Maverick Vińales took the glory for Yamaha this evening by setting the fastest time of Thursday’s Qatar MotoGP test session in the closing ten minutes of track action.
The Monster Energy rider concluded the fourth day at Qatar with a best effort of 1’53.244, six-hundredths short of Jack Miller’s unofficial record-breaker from yesterday, while Franky Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo completed an impressive top-three for the Japanese manufacturer, with just 0.154 separating the competitive M1s.
Pecco Bagnaia secured Ducati honours and best of the rest, in fourth, ahead of Aleix Espargaro, the Suzuki duo of Joan Mir and Alex Rins and a much-improved performance from Valentino Rossi.
Starting Thursday with a strong early showing, Quartararo sat atop the timings at the mid-point of Qatar’s fourth session, with fellow Yamaha and 2020 vice-champion, Morbidelli for company. The pair having both set 1’54.5’s on their 15th and 8th lap of the day so far.
Espargaro brothers Aleix and Pol followed promptly behind, before the Honda rider made a charge on his 22nd lap, to head the standings with a 54.103. Bagnaia confidently asserting his position as the fastest Ducati rider, for the time being at least, sitting fifth with just over three hours of action remaining.
At the three hour mark, Vińales joined the party by slotting in as head Yamaha, in second, with three consecutively quick laps - his 54.310 effort set on his 37th revolution - while his ex-teammate, Valentino Rossi circulated inside the top-10, just five-tenths off, in ninth.
A somewhat surprising development came 15 minutes later, as Enea Bastianini soared into the top-three, sliding neatly between the Monster Energy pairing with a spectacular 1’54.505 effort. The Moto2 Champion proving he is really getting to grips with his new Avintia Ducati and gunning for the top-rookie crown from the outset.
Recovering from a slightly more difficult day at the office yesterday, the elder Espargaro was back to his screen-biting best on his 36th attempt. Storming the Aprilia RS-GP through the ’54 barrier with a 1’53.869 to show his brother who was boss before returning to the garage but the 31-year-old was back out and continuing to reduce his time once again, moments later.
Suzuki’s Rins had his first attack at the times with two and a half hours to go, setting a ’54.1 on lap 19 to sit narrowly behind the Espargaro brothers and comfortably ahead of the factory Yamahas, while Jorge Martin looked to outmanoeuvre Bastianini for top-rookie as he too advanced, this time to sixth.
A fifth crash in four days for Alex Marquez, this time a fast highside at turn nine on a personal best lap, saw the young Spaniard sent to the medical centre. The resulting checks found a 2mm fracture of the fourth metacarpal of his right foot, leaving the LCR rider sitting out of, at least, the rest of the day.
At the two hour mark, the assaults kept coming, this time in the form of Bagnaia and Mir. The Ducati man, obviously feeling right at home on his factory machine, advanced his best to a 54 dead, sitting him second with his 36th lap before upping the ante again on his next revolution, this time hitting the jackpot with a 1’53’444. Meanwhile, Suzuki’s defending champion also joined the fray, in third, and having circulated in the lower end of the top-10 for the first part of the day, was now the third rider so far to enter the 1’53’s.
As the clock neared the final hour it was the Petronas men who were now on the move, with Rossi leading Morbidelli to sixth and seventh.
Both riders set near-identical 1’54.2 lap-times, just 0.02s apart, to sit in tandem ahead of their factory counterparts - who were concentrating on long-run pace for the majority of the afternoon - before ‘the Doctor’ applied further pressure, with a 1’53.993, to enter the top-four moments later.
With 50 minutes remaining, Johann Zarco moved up to fifth, having already found a blistering top speed of 222mph earlier in the day, but it was his countryman Quartararo who would again steal the top spot, with 20 minutes left on track and a best time a 1’53.398. ’10 to go and Vińales stormed to third, 0.14s off his teammate but the Yamaha rider was far from done, setting off for a second flying lap in a bid to steal the headlines, and the timesheets, he succeeded with his 1’53.244.
Leaving it late but by no means lacklustre, Morbidelli again rose to the challenge of his cohorts by splitting the factory pair in the final two minutes, securing second overall with a 1’53.323 on his 62nd lap as the field returned to pitlane to prepare for the practice start session.
Further down the pack, Zarco concluded the day ninth, with Pol Espargaro and Miller for company, while Takaaki Nakagami and Stefan Bradl held off the rapid rookies of Martin and Bastianini. Brad Binder finished another difficult day for KTM in 16th ahead of the injured Marquez, and teammates Miguel Oliveira and Danilo Petrucci.
Luca Marini concluded his fifth day in the premier class 20th, with Iker Lecuona and Lorenzo Savadori completing the full-time rider roster in 22nd and 23rd respectively.