Fabio Quartararo made it three from three as he led the field on the final day of running at the first pre-season MotoGP test of 2020 at Sepang.
The last day of testing at Sepang before the team’s jet off to Qatar for the final pre-season running was the closest so far, with the top 18 riders covered by just 0.820.
Petronas SRT pilot Quartararo managed to once again keep his new ’20 spec Yamaha M1 at the head of the timesheets, once again posting the fastest time of the test with a 1:58.349-just 0.046 down on his pole time at the venue just a few months ago.
Cal Crutchlow was a strong second for LCR Honda, the Brit just 0.082 away from Quartararo and a slender 0.019 clear of the Suzuki of Alex Rins.
Francesco Bagnaia was fourth fastest on his Pramac Ducati, while Valentino Rossi rounded out a top five covered by less than two-tenths of a second.
Danilo Petrucci was next up in what is the first time a factory Ducati machine has graced the top ten throughout the test, with Pol Espargaro seventh as the KTM RC16 continues to look strong relative to its rivals-the Spaniard’s 1:58.610 a massive 1.2 seconds faster than his qualifying time for the Malaysian grand prix last year.
Jack Miller made it both Pramac Ducati’s in the top eight, while Aleix Espargaro closed out an encouraging debut test for Aprilia’s new RSGP racer with the ninth fastest tour overall-just 0.345 down on Quartararo.
Joan Mir completed the top ten for Suzuki.
Of note was a slightly improved showing for Johann Zarco on the Avintia Ducati GP19, the double Moto2 world champion winding up 15th quickest-just 0.602 down on Quartararo’s benchmark.
Jorge Lorenzo was also in action today, the newly signed Yamaha test rider managing 20th on the leaderboard-albeit just 1.348 from the top spot and-rather interestingly- a whopping eight-tenths clear of the qualifying time he set with his Honda at Sepang last season.
The final pre-season test ahead of the Qatar GP season opener-held at the same Losail International Circuit as the race- will get underway in less than two weeks time on February 22nd, again covering three days.
| # | Rider | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | QUARTARARO, Fabio | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1:58.349 | |
| 2 | CRUTCHLOW, Cal | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1:58.431 | 0.082 |
| 3 | RINS, Alex | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1:58.450 | 0.101 |
| 4 | BAGNAIA, Francesco | Pramac Racing | 1:58.502 | 0.153 |
| 5 | ROSSI, Valentino | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1:58.541 | 0.192 |
| 6 | PETRUCCI, Danilo | Ducati Team | 1:58.606 | 0.257 |
| 7 | ESPARGARO, Pol | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:58.610 | 0.261 |
| 8 | MILLER, Jack | Pramac Racing | 1:58.616 | 0.267 |
| 9 | ESPARGARO, Aleix | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1:58.694 | 0.345 |
| 10 | MIR, Joan | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1:58.736 | 0.387 |
| 11 | OLIVEIRA, Miguel | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1:58.764 | 0.415 |
| 12 | MARQUEZ, Marc | Repsol Honda Team | 1:58.772 | 0.423 |
| 13 | MORBIDELLI, Franco | Petronas Yamaha SRT | 1:58.838 | 0.489 |
| 14 | DOVIZIOSO, Andrea | Ducati Team | 1:58.859 | 0.510 |
| 15 | ZARCO, Johann | Reale Avintia Racing | 1:58.951 | 0.602 |
| 16 | MARQUEZ, Alex | Repsol Honda Team | 1:59.042 | 0.693 |
| 17 | BINDER, Brad | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:59.104 | 0.755 |
| 18 | VIÑALES, Maverick | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | 1:59.169 | 0.820 |
| 19 | RABAT, Tito | Reale Avintia Racing | 1:59.549 | 1.200 |
| 20 | LORENZO, Jorge | Yamaha Test Team | 1:59.697 | 1.348 |
| 21 | SMITH, Bradley | Aprilia Factory Racing | 1:59.841 | 1.492 |
| 22 | NAKAGAMI, Takaaki | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1:59.860 | 1.511 |
| 23 | LECUONA, Iker | Red Bull KTM Tech 3 | 1:59.898 | 1.549 |
| 24 | GUINTOLI, Sylvain | SUZUKI Test Team | 2:00.100 | 1.751 |
| 25 | KALLIO, Mika | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 2:00.148 | 1.799 |
| 26 | TEST 1, Yamaha | Yamaha Test Team | 2:01.123 | 2.774 |
| 27 | TSUDA, Takuya | SUZUKI Test Team | 2:03.674 | 5.325 |
| NC | PEDROSA, Dani | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | ||
| NC | SAVADORI, Lorenzo | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | ||
| NC | PIRRO, Michele | Ducati Team |