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Lorenzo dominates on final day of pre-season Qatar MotoGP test

Reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo laid down a marker for his title defence by totally dominating the final day of MotoGP pre-season testing at Qatar.

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Yamaha MotoGP

Jorge Lorenzo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Scott Redding, Pramac Racing
Maverick Viñales, Team Suzuki MotoGP
Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Valentino Rossi, Yamaha Factory Racing
Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team

Lorenzo lapped the Losail International circuit, which plays host to the season opener on March 20, with a stunning time of 1m54.810s, using the new control Michelin tyres.

This compares to Andrea Dovizioso’s pole time last year of 1m54.113s, set on ultrasoft Bridgestone tyres.

Scott Redding kept up his recent impressive testing form for Pramac Ducati to finish runner-up, but was over half a second off Lorenzo. Yesterday’s pacesetter, Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales, was just seven thousandths slower than the Briton.

Marquez and Rossi suffer falls

Two-time champion Marc Marquez fell from his Honda at the final corner early on, but bounced back to set the fourth-fastest time late in the night session. He was 0.027s swifter than Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi, who was another early faller at Turn 10.

The leading works Ducati was Andrea Iannone in sixth, who was just under three quarters of a second off the overall pace, with Cal Crutchlow seventh on his LCR Honda – another faller later on.

The second works Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso was eighth, ahead of Hector Barbera (who fell twice) and Pol Espargaro.

Tito Rabat suffered multiple crashes, while Aleix Espargaro and Loris Baz also fell.

Day three times:

Pos.Rider Bike  Time Gap
 Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1'54.810  
 Scott Redding Ducati 1'55.326 0.516
 Maverick Vinales Suzuki 1'55.333 0.523
 Marc Marquez Honda 1'55.402 0.592
 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'55.429 0.619
 Andrea Iannone Ducati 1'55.535 0.725
 Cal Crutchlow Honda 1'55.592 0.782
 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1'55.700 0.890
 Hector Barbera Ducati 1'55.733 0.923
10   Pol Espargaro Yamaha 1'55.882 1.072
11   Yonny Hernandez Ducati 1'55.894 1.084
12   Bradley Smith Yamaha 1'55.966 1.156
13   Loris Baz Ducati 1'56.057 1.247
14   Dani Pedrosa Honda 1'56.142 1.332
15   Aleix Espargaro Suzuki 1'56.419 1.609
16   Michele Pirro Ducati 1'56.591 1.781
17   Tito Rabat Honda 1'57.027 2.217
18   Alvaro Bautista Aprilia 1'57.043 2.233
19   Jack Miller Honda 1'57.046 2.236
20   Eugene Laverty Ducati 1'57.146 2.336
21   Stefan Bradl Aprilia 1'57.340 2.530
22   Takuya Tsuda Suzuki 2'00.291 5.481

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