MotoGP #QatarGP Losail FP3: Zarco dominates! Vinales is fuming!

With the new timetable inaugurated this year in Qatar, and after the first day of testing, the observation is clear: thanks to a track temperature 20° lower than that of the afternoon, FP2 was much more faster than FP1.

As a result, getting into the top 10 at the end of FP3 in order to go directly to Q2 will undoubtedly prove very difficult for those who were not already there yesterday.

Currently made up of Andrea Dovizioso, Danilo Petrucci, Alex Rins, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Iannone, Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa, Cal Crutchlow, Valentino Rossi and Johann Zarco, we note the flagrant absence of Maverick Vinales, yet the man of these tests, just a year ago in the same place.

Despite less favorable conditions than in FP2 (temperature of 33°, track at 43° and more wind), will the Yamaha rider be able to ride faster this afternoon than yesterday evening?

The time to beat is 1'54.912 (Johann Zarco) and the answer will come in 45 minutes...

MotoGP #QatarGP Losail Qatar	2017	2018
FP1	1'54.316 Maverick Vinales (See here)	1'55.366 Andrea Dovizioso (See here)
FP2	1'55.085 Scott Redding (See here)	1'54.361 Andrea Dovizioso (See here)
FP3	1'54.834 Maverick Vinales (See here)	1'54.966 Johann zarco
FP4	Canceled due to rain (See here)
Qualification 1	Canceled due to rain (See here)
Qualification 2	Canceled due to rain (See here)
Warm Up	1'55.728 Marc Marquez (See here)
Course	Vinales, Dovizioso, Rossi (See here)
All time lap record	1'53.927 Jorge Lorenzo 2008

 

When the red lights go out, as is often the case, it's Jorge Lorenzo who sets off first on the track.

At the pneumatic level, if there is a slight majority for the medium/medium combination, we note that Andrea Dovizioso, Cal Crutchlow, Valentino Rossi, Aleix Espargaro, Takaaki Nakagami, Karel Abraham and Álvaro Bautista use a soft rear tire. Alone Marc Márquez really stands out using a hard/hard assortment.

After three rounds, it's Danilo Petrucci which turns out to be the fastest in 1'56.801, ahead Valentino Rossi et Johann zarco.

Valentino Rossi fell without gravity on his fourth lap at turn #5, losing the front. A rare fall since the Doctor only fell 4 times last year.

Meanwhile, Danilo Petrucci lowers the provisional reference to 1'56.060, which is still very far from the 10th time obtained in FP2 by Johann Zarco (1'54.912).

At the end of the first run, the hierarchy is composed of Danilo Petrucci, Marc Márquez, an astonishing Esteve Rabat, Dani Pedrosa, Cal Crutchlow, Jorge Lorenzo, Johann Zarco, Alex Rins, Aleix Espargaro et Jack Miller. Maverick Vinales is then 16th, two seconds behind Danilo Petrucci's time.

Valentino Rossi then leaves with a hard tire at the front, medium at the rear. 18 minutes before the end of the session, he took command in 1'56.049, just before Johann zarco (medium/soft) does not break the 1'56 mark in 1'55.880, just like Andrea Dovizioso, also equipped with the same choice of tires.

The French driver improves again in 1'55.553 but is still 6 tenths behind his time from last night.

Esteve Rabat minor fall at turn #14.

At the end of the second run, the Top 10 of this session is made up of Johann Zarco, Andrea Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi, Danilo Petrucci, Jorge Lorenzo, Marc Marquez, Esteve Rabat, Dani Pedrosa, Alex Rins et Cal Crutchlow.

Two minutes from the end of the session, Jack Miller lights the partials red and jumps to second position. However, this is not enough to enter the top 10 combined.

In the last seconds, Johann zarco improves his own time and achieves 1'54.966 while Valentino Rossi experiencing problems with its lower fairing.

Maverick Vinales will therefore have to go through Q1 to hope to appear in Q2.

See you at 16:40 p.m. for FP4!

Ranking of the session:

FP1/FP2/FP3 ranking: