Takaaki Nakagami concludes Jerez test 0.025s clear of Marc Marquez

Takaaki Nakagami ended the final day of MotoGP testing in 2018 at Jerez fastest of all, the LCR rider pipping Honda stablemate Marc Marquez on the works RC213V by 0.025 seconds. 

As was the case at the start of Wednesday's session, no bikes would appear on track for the first two hours until temperatures rose sufficiently. 

Honda's Jorge Lorenzo topped Wednesday's running briefly in the afternoon, and set the early pace today with a 1:39.843s as he continues to adapt to the RC213V. 

Before long, the three-time MotoGP champion's teammate Marquez moved to the top of the times with a 1:38.783s, which he duly improved by a further three tenths to hold a margin of 0.797s over Yamaha's Maverick Vinales.

RelatedPosts

IndyCar IMS GP – Qualifying Results

3 hours ago

Alex Palou blasts away to earn IndyCar pole at Indianapolis

3 hours ago

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso was in some doubt to participate today after injuring his hand in his late fall on Wednesday, but completed his first handful of laps aboard his GP19 after around three hours, the best of which putting him fourth for the time being. 

Teammate and Wednesday pacesetter Danilo Petrucci debuted a tail unit with with an aerodynamic update attached in the early afternoon, and moved up to second fastest with a 1:38.813s with just over five hours remaining. 

Two hours later, Marquez was finally deposed by Dovizioso, with Vinales shadowing the Ducati man by just 0.014s. 

Jack Miller, on the Pramac-run GP19, edged ahead of his Ducati stablemate as the session closed in on its final two hours with a 1:38.207s, before former teammate Petrucci went 0.098s quicker. 

Marquez returned to top spot with 90 minutes to go with the first 1:37s lap of the day with a 1:37.970s, though only for half an hour or so, as Nakagami went 0.025s faster on his LCR 2018-spec Honda. 

Nakagami's time would remain unchallenged as little running saw out the final 30 minutes of the session, with Marquez holding second ahead of top Yamaha runner Vinales. 

Lorenzo ended his second test as a Honda rider just 0.160s off the pace in fourth ahead of Petrucci, who remains second on the combined times thanks to his Wednesday effort. 

Franco Morbidelli was a further 0.009s adrift on the SRT Yamaha, with Miller and Dovizioso shadowed by Ducati stablemate and top rookie Francesco Bagnaia [Pramac] in ninth. 

Alex Rins saw out the day in 10th on the first of the Suzukis, with Valentino Rossi trailing in 11th as he continued to compare Yamaha's new engines with teammate Vinales. 

Fabio Quartararo was top M1 runner at one stage on Thursday on the sister SRT bike, and ended the test just 0.165s adrift of Rossi in 12th, while Tito Rabat [Avintia], Joan Mir [Suzuki] and KTM's Pol Espargaro rounded out the top 15. 

His teammate Johann Zarco was unable to close his 1.9s deficit in pace on his works KTM in 19th, with Aleix Espargaro returning to action today in 20th on the Aprilia after missing the first day of running with illness – though only completed 11 laps.