MotoGP tests in Losail, D3: Progress of a session marked with a red hot iron of 99!

Yesterday's session showed us great homogeneity and a noticeable recovery in form for the Hondas. Will today’s confirm this trend?

“Never two without three”, it is once again a test driver, in this case Michele Pirro, who takes to the track first for this last day of IRTA testing at Losail. Stefan Bradl followed suit shortly after. Takuya Tsuda will join them during the first hour, then Alvaro Bautista half an hour later, completed by Loris Baz at the very end of the second hour.

It is obviously no coincidence that this phenomenon has been repeated throughout these days.: the four aforementioned drivers have a very heavy workload, and therefore intend to make the most of the time allocated, while the drivers whose bikes are already more or less efficient prefer to ride in conditions closer to those of the upcoming Grand Prix, that is to say when the air and the track are around 23° and before the dew arrives. At the start of the session, it is still too hot for that, at the end of the session, the grip disappears.

The third hour sees the arrival of Tito Rabat, Bradley Smith and Marc Marquez. The latter quickly sets a 1'56.002, his best time of the weekend so far, while the majority of competitors now enter the arena…

In a few minutes, Maverick Vinales positioned himself between Marc Marquez and Scott Redding, while Valentino Rossi falls without gravity in his 5th flying lap, still at turn #10.

The eyes of observers are still focused on the Yamaha rider who himself is piloting the repatriator's scooter thatAndrea Iannone improves the best time of the day, in 1'55.535, a tenth of the best time of the three days of testing.

But the Italian will not really have time to savor his performance, since five minutes later, Jorge Lorenzo hits a massive blow in 1'54.810, just after Tito Rabat tasted Qatari soil without gravity. However, this does not undermine his own record dating from 2008, in 1'53.927, already in Michelin.

Marc Marquez falls after a dozen laps, Without gravity.

The third hour ends with the presence of four factory drivers in the lead (Lorenzo, Iannone, Marquez and Vinales) but Hector Barbera does not hear it that way and, as soon as the next one begins, hoists his “old” GP14.2 to third provisional position.

This visibly gives ideas to Yonny Hernandez who decides to place his in 4th position, thus generating a Top 5 entirely Ducati with the exception of Jorge Lorenzo's M1: Lorenzo, Iannone, Barbera, Hernandez and Dovizioso.

Maverick Vinales breaks down on the circuit, and as he tried the new “full seamless” box, everyone wondered if that was the problem.

The fourth hour therefore ends with Jorge Lorenzo leads a comfortable lead of 7 tenths over 12 drivers in the same second.

The fifth hour sees le red flag appears for the double minor fall of Loris Baz (due to puncture) and Aleix Espargaro. At the restart, Scott Redding reinforced the Ducati troops by taking provisional third place, just 5 hundredths behind Iannone.
Ranking at the end of the 5th hour:

The sixth hour first sees Tito Rabat takes his second fall of the day, but also Cal Crutchlow and Valentino Rossi reposition themselves in 6th and 4th respectively.

Scott Redding continues his effort and takes second position, this time just half a second behind Jorge Lorenzo.

The seventh hour sees the humidity arrive and Cal Crutchlow falls and his motorcycle lands on him. The pilot will have to go to the medical center where he will be declared OK.

However, this does not prevent Marc Marquez to continue to attack and take 4th place of the day, behind Redding and Vinales and in front of Rossi.

Finally, Jorge Lorenzo today exploded the beautiful homogeneity that the set presented yesterday.

1. Jorge Lorenzo 1m 54.810s
2. Scott Redding +0.516s
3. Maverick Vinales +0.523s
4. Marc Marquez +0.592s
5. Valentino Rossi +0.619s
6. Andrea Iannone +0.725s 7.
Cal Crutchlow +0.782s
8. Andrea Dovizioso +0.890s
9. Hector Barbera +0.923s
10. Pol Espargaro +1.072s
11. Yonny Hernandez +1.084s
12. Bradley Smith +1.156s
13. Loris Baz +1.247s
14. Dani Pedrosa +1.332s
15. Aleix Espargaro +1.609s
16. Michele Pirro +1.781s
17. Esteve Rabat +2.217s
18. Alvaro Bautista +2.233s
19. Jack Miller +2.236s
20. Michael Laverty +2.336s
21. Stefan Bradl +2.530s
22. Takuya Tsuda +5.481s