Maverick Vinales topped the final day of MotoGP pre-season testing at Qatar on his factory Yamaha, notching up the fifth fastest time for the M1 across six official 2020 test days.
Vinales-as well as second placed man Franco Morbidelli on his Petronas SRT Yamaha-were the only men to lap underneath the 1:54 barrier across the final official test ahead of the opening event of the season at Losail in just two weeks time.
The Spaniard posted a 1:53.858 to head Morbidelli by just 0.033, while Alex Rins once again ensured Suzuki were a fixture in the top three with his own fastest lap of the test.
Fabio Quartararo managed the fourth quickest time on the sister Petronas SRT machine, while Jack Miller returned to the sharp end of the timesheets as the fastest Ducati rider in fifth.
Joan Mir ended the final day sixth fastest on the second GSX-RR Suzuki, while Marc Marquez was happier with his Honda-posting the seventh fastest time just 0.291 away from Vinales’ benchmark.
The reigning world champion borrowed one of Takaaki Nakagami’s ’19-spec RC213-V’s as he and the factory squad tired to find the cause of the troubles hindering them so far across Qatar running, the Japanese pilot ultimately following in close behind with the eighth quickest lap.
Brad Binder made strong progress today as he vaulted into ninth on his KTM-his best time being just 0.425 down on Vinales-while Andrea Dovizioso completed the top ten for Ducati.
Incredibly, the top 12 riders were covered by less than half-a-second, Francesco Bagnaia and Valentino Rossi the final men to squeeze in.
While Honda team-mate Marc was able to seemingly get on top of the issues plaguing him during today’s running, the same couldn’t be said of Alex Marquez.
The younger Marquez once again struggled to set a competitive time, his best of 1:55.519 lagging over a second down on Marc-heading only Aprilia test-rider Bradley Smith on the timesheets.
