MotoGP tests Phillip Island: Report of the second day

Maverick Vinales may not be World Champion this year, but one thing is certain: we will have to go get him. Showing as much determination as talent, the new official Yamaha rider dominated during the first test in Valencia then the second at Sepang, and at Phillip Island he has just flown royally on the second day, while Marc Marquez achieved a fine feat with an impressive series of tricks.

From Thursday morning, Maverick Vinales had a message to convey to his competitors and it was clear: to be ahead of him, he was going to have to open the throttle wide. Author of the fourth time the day before in 1'29.989, 0.492 from the best time (1'29.497) of Marc Marquez, Vinales jumped from the start in 1'28.846, thus achieving the best time (the only one under 1'29) since the start of these tests. Marquez was second at midday, at 0.463, which was already a sizable gap. It was much tighter afterwards with Cal Crutchlow 0.01 behind Marc, then Alvaro Bautista 0.08 behind the Briton, 0.07 ahead Andrea Dovizioso, itself 0.01 in front of the unexpected Alex Espargaro author of an excellent 1'29.502 on his Aprilia. Valentino Rossi, whose thirty-eighth birthday was today, worked quietly in eighth position, while John Zarco twelfth preceded Jorge Lorenzo of 0.04. Loris Baz, victim of a major technical problem in the morning, was in nineteenth place.

Everyone ate quietly at midday, the hottest time of the day. Everyone ? Not quite because the 93, abandoning the masticatory celebrations, returned to the track and Marquez put together an incredible series of 12 consecutive laps between 1'29.486 and 1'29.799 (1:29.723, 1:29.725, 1:29.580, 1:29.486 , 1:29.533, 1:29.799, 1:29.552, 1:29.699, 1:29.616, 1:29.707, 1:29.612 and 1:29.500)! Maverick had spoiled their breakfast, Marc spoiled their lunch. His teammate Dani Pedrosa, victim of a sore throat and withdrew in the morning, accompanied him on the track for 17 laps. Dani could then only achieve the penultimate beat, ahead of Bradley Smith which was worrying for KTM because Pol Espargaro was barely faster. Aprilia briefly tried out its new fairing with the fins inside, a bit like Yamaha, but with a larger air intake surface and placed a little higher. Suzuki also had its riders try out a new fairing.

With an hour to go, Marquez had covered 83 laps, Redding, Zarco and Bautista more than 70. The GP takes place here over 27 laps. Between his 82 loops the day before and his 72 today, Jack Miller had covered almost 6 times the distance of the race. And it was far from over, because there were still a few dozen minutes left, without forgetting the last day tomorrow. These last minutes are the reward for the hard day's work. After testing every possible setting and part imaginable for hours, the driver is finally entitled to soft tires to attack his best lap time. Marc Marquez indicated his intentions half an hour from the end, achieving the best time in the first two partials. It was starting to smell like powder.

With 27 minutes left before the checkered flag, it was the moment that a flock of wild geese chose to land on the circuit, and the Race Direction had no other alternative than to present the red flag . These birds must be completely deaf not to be disturbed by MotoGP exhausts. After the birds took off, Marquez returned to the track to complete his hundredth lap, a total of four times the race distance this Thursday. Almost everyone launched into a final, disheveled sprint. In the penultimate lap of the day, Vinales clocked 1'28.888, then in the final lap in 1'28.864. He was by far the best performer of the day with three laps under 1'29.

Second at 0.462, Marquez had shown his strength over the distance with his impressive dozen consecutive laps. He preceded Cal Crutchlow, Alvaro Bautista (first Ducati), Andrea Dovizioso and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia). Jonas Folger was the fastest of the rookies in seventh position, ahead of Valentino Rossi, Alex Rins, Jack Miller and Johann Zarco. Jorge Lorenzo was in fifteenth position and Loris Bas in twentieth place.

Results of the second day

Pos		Pile	Team	Chrono	difference	Tours
1		VIÑALES, Maverick	Yamaha Motor Racing	1:28.847		21 / 80
2		MARCHEZ, Marc	Repsol Honda Team	1:29.309	0.462	20 / 107
3		CRUTCHLOW, Cal	Honda LCR	1:29.325	0.478	28 / 80
4		BAUTISTA, Alvaro	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	1:29.411	0.564	42 / 86
5	P	DOVIZIOSO, Andrew	Ducati Team	1:29.483	0.636	32 / 55
6	P	Espargaro, Aleix	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	1:29.501	0.654	18 / 69
7	P	Folger, Jonas	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1:29.664	0.817	29 / 65
8	P	Rossi, Valentine	Yamaha Motor Racing	1:29.674	0.827	18 / 70
9	P	Rins, Alex	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	1:29.802	0.955	68 / 80
10		MILLER, Jack	Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS	1:29.838	0.991	36 / 83
11	P	ZARCO, Johann	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	1:29.880	1.033	84 / 88
12		IANNON, Andrew	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	1:29.947	1.100	19 / 72
13		ABRAHAM, Karel	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	1:30.142	1.295	20 / 73
14	P	PETRUCCI, Danilo	Octo Pramac Racing	1:30.150	1.303	64 / 65
15	P	LORENZO, Jorge	Ducati Team	1:30.197	1.350	32 / 64
16	P	PEDROSA, Dani	Repsol Honda Team	1:30.245	1.398	38 / 40
17		BARBERA, Hector	Royal Esponsorama Racing	1:30.352	1.505	18 / 62
18	P	REDDING, Scott	Octo Pramac Racing	1:30.435	1.588	83 / 90
19	P	ESPARGARÓ, Pol	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	1:30.645	1.798	24 / 59
20	P	BAZ, Loris	Royal Esponsorama Racing	1:30.852	2.005	34 / 53
21	P	LOWES, Sam	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	1:30.895	2.048	34 / 64
22	P	SMITH, Bradley	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	1:31.704	2.857	35 / 81