Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso came out guns blazing at the first day of testing at the Losail circuit in Qatar ahead of the season opener ion less than two weeks time.
Dovi completed just 36 laps of the track to finish three tenths of a second faster than the Yamaha of maverick Vinales, who lapped the track a total of 60 times.
We went into the first day of the Qatar test with great motivation,” said Yamaha’s Massimo Meregalli. “The first session at the Losail circuit is always a little bit more difficult because there is a lot of sand on the track and not a lot of rubber. Nevertheless, the team worked hard to complete the first items of our testing programme.”
“The main goal for today was to get the riders to feel comfortable. Maverick‘s side of the garage mainly focused on finding a good set-up for the race weekend and they managed to improve on every run. He had a good speed and pace on a used tyre, which was satisfactory. Vale‘s side mainly worked on the items the engineers brought here to modify the weight distribution of the bike, focused on improving the front feeling. We will continue our testing schedule tomorrow.
Third quickest was the LCR riden by Cal Crutchlow ahead of Karel Abraham and Jorge Lorenzo.
Testing continues here tomorrow.
QATAR TEST – Classification after Day 1:
1. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team – 1:54.819 – Lap 26 / 36
2. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1:55.179 +0.360 – Lap 49 / 60
3. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda – 1:55.420 +0.601 – Lap 28 / 28
4. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 1:55.613 +0.794 – Lap 42 / 42
5. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team – 1:55.616 +0.797 – Lap 27 / 46
6. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1:55.640 +0.821 – Lap 27 / 37
7. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1:55.679 +0.860 – Lap 43 / 48
8. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team – 1:55.692 +0.873 – Lap 21 / 38
9. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1:55.705 +0.886 – Lap 45 / 54
10. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1:55.751 +0.932 – Lap 30 / 41
11. Danilo PETRUCCI, Octo Pramac Racing – 1:55.830 +1.011 – Lap 33 / 41
12. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team – 1:55.899 +1.080 – Lap / 39
13. Aleix ESPARGARÓ, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 1:55.916 +1.097 – Lap 32 / 43
14. Jack MILLER, Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 1:56.017 +1.198 – Lap 49 / 59
15. Scott REDDING, Octo Pramac Racing – 1:56.085 +1.266 – Lap 23 / 37
16. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 1:56.116 +1.297 – Lap 31 / 43
17. Loris BAZ, Reale Avintia Racing – 1:56.193 +1.374 – Lap 25 / 31
18. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1:56.589 +1.770 – Lap 41 / 48
19. Pol ESPARGARÓ, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1:56.665 +1.846 – Lap 44 / 46
20. Sal LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 1:57.090 +2.271 – Lap 24 / 38
21. Tito RABAT, Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 1:57.455 +2.636 – Lap 36 / 46
22. Mika KALLIO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1:58.039 +3.220 – Lap 32 / 32
23. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1:58.755 +3.936 – Lap 35 / 46
