2019 Qatar MotoGP Test Saturday 8pm Times: Ducatis Fastest As Pace Picks Up

Submitted by David Emmett on Sat, 2019-02-23 17:14

Times are starting to drop as the track cleans up after last night's rain at Qatar, and as the MotoGP riders get back up to speed. Andrea Dovizioso leads his Ducati teammate Danilo Petrucci, both men well into the mid 1'55s, pretty close to race pace. Alex Rins is currently third quickest, the Suzuki Ecstar rider having tested a new exhaust, with two tailpipe emerging from the fairing lower.

Maverick Viñales is fourth quickest on the Monster Energy Yamaha, while Taka Nakagami is the fastest Honda on the 2018 RC213V, the riders on the latest spec working on development. Pol Espargaro put the KTM into sixth place, just faster than Joan Mir on the second Suzuki.

There have been a few crashes already, with Marc Marquez going down at the last corner, but coming away unscathed, and both Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Iannone crashing almost simultaneously at opposite ends of the track.

Some extra track markings have appeared, the basis of a new penalty system. Race Direction has proposed that instead of being forced to drop a place, the riders will have to take a wide line on the outside of a corner, through the runoff, and lose time that way. Feedback from the riders is expected on that tonight and over the remainder of the test.

Times at 8pm local time:

Pos	No	Rider	Bike	Time	Diff	Prev
1	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati GP19	1:55.550
2	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati GP19	1:55.594	0.044	0.044
3	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki GSX-RR	1:55.707	0.157	0.113
4	12	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha M1	1:55.832	0.282	0.125
5	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda RC213V	1:55.943	0.393	0.111
6	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM RC16	1:56.286	0.736	0.343
7	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki GSX-RR	1:56.314	0.764	0.028
8	53	Tito Rabat	Ducati GP18	1:56.321	0.771	0.007
9	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia RS-GP	1:56.358	0.808	0.037
10	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha M1	1:56.511	0.961	0.153
11	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha M1	1:56.567	1.017	0.056
12	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha M1	1:56.594	1.044	0.027
13	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati GP18	1:56.738	1.188	0.144
14	5	Johann Zarco	KTM RC16	1:56.770	1.220	0.032
15	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM RC16	1:56.891	1.341	0.121
16	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda RC213V	1:56.921	1.371	0.030
17	43	Jack Miller	Ducati GP19	1:56.932	1.382	0.011
18	93	Marc Marquez	Honda RC213V	1:56.943	1.393	0.011
19	17	Karel Abraham	Ducati GP18	1:57.053	1.503	0.110
20	38	Bradley Smith	Aprilia RS-GP	1:57.137	1.587	0.084
21	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia RS-GP	1:57.362	1.812	0.225
22	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda RC213V	1:57.405	1.855	0.043
23	55	Hafizh Syahrin	KTM RC16	1:57.459	1.909	0.054

Circuit records and best time in testing:

Year	No	Rider	Bike	Time	Event
2018	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha M1	1:54.029	Qatar Test
2018	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha M1	1:53.680	Qualifying
2016	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha M1	1:54.927	Race