing

Andrea Dovizioso, Ducati Team

Zarco moved into first place with exactly two hours left on the clock, holding a lead of half a tenth over LCR Honda man Cal Crutchlow with his 1m54.429s effort.

The Frenchman then improved on two more occasions half an hour later, stretching his gap to over four tenths with a time of 1m54.029s, just 0.102s slower than Jorge Lorenzo's lap record set in 2008.

While Crutchlow did not lower his own benchmark for the rest of the session, he held second until the final hour when first Andrea Dovizioso and then Rossi demoted him.

Rossi, who recovered from a crash at Turn 14 three hours into the session, was 0.247s slower than Yamaha stablemate Zarco.

Works Ducati rider Dovizioso took third, just half a tenth slower than Rossi, with Crutchlow ending up the fastest Honda rider in fourth.

Rossi's Yamaha teammate Maverick Vinales was as low as 20th at the start of the final hour but gained 15 positions to end up fifth.

Reigning champion Marc Marquez was sixth on the best of the works Hondas, followed by Alex Rins, Suzuki's only rider as Friday pace-setter Andrea Iannone sat out the session with a stomach bug.

Rins beat Ducati trio Danilo Petrucci, who led for an hour in the middle of the session, Jorge Lorenzo and Jack Miller by less than a tenth.

Dani Pedrosa was 11th on the second factory Honda ahead of Marc VDS Honda's Franco Morbidelli, who was the fastest rookie in 12th.

However, Hafizh Syahrin was only a tenth and three positions behind the Moto2 champion, the Malaysian completing only his second MotoGP test 1.2s adrift his Tech 3 teammate Zarco.

Bradley Smith and Aleix Espargaro led KTM's and Aprilia's efforts in 13th and 14th respectively, the latter briefly holding third during the day.

Pol Espargaro, who sat out Friday having not fully recovered from his injuries yet, was back in action on Saturday but could only manage 19th.

After seven hours of dry running, riders will be required to take part in a half-hour wet session aimed at assessing whether it would be possible to host a wet race in Qatar under the floodlights.

Day 3 results

Pos. Rider Team Time Gap 1 Johann Zarco Tech 3 Yamaha 1:54.029 2 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1:54.276 0.247 3 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1:54.331 0.302 4 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda 1:54.457 0.428 5 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 1:54.471 0.442 6 Marc Marquez Honda 1:54.591 0.562 7 Alex Rins Suzuki 1:54.650 0.621 8 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati 1:54.659 0.630 9 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati 1:54.692 0.663 10 Jack Miller Pramac Ducati 1:54.749 0.720 11 Dani Pedrosa Honda 1:54.774 0.745 12 Franco Morbidelli Marc VDS Honda 1:55.132 1.103 13 Bradley Smith KTM 1:55.179 1.150 14 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1:55.232 1.203 15 Hafizh Syahrin Tech 3 Yamaha 1:55.273 1.244 16 Karel Abraham Angel Nieto Ducati 1:55.300 1.271 17 Alvaro Bautista Angel Nieto Ducati 1:55.347 1.318 18 Tito Rabat Avintia Ducati 1:55.465 1.436 19 Pol Espargaro KTM 1:55.489 1.460 20 Scott Redding Aprilia 1:55.595 1.566 21 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda 1:55.763 1.734 22 Xavier Simeon Avintia Ducati 1:55.943 1.914 23 Thomas Luthi Marc VDS Honda 1:56.122 2.093 NC Andrea Iannone Suzuki No Time

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