On this second and last day of the Spanish tests, the twenty-one drivers present tried many parts and many adjustments in order to have as much data as possible so that the engineers could work this winter. The drivers' reward will come later at the end of the afternoon in the form of one or two sets of new tires for achieving a super time.
At the start of the afternoon, at the time of the late Spanish lunch, it was Johann Zarco who had completed the greatest number of laps with 33 units, most of them completed with a single set of tires in order to evaluate the 2017 chassis. At Yamaha, this Wednesday, Vinales used two 2017 chassis, Valentino Rossi two 2016s with a 2017 engine and a 2018, and Johann zarco two 2017 chassis. Team manager Massimo Meregalli explained: “ The range of use of Michelin tires is very narrow, and last Sunday our opponents were more in this range than us. We compare our different chassis to obtain better grip at the exit of the curve, but also to better preserve the tires during the second part of the race ».
At Ducati, the factory team didn't have much new to test, their GP18s only making their appearance during the Sepang tests at the end of January. Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo took the opportunity to discover the two new rear tires – one hard and one soft – that Michelin had brought, equipped with a new compound intended to improve grip and longevity.
Still at Ducati, but within the Aspar team, it was dead calm. Alvaro Bautista and Karel Abraham, having fallen heavily the day before, did not ride. At the start of the afternoon, the air temperature was 15° and the track temperature was 20°. Lorenzo tried the aero fairing while Dovizioso kept the usual normal fairing. The only exception was that one of the two Dovi fairings had a different air intake than the one used until now, which suggested the testing of a different airbox, probably with a view to integration into the GP18.
At Honda, a slightly wider air intake was tested on one of Takaaki Nakagami's RC213V, now promoted to test driver for Honda. At Marc VDS, we were warming up Franco Morbidelli's other Honda:
Firing up @FrankyMorbido12 #TeamEG00 Honda RC213V for the second day of testing at Valencia #2018StartsNow pic.twitter.com/khFqbBq6XH
— Elf Marc VDS Racing Team (@ElfMarcVDS) November 15, 2017
Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins were spinning on their Suzuki after being absent the day before due to food poisoning, but the Italian lost the front in turn 2, fortunately without seriousness. He then had a good pace in 1'31.011, 07 behind the best time of Marc Marquez then in 1'30.288, 0.2 ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and 0.6 ahead of Aleix Espargaro.
Around 13:30 p.m., the Pramac Racing team mechanics started the engine of the Honda with which Jack Miller had crashed in the morning, all alone on the track.
Johann Zarco finally fitted two new tires, a medium at the rear and a soft at the front. He thus completed his fortieth lap, while Xavier Siméon reached 39 and Valentino Rossi at 38.
KTM had Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith test new front rims. Without much success a priori because Espargaro lost the front when releasing the brakes at the entrance to turn 14.
Before the big final sprint, Marc Marquez still led in 1'30.288, 0.2 ahead of Jorge Lorenzo and 0.5 ahead of Johann Zarco.
Results of the second day at 14 p.m.:
Reference times:
Test record: 1'29.401 by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in 2016
Lap record: 1'31.171 by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in 2016
Best top speed: 335,9 km/h for Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) in 2015
Photo © motogp.com / Dorna
