The last of the winter test starts....

 

Qatar MotoGP test: Maverick Vinales leads day one for Yamaha

https://www.autosport.com/motogp/news/134608/vinales-starts-final-motogp-test-on-top

 

Thursday test times 

POS	RIDER	TEAM	BIKE	TIME	GAP	LAPS
1	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	Yamaha	1m55.053ss	1m55.053s	64
2	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	Ducati	1m55.104ss	0.051s	48
3	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	Suzuki	1m55.107ss	0.054s	58
4	Johann Zarco	Tech3 Yamaha	Yamaha	1m55.186ss	0.133s	52
5	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	Ducati	1m55.423ss	0.370s	55
6	Alex Rins	Suzuki	Suzuki	1m55.432ss	0.379s	67
7	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	Yamaha	1m55.432ss	0.379s	54
8	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Ducati	Ducati	1m55.528ss	0.475s	47
9	Cal Crutchlow	LCR Honda	Honda	1m55.536ss	0.483s	45
10	Marc Marquez	Honda	Honda	1m55.545ss	0.492s	47

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 17 September, 20223 yr by lol-lol

We have to hope Yamaha know why they are fast this time.

I'm more hoping that Honda have no idea why they aren't.

#93 was fastest at the last test wasn't he?  The 3 works riders have chosen the most aggressive version of honda's engine. One would expect Marc to cope with it better than Dani or Cal to be honest.  I think he often sandbags at tests, and in FP as well, only showing his full speed when needed - like in Q2.

By the way, given the BT sport monopoly, some of you might like to try "Motor Replays" - links to recordings of just about every major motorsport series (and some live links too although less reliably).

 

 

Edited 2 March, 20188 yr by camelspyyder

Day 2  - No more speed  for Mav - ok 2/1000th faster - only good enough for 7th. The Andreas are both 0.4 ahead now, with 2 Hondas, another Suzuki and a Tech 3 all faster than the works Yamaha. Vale only found 1/10th on day to so he drops to 10th place behind both Pramacs and Pedrosa too. Lorenzo 14th - almost a second off Dovi.

Today with big gains it's Yamaha 1st 2nd and 5th - Zarco Rossi then Mav. Confusing!

FP1 Dovi fastest.

FP2 Dovi fastest: 1:54.361

 

The Honda appears to be under some bizarre pre-program remote control as all 3 are 0.49 seconds behind him.

To be exact their lap times are:

 

Marquez 1;54.850

Pedrosa   1:54.851

Crutchlow1:54.852

Rossi         1:54.853  - I know he's not on a Honda, but aren't those lap times weird?

16 hours ago, camelspyyder said:

FP1 Dovi fastest.

FP2 Dovi fastest: 1:54.361

 

The Honda appears to be under some bizarre pre-program remote control as all 3 are 0.49 seconds behind him.

To be exact their lap times are:

 

Marquez 1;54.850

Pedrosa   1:54.851

Crutchlow1:54.852

Rossi         1:54.853  - I know he's not on a Honda, but aren't those lap times weird?

 

Qatar is such a wield circuit for times with it huge swings in temperature between the PM and evening temperature changes and being first race of the year it is so hard to dial in the bikes it seems.

 

Beautiful colours under the lights.   Moto3 looking great too.  Cannot wait for Moto2 to switch to Triumphs next year.   

 

 

Edited 17 March, 20188 yr by lol-lol

Well done Zarco.

 

Maverick head just not right.......

 

GRAND PRIX OF QATAR

MotoGP Qualifying Nr. 2 Classification 2018 

 

Doha, Saturday, March 17, 2018

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time	Gap 1st/Prev.
1	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	337.9	1'53.680
2	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	341.9	1'53.882	0.202 / 0.202
3	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	345.3	1'53.887	0.207 / 0.005
4	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	343.6	1'54.072	0.392 / 0.185
5	4	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	344.6	1'54.074	0.394 / 0.002
6	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	338.8	1'54.339	0.659 / 0.265
7	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	336.7	1'54.368	0.688 / 0.029
8	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	334.6	1'54.389	0.709 / 0.021
9	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	338.7	1'54.431	0.751 / 0.042
10	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Alma Pramac Racing	Ducati	338.8	1'54.449	0.769 / 0.018
11	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	335.0	1'54.619	0.939 / 0.170
12	25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	338.9	1'54.707	1.027 / 0.088

Miller puts Pramac on pole by 6 (SIX) seconds.

 

Is this a record?

 

 

Edited 7 April, 20188 yr by camelspyyder

Cal win !!!!

Great win for Cal but Marquez oh dear 

7 hours ago, DanGum said:

Great win for Cal but Marquez oh dear 

 

I can never fully forgive Rossi for flicking MM off with his knee a couple of years ago but one can understand that other riders must see MM as a reckless over-taker and the Argentina race showed it in sharp focus just what personal but also to other riders.  Rossi did not hold back in after race comments....

 

But from Friday morning, he [did] this with [Maverick] Vinales, [Andrea] Dovizioso. "He [did] this with me in Saturday morning - and today in the race he [went] straight to four riders, because he [does this] purposely.  "It is not a mistake, because he points [to] the leg - between the leg and the bike - because he knows he [doesn't] crash but you crash - he hopes that you crash.  "So if you start to play like this, you raise the level to a very dangerous point.  "Because if all the riders race like this, without any respect for rivals, this is a very dangerous sport and [it will] finish in a bad way."

 

https://www.autosport.com/motogp/news/135282/rossi-marquez-has-destroyed-our-sport 

The administrators failed to deal effectively with Canet over the weekend. This gave a green light to Marquez riding in a completely unacceptable manner. Sadly, none of this bodes well for the season ahead.

Can understand Rossi's frustrations as he has lost out on points. 

I felt sorry for Jack Miller, he made the right call on the tyres! 

And I've never forgiven MM for crashing under double yellows at Silverstone, sending his bike straight at the crash site where there was not just another rider and his bike, but 3 marshals too!

Marquez should had had a black flag for the grid infringement in my book, but his riding afterward. Oh dear, he has always been over agressive but really, he indirectly ruined Dani's race and Vales for sure. He still rides thuggishly and needs to be banned for a race or two to calm down before someone ends up like Wayne Rainey or Marco.

@camelspyyder - Well, if I'd been Clerk of the Course for the referenced incident, I'd have parked him and argued with Dorma post meeting. I honestly think someone doing that's going to be what it takes.

Zarco apologised to Dani for knocking him off. Classy.

 

Even though Dani was only slow enough to get knocked off because Marquez had just barged past him and almost run him off the road.

 

 

Edited 10 April, 20188 yr by camelspyyder

Why do the others go to COTA at all?Marc is invincible there.

Bradley loses KTM works bike for next year - Zarco takes the ride.

 

Smith may go back to Tech3 - who are dumping Yamaha for KTM - but I think they'll take Folger if he's fit.

 

Who gets the satellite Yams?

 

Probably Marc VDS, who want away from Honda but are reported to have just been knocked back by Suzuki when close to a deal.

 

 

 

I forgot to mention - Dovi fastest in FP1 from Marc and Pol.

 

 

 

 

Edited 4 May, 20188 yr by camelspyyder

In the right hands ie Zarco, the Yamaha Tech 3 is right up there.  

 

Bradley such a nice guy, met him at bike show couple of years ago and got photos with one of my offspring.  Hope he puts in some good result and gets picked up.

Maybe a PATA team?  

 

Vinales back in top ten by Rossi now out of the ten!

 

Love to see Zarco try laps in Factory and GOAT and Mac try the Tech 3 to compare!

Rossi front row time!

 

Coventry lad top !

2 hours ago, lol-lol said:

In the right hands ie Zarco, the Yamaha Tech 3 is right up there.  

 

Bradley such a nice guy, met him at bike show couple of years ago and got photos with one of my offspring.  Hope he puts in some good result and gets picked up.

Maybe a PATA team?  

 

Vinales back in top ten by Rossi now out of the ten!

 

Love to see Zarco try laps in Factory and GOAT and Mac try the Tech 3 to compare!

 

I think over the winter testing all 3 tried the 2016 (tech3 in effect), 2017 (last years poor works bike) and 2018 chassis. I remember Zarco actually liked the 2017 bike more than the other 2 did, he couldn't see what the problem was. I don't know if he did a race distance on it - the problem seemed to be lack of grip in the second half of the races. I think the 2018 bike ended up being based on the '16 one.

 

 

Edited 5 May, 20188 yr by camelspyyder