Submitted by David Emmett on
Andrea Dovizioso has ended the second day of testing on top of the timesheets, continuing Ducati's domination at the desert race track. Dovizioso shot to the top just before 9:30pm, taking over from Marc Marquez, who had interposed himself ahead of the Ducatis of Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone. Marquez is the only Honda, indeed the only non-Ducati, to get down to the 1'55.0 mark, though Dovizioso managed to crack the 55 barrier and set a 1'54.907. Marquez follows with a 1'55.091, while Andrea Iannone was just a hundredth slower than Marquez. Which tires the Ducatis used to set their times was not immediately clear.
Ducati debuted a set of winglets on the fairing of Andrea Dovizioso's GP15 today, an idea they trialed in 2010 as well. The very different shape suggests a different purpose, perhaps to suppress fifth and sixth gear wheelies.
Behind the top three, the field was very close, with just 0.310 separating Jorge Lorenzo in 4th from Maverick Viñales in 14th. Lorenzo had sat close to the top for most of the day, and had been one of the first riders to take to the track as evening fell. Valentino Rossi finished in 5th, jumping up the order with a fast lap right at the end of the session. Rossi had been concentrating on race set up for most of the day, spending his time languishing much further down the timesheets. Dani Pedrosa set the 6th best time, the Repsol Honda finishing behind the two Movistar Yamahas, slower than Rossi by just a single thousandth of a second.
Cal Crutchlow led a flotilla of satellite riders, the CWM LCR Honda finishing in 7th, ahead of the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha pairing of Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro. Karel Abraham put in an impressive performance to take 10th spot on the Open class Honda RC213V-RS, less than nine tenths behind Dovizioso, and 0.674 slower than Marc Marquez.
Times at the end of the second day of testing:
| Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati GP15 | 1:54.907 | ||
| 2 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda RC213V | 1:55.091 | 0.184 | 0.184 |
| 3 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati GP15 | 1:55.104 | 0.197 | 0.013 |
| 4 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha M1 | 1:55.500 | 0.593 | 0.396 |
| 5 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha M1 | 1:55.581 | 0.674 | 0.081 |
| 6 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda RC213V | 1:55.582 | 0.675 | 0.001 |
| 7 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda RC213V | 1:55.624 | 0.717 | 0.042 |
| 8 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha M1 | 1:55.648 | 0.741 | 0.024 |
| 9 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha M1 | 1:55.658 | 0.751 | 0.010 |
| 10 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Honda RC213V-RS | 1:55.765 | 0.858 | 0.107 |
| 11 | 68 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati GP14.2 | 1:55.772 | 0.865 | 0.007 |
| 12 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:55.795 | 0.888 | 0.023 |
| 13 | 45 | Scott Redding | Honda RC213V | 1:55.803 | 0.896 | 0.008 |
| 14 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:55.810 | 0.903 | 0.007 |
| 15 | 8 | Hector Barbera | Ducati GP14 Open | 1:56.058 | 1.151 | 0.248 |
| 16 | 69 | Nicky Hayden | Honda RC213V-RS | 1:56.104 | 1.197 | 0.046 |
| 17 | 63 | Mike Di Meglio | Ducati GP14 Open | 1:56.259 | 1.352 | 0.155 |
| 18 | 50 | Eugene Laverty | Honda RC213V-RS | 1:56.342 | 1.435 | 0.083 |
| 19 | 51 | Michele Pirro | Ducati GP14.2 | 1:56.476 | 1.569 | 0.134 |
| 20 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Forward Yamaha | 1:56.724 | 1.817 | 0.248 |
| 21 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda RC213V-RS | 1:56.758 | 1.851 | 0.034 |
| 22 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati GP14 | 1:56.762 | 1.855 | 0.004 |
| 23 | 76 | Loris Baz | Forward Yamaha | 1:56.936 | 2.029 | 0.174 |
| 24 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia | 1:57.273 | 2.366 | 0.337 |
| 25 | 15 | Alex De Angelis | Aprilia ART | 1:57.390 | 2.483 | 0.117 |
| 26 | 33 | Marco Melandri | Aprilia | 1:57.982 | 3.075 | 0.592 |
Comments
Gigi
Gigi looks to be worth his weight in gold right now...yes you can say tires, this is just testing...bla, bla. But wow.
Super start for Duc.
The RS Honda's seem to be doing well in terms of times close to the leader, but Abraham breaking into the top 10...was there a tow involved?
Analysis is interesting
Very few longer runs today. I see that Rossi ran off five or six high-1:55s, and Lorenzo was similar or maybe a couple of 10th slower on his longer runs. There's evidence that Marquez was maybe 1/10th quicker. Iannone seem to be mid-1:56 on his longer runs, while Dovizioso doesn't seem to have done more than a few laps in a row - testing things and / or chasing times. Right now it looks like Marquez, followed by Lorenzo / Rossi or Rossi / Lorenzo, the and then not much between Pedrosa and the Ducatis.
I think the fast times from Ducati are on the "super soft", because they both were out-lap, fast time, and then either straight back to the pits or a much slower lap after.
I don't think a lot of conclusions can be drawn today, other than that the Ducati should qualify well. Whether they will just mix up the order at the beginning or whether they're fast over a longer distance remains to be seen. One idea that hasn't gotten enough attention is that Ducati now has a full year of data on the softer tire, which they didn't have at the beginning of last year. Combined with a better chassis, I think their one-lap times flatter - although it's obvious that they are much, much better overall.
Dovizioso claims
#MotoGP @AndreaDovizioso: "We only used the hard tyre" @DucatiMotor #QatarTest http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2015/03/15/dovizioso-we-only-used-the-hard... …
Aprilia
Now 2.2ish rather than 3 seconds from the front. Good day at the office for Alvaro.
Wonder if online bookies do MotoGP bets - Dovi on pole looks a decent punt.
Bradl hasn't impressed at all in testing so far. Puts Espargaro's efforts into context...
However, what I really want to see are race simulation times - who can stay with Marquez over the distance?
Aprilia times
That's more to do with the nature of this track then anything else, really. It's a very simplistic track with very few places to gain or lose time. Also the reason why so many riders are so close together in the timing sheet.
This...
...will be a season to remember most definitely...
The Ducati lap times may not
The Ducati lap times may not be unduly flattering. On the MotoGP web site Dovizioso is quoted as saying that he hasn't used the soft tyre option so far in this test.
Both Ducs used the hard tyre only
Which is pretty amazing
MM electronics
Ducati are using the spec electronics aren't they? If so then it puts to rest the idea that you can't go fast with those; whether you can keep enough fuel and tyres for a race will still be interesting.
MM hardware only
The factory Ducs are running their own factory software like the Yamaha and Honda factory/satellite bikes. Everybody is using the same MM hardware.
The Honda RS is essentially last year's factory bike with the Open software package and that is the primary reason it will be slower then the satellite Hondas.
Chris
The Voice of Reason - You Think?
You can try to justify Ducati's transformation with all of the reasonable arguments and accusations of using soft tyres till the cows come home. The simple explanation is that the Ducati is not suffering from understeer now, so for the first time in years the team can work on going faster rather than just trying to get the bike around the corners. The result? They are on top right from the get go. They are not going to get any slower than this they are only going to get faster. Get used to it. What I want to see is them win 3 races get upgraded to factory class and then win the championship. It is certainly possible.
Hold on there, buddy
Marc Marquez is still on the Honda. They'd still have to go through him, irrespective of how fast the Ducati gets.
One swallow doesn't make a summer
Every year we see alleged championship winners in testing reduced to also-rans once the main game starts. It's called testing for a reason.
A 3 or 5 lap run is no real indication of race pace.
Let's keep our powder dry (didn't I say the same thing this time last year??) and see what pans out. By the end of round 3 we should be able to make more accurate predictions.
Exactly.
Last year it was Aleix on the Forward Yamaha upsetting the apple cart, but in the end he wasn't a problem for the factory bikes.
Interesting
The 2nd pack is 11 guys
Abraham and Hernandez are 2 of them
The front pack is 2 Ducati riders and MM93, and the Ducs may be on the medium rear
No one doing race simulations yet, and I am eager to see what sorts out on the longer runs. But still, look how close the times are! And the guys in red! Wow.
Revenge of the winglets!
I had a feeling we hadn't seen the last of them haha
David, 1) how come no race
David,
1) how come no race sim's by any team?
2) can you confirm/deny that the Duc's were only using the med or hard tire?
3) do the other factory teams seem surprised/etc by the Duc's speed?
4) MM's comments on the test?
BMW award
Should Dovi or Iannone be eligible to win the BMW qualifying award with the softer option. On equal terms, that car has a Marquez nameplate on it.