MotoGP Test Qatar J3: It's here and live!

The tension is rising a notch for this last day of official MotoGP testing in Qatar, but are you on vacation or at work on this last Monday in February? Don't worry: as usual, we take care of everything!

This evening, when you return, you will find in this article constantly updated from 14:00 a.m. to 20:00 a.m., all the information available regarding this last day of testing before the start of the championship.

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13h30:
What we know, before this second day of MotoGP testing in Qatar…

Weather :
Generally pleasant at this time of year, temperatures are around 16° at night and 25° during the day. A few drops fell on Friday evening, which made for a dirty and loose track during the first hours of Saturday's practice, but Sunday and Monday are expected to be pristine.

The references :
The circuit record is 1'53.680 and still belongs to Johann zarco since qualifying in 2018. The French driver also set the best time in the 2018 pre-season tests, in 1:54.029. SATURDAY, Maverick Vinales achieved 1'55.051 on Sunday, Alex Rins went down to 1'54.593.

The context :
The final tests at Sepang were dominated by a quartet of Ducatis (Petrucci, bagnaia, Miller, Dovizioso) also always looking for exotic technical solutions, while the Honda riders continued their physical convalescence (Márquez, Lorenzo, Crutchlow).

But rather than citing in detail all those who performed well during the intermediate day, Alex Rins, Maverick Vinales, Fabio Quartararo, Aleix Espargaró et Takaaki Nakagami, it is perhaps simpler to summarize the latter as follows: neither of the 2 brands which have dominated the championship over the last 2 years, Honda and Ducati, appear on the provisional podium of the MotoGP tests in Qatar.

Likewise, the poor performance of Valentino Rossi yesterday will lead us to follow his last session with attention, just like the internal battle within KTM between Pol Espargaro, Johann zarco et Miguel Oliveira.
It is obviously much too early to draw any conclusions, but there is no doubt that we must work hard to remedy this in the boxes concerned...

With the exception of the Noale firm, all manufacturers will have to take advantage of the final test to finalize the engines they will use this year. And everyone, including Aprilia this time, will also have to define a first fairing and will only be entitled to an update during the season.
See the procedure below for checking the conformity of the fairing.

The tires :
Michelin communicated on the tires provided:
At the front, Soft and Medium are identical to 2018. The Medium/Hard features the new technology used at Sepang and providing consistency and durability.
At the rear, Medium and Hard are those used for last year's race, while the Soft uses the new technology used at Sepang.
Each driver also has 2 Hard new technology rear tires in order to evaluate them, and a final decision will be made by Michelin at the end of these tests to know whether they will be included in the annual allocation or not. We're talking about tires that are supposed to provide a response to the problems encountered by Yamaha last year...

The Long Lap Penalty:
The Race Direction explained the study of a new system of penalties during the races. Currently, the penalty provides for the loss of a place during the competition, but another system is being evaluated. The affected drivers would be forced to cross a demarcated area off the track, which would take time.
In Losail, a path has been marked by two white lines outside curve 6. Passing through this area would take approximately 2,5 seconds.
During the meeting, the MotoGP riders were informed about this test. Everyone will have to go through this new area during testing. The pilots will then convey their impressions at a subsequent meeting, with the aim of evaluating the validity of this alternative.

14h00:
The trail is open. It's 24°, 1° warmer than yesterday, and the air is drier. Immaculate sky but the wind is blowing hard in Losail… watch out for the sand on the track!

While waiting for the pilots to set off, and to bounce back only the best timeAlex Rins yesterday, remember that Suzuki recently announced that it had created the Suzuki Racing Company in order to be able to put all the resources of Suzuki Motor Company at the service of the MotoGP program.
Davide Brivio Explain : “Suzuki Racing Company was created as a separate company to take care of the competition. Right now it's more of something like an administration where we may have different things, but the group of people remains the same. One of the reasons (for this creation) is also that the MotoGP activity is not only linked to the motorcycle business for Suzuki. Until now we were part of the motorcycle division. Now we are more in an intermediate position, which is good because we connect MotoGP to the service of the whole of society. But at the moment, from a technical and motorcycle development point of view, it’s the same group of people and nothing has changed.”

14h15:
No drivers on track…

At a time when we are worried about the juxtaposition of F1 and MotoGP on Canal+, Sky Italy has just presented its program of 53 live races including F1 + MotoGP + Superbike, with Mattia Pasini as a Moto2 consultant!
Nice calendar, but less complete and less practical than ours which is starting to adorn many of the walls of companies involved in the paddock (download here) 🙂

14h30:
Still no one on the trail...

14h45:
Did you say “wind?”

The sand will make the track (at 27,4°) slippery, and any attempt to adjust the motorcycles will be unsuccessful. However, you will have to decide to go there…
It is Andrea Dovizioso who stuck to it, with a brisk (but careful) first lap, in 2'01.784, then 1'58.692
All the other riders observe the Ducati representative who returns to his box…

15h00:
Only the time of 1'58.692Andrea Dovizioso is written on the board.
While we wait for someone to decide to take over from the Italian driver on the track, the Max Racing Team of Max Biaggi made his presentation in Monaco.
The KTM ofAron Canet was already decorated in its colors during the last tests in Jerez, so no surprise there.

Moto3 and Moto2 will make their mark tests in Qatar from March 1 to 3: we told you our printable calendar was good ?

15h15:
Marc Márquez enters the track. The Honda driver completed a first flying lap in 2'00.077 before improving the time byAndrea Dovizioso in 1'57.871 then 1'56.450.
He returns to the box after 6 laps.
For comparison purposes, the Spanish driver was ranked 5th yesterday in 1'55.004.

15h30:
Alex Rins, Johann Zarco, Bradley Smith, Tito Rabat and Francesco Bagnaia took their turn on the track and began to descend slowly under 2 minutes.
Except Alex Rins, who scored 1'57.938 in his first flying lap and 1'56.625 in the second. Even if he declared that there were 19 Grands Prix to bring the Suzuki to victory, we bet that he will do everything to do it in 2 weeks...

15:45 p.m .:
Alex Rins, on his momentum, lowers the provisional reference to 1'56.389 before returning to the box.
Jorge Lorenzo et Valentino Rossi enter the track, as well as Franco Morbidelli et Pol Espargaro.
Andrea Dovizioso leaves for a 2nd run.
A quarter of an hour from the end of the 2nd hour, the hierarchy is made up of Álex Rins, Andrea Dovizioso, Marc Márquez, Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Pol Espargaró, Johann Zarco, Tito Rabat, Franco Morbidelli, Francesco Bagnaia and Bradley Smith.
According to our information, we were looking a little gloomy yesterday at Ducati after the blow given at Sepang… The GP19s do not deserve, but do not dominate either, even though we are on a circuit which is favorable to them…
Andrea Dovizioso still takes the lead in 1'56.206.

16h00:
Things are speeding up and we are now below the 1'56 mark...

Credit ranking: MotoGP.com

16:15 p.m .:
Before the imp by Alex Rins answers in 1'55.392, Maverick Vinales achieves the best time in 1'55.663. He rode with Valentino Rossi who moved up to 4th place.
This is not the first time that the two Yamaha riders have ridden together during testing and they had already introduced this technique at Sepang.
Present on one of the Spaniard's motorcycles yesterday, the new Yamaha saddle, thinner, is also present today on that of the Italian.

 

16:30 p.m .:
Marc Márquez lights two sectors in red and positions itself at 1/100 ofAlex Rins, in 1'55.402, when fabio quartararo produces a first effort. The French driver lined up 5 fast laps which placed him in 4th position.
By the way, returning to the performance of the Niçois, those who looked at the time analysis sheet were able to notice that the French driver had set his time in 1'54.908 on an isolated lap, but that the latter had been preceded by a 1'55.060 and followed by 1'55.065. So almost a mini run… And not a single “throat” lap. Pretty good omen, right?

17h00:
Track still a little dirty and down to 21,5°, we risk not riding for long. Ducati announced that Danilo Petrucci would stop around 18:00 p.m.…

 

Credit ranking: MotoGP.com16h45:
Joan Mir confirms the level of performance of the Suzuki (as well as its user-friendliness) by climbing to the top of the table, in 1'55.321, just ahead of his teammate.
Aleix Espargaró has arrived in the top 10, currently in 7th position.
All drivers have now taken to the track.

 

17h15:
At Honda, Marc Márquez produces his effort and lights up the intermediate sectors in red but does not improve his time. Him and Jorge Lorenzo feature “Star Wars” fins decorated with side appendages. But the mystery of the day did not lie there, but in the Mallorcan's box where there was no 2nd motorcycle...

Tito Rabat placed 5th, Fabio Quartararo 7th and, and Alex Rins regains command in 1'54.852, relegating the rest of the field to more than 4 tenths.

 

17:30 p.m .:
After several unsuccessful attempts, Danilo Petrucci attacked a timed lap which saved him a full second, propelling him from 9th to 1st place. He now precedes Álex Rins by 34 thousandths and improves his own time from yesterday by a tenth. On a supposedly slower track, what would we have found at Ducati?
Similarly, and therefore confirming that the track is not that slow, Jorge Lorenzo improves by 6 tenths and finds himself 6th, only 15 thousandths behind Marc Marquez...

17h45:
The series of improvements continues with this time Marc Marquez who swaps his 1'54.838 for a 1'54.613 which gives him the leadership close to the 1'54.593 achieved by Alex Rins here.
Andrea Dovizioso also progresses and returns to 4th place, however 6 tenths behind Marc Marquez and 4 tenths of his teammate.
But it's Maverick Vinales which brings everyone into agreement and takes control of the operations thanks to a 1'54.555 then 1'54.208.

 

17h50:
fabio quartararo never ceases to surprise us (so to speak) and imposes its Yamaha in 2nd position!

 

 

18h00:

Credit ranking: MotoGP.com

18h15:
Fall ofAlex Rins then Marc Marquez at turn #6. Without gravity. Maybe the humidity is coming...
Concern for Johann zarco which is more than 2 seconds while Pol Espargaro has just moved back to 0,5 seconds from the lead, in 4th position.
Anecdotally, the KTM Factory riders had a new saddle at their disposal made, according to our information in 3D printing before being validated.

 

 

 

18:30 p.m .:
Valentino Rossi pass P4. There are now 3 Yamahas in the top 4, while Franco Morbidelli misses his session a little, in 15th position. As a result, the Suzukis which dominated earlier are provisionally 7th and 8th but lose a place when Jorge Lorenzo comes to place his Honda in 4th position.

 

18h45:
Several big falls were noted today, fortunately without damage to the drivers:  Johann zarco et Takaaki Nakagami each destroyed a motorcycle, Marc Márquez fell at least once, Alex Rins, Bradley Smith et Tito Rabat once and Miguel Oliveira just a little slip. The time of Jack Miller was stuck for a while, which is generally not a good sign... The Australian driver crashed once and experienced a technical problem another.

Photo: Gigi Soldano

 

19h00:

Credit ranking: MotoGP.com

19h15:
Jorge Lorenzo et Francesco Bagnaia just fell at turn #2. Without gravity.
Faced with this evening's crowds on our site, our server will soon do the same… 🙁

 

 

19h30:
Danilo Petrucci, Aleix Espargaro et Miguel Oliveira have officially completed their trials. Only ones are still on the trail Takaaki Nakagami which, once again, enters the Top 10, Cal Crutchlow et  Andrea Iannone who are sailing in 16th and 17th positions, as well as Bradley Smith.
Some pilots have started their debriefing…

The spotlights on show how much dust there is in the air (and therefore on the track)…

 

19h45:
Testing officially completed at Repsol Honda as well. Alone Franco Morbidelli left but, in any case, the track no longer lends itself to searching for times. At best, a functional check of this or that part.
Almost all the boxes are already closed and, barring any big surprises, we can already confirm the ranking for today's session.

Credit ranking: MotoGP.com

20h00:
Surprise! Bradley Smith spent Hafizh Syahrin at the last minute, and this last MotoGP test session at Losail is now over.
The main statements from the pilots will be published this evening, the others tomorrow during the day.

Thank you and see you on March 8th for another session!

Combined ranking of the 3 days:

Credit ranking: MotoGP.com

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Some exclusive images…