Submitted by David Emmett on
It has been a busy start to 2020 so far, the MotoGP riders going out to start testing as soon as the track got warm enough to ride safely. Marc Marquez was fastest shortly before lunch, a fraction ahead of Maverick Viñales. Andrea Dovizioso is currently third, with Alex Rins fourth, making it four manufacturers in the top four.
Iker Lecuona is currently the fastest rookie, using the extra track time over the weekend to get up to speed faster. The other two rookies are currently at the bottom of the standings, Brad Binder ahead of Alex Marquez. Both Iker Lecuona and Alex Marquez have crashed, both being caught out by the right handers at Valencia, Lecuona falling at Turn 4, Alex Marquez at Turn 10.
Times at 12:30
| Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda RC213V | 1:30.792 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Maverick Vinales | Yamaha M1 | 1:30.794 | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| 3 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati GP20 | 1:31.110 | 0.318 | 0.316 |
| 4 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:31.149 | 0.357 | 0.039 |
| 5 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha M1 | 1:31.185 | 0.393 | 0.036 |
| 6 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha M1 | 1:31.214 | 0.422 | 0.029 |
| 7 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM RC16 | 1:31.447 | 0.655 | 0.233 |
| 8 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:31.508 | 0.716 | 0.061 |
| 9 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda RC213V | 1:31.604 | 0.812 | 0.096 |
| 10 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha M1 | 1:31.652 | 0.812 | 0.000 |
| 11 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati GP20 | 1:31.733 | 0.941 | 0.129 |
| 12 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati GP20 | 1:31.967 | 1.175 | 0.234 |
| 13 | 27 | Iker Lecuona | KTM RC16 | 1:32.172 | 1.380 | 0.205 |
| 14 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:32.311 | 1.519 | 0.139 |
| 15 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:32.383 | 1.591 | 0.072 |
| 16 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | KTM RC16 | 1:32.594 | 1.802 | 0.211 |
| 17 | 6 | Stefan Bradl | Honda RC213V | 1:32.833 | 2.041 | 0.239 |
| 18 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Ducati GP19 | 1:32.936 | 2.144 | 0.103 |
| 19 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati GP19 | 1:33.013 | 2.221 | 0.077 |
| 20 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:33.251 | 2.459 | 0.238 |
| 21 | 33 | Brad Binder | KTM RC16 | 1:34.445 | 3.653 | 1.194 |
| 22 | 73 | Alex Márquez | Honda RC213V | 1:35.422 | 4.630 | 0.977 |
Comments
Ducati gets it right
I enjoy the way that Ducati number their bikes. You know what year the bike is associated with easily and who has the current version. During the Rossi era you even had subnumbering to indicate the different development versions in the same year, GP11.1 etc
The other factories must have some internal system to distinguish between the various developments (Yamaha used to use OW, Suzuki XR numbers in the two stroke era ) but I have never seen any recent ones published.
The Honda has been RC213V (ie third vee type of the century) since the 1000 replaced the 800 RC212V. The bike has changed massively since introduction, reverse rotation, firing order, aero etc but the name is still the same.
Yamaha is even worse, using YZR-M1 since 2002.
factory competition
Dipped in and out of the TV coverage (being at work and sneaking a look at the tablet) but amusing to see the various team members snapping away newly exposed bikes in pit lane. MM93 even did Yamaha a favour by undressing it in front of some of their team.
I also heard Simon Crafar saying he saw some previously Ohlins tech guys newly attired in WP gear. KTM building on their ability. I wonder how long they will perceiver with the steel chassis before they follow the pack and take that variable out of the equation? The new frame look like they have moved in that direction already.
Interested to see what the GP20 will eventually look like. The Bologna boys seem come up with radical ideas every year.
Won’t see it here, but Aprilia indicating a brand new bike for Sepang as well...
Big moves on the bike front from the teams pushing to compete and evolution for Honda and Yamaha it seems.
Oh and Johan! Take the Avintia Ducati ride - stepping back to moto2 - even with VDS is a backwards step that you might never recover from. Then again depends if you see MotoGP as a future I guess. Plenty of riders enjoy the winning feeling again in other formulae (Redding, Bautista)