Submitted by David Emmett on
Maverick Viñales leaves the final MotoGP test of the 2017 preseason as the fastest rider, completing his domination of testing. The Movistar Yamaha rider ended just seven hundredths of a second ahead of Andrea Dovizioso on the factory Ducati. Dani Pedrosa was third fastest, putting in a quick lap at the end of the test, and finishing another seven hundredths behind Dovizioso.
Jorge Lorenzo was fourth fastest, ahead of Alvaro Bautista and Valentino Rossi. Scott Redding put in a quick lap late in the test to end in seventh spot, just ahead of Jonas Folger. Cal Crutchlow was ninth quickest, while Johann Zarco rounds out the top ten. Marc Marquez did not make it into the top ten, crashing three times on Sunday evening.
Bradley Smith showed the most improvement over the three days, gaining 2.4 seconds between Friday and Sunday. Dani Pedrosa and Alvaro Bautista cut 1.4 seconds off their slowest times. The Movistar Yamaha riders Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi improved by nine tenths of a second, while Jorge Lorenzo was nearly 1.1 seconds quicker.
Combined times over all three days:
| Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.330 | ||
| 2 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati GP17 | 1:54.401 | 0.071 | 0.071 |
| 3 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda RC213V | 1:54.469 | 0.139 | 0.068 |
| 4 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati GP17 | 1:54.519 | 0.189 | 0.050 |
| 5 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati GP16 | 1:54.714 | 0.384 | 0.195 |
| 6 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.732 | 0.402 | 0.018 |
| 7 | 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati GP16 | 1:54.750 | 0.420 | 0.018 |
| 8 | 94 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.807 | 0.477 | 0.057 |
| 9 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda RC213V | 1:54.821 | 0.491 | 0.014 |
| 10 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.900 | 0.570 | 0.079 |
| 11 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda RC213V | 1:54.990 | 0.660 | 0.090 |
| 12 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:55.121 | 0.791 | 0.131 |
| 13 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:55.284 | 0.954 | 0.163 |
| 14 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati GP15 | 1:55.333 | 1.003 | 0.049 |
| 15 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:55.362 | 1.032 | 0.029 |
| 16 | 43 | Jack Miller | Honda RC213V | 1:55.455 | 1.125 | 0.093 |
| 17 | 76 | Loris Baz | Ducati GP15 | 1:55.539 | 1.209 | 0.084 |
| 18 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati GP17 | 1:55.556 | 1.226 | 0.017 |
| 19 | 22 | Sam Lowes | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:56.167 | 1.837 | 0.611 |
| 20 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda RC213V | 1:56.214 | 1.884 | 0.047 |
| 21 | 38 | Bradley Smith | KTM RC16 | 1:56.351 | 2.021 | 0.137 |
| 22 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM RC16 | 1:56.471 | 2.141 | 0.120 |
| 23 | 36 | Mika Kallio | KTM RC16 | 1:56.891 | 2.561 | 0.420 |
Times for all three days, ranked by improvement during test:
| No | Rider | Bike | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Overall | Improvement |
| 38 | Bradley Smith | KTM RC16 | 1:58.755 | 1:57.267 | 1:56.351 | 1:56.351 | 2.404 |
| 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda RC213V | 1:55.692 | 1:55.875 | 1:54.469 | 1:54.469 | 1.406 |
| 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati GP16 | 1:56.116 | 1:55.245 | 1:54.714 | 1:54.714 | 1.402 |
| 45 | Scott Redding | Ducati GP16 | 1:56.085 | 1:55.353 | 1:54.750 | 1:54.750 | 1.335 |
| 53 | Tito Rabat | Honda RC213V | 1:57.455 | 1:56.214 | 1:56.294 | 1:56.214 | 1.241 |
| 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:56.589 | 1:56.110 | 1:55.362 | 1:55.362 | 1.227 |
| 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati GP17 | 1:54.819 | 1:55.583 | 1:54.401 | 1:54.401 | 1.182 |
| 36 | Mika Kallio | KTM RC16 | 1:58.039 | 1:57.688 | 1:56.891 | 1:56.891 | 1.148 |
| 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati GP17 | 1:55.616 | 1:55.344 | 1:54.519 | 1:54.519 | 1.097 |
| 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha M1 | 1:55.679 | 1:54.732 | 1:55.185 | 1:54.732 | 0.947 |
| 22 | Sam Lowes | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:57.090 | 1:56.276 | 1:56.167 | 1:56.167 | 0.923 |
| 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda RC213V | 1:55.899 | 1:55.196 | 1:54.990 | 1:54.990 | 0.909 |
| 25 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha M1 | 1:55.179 | 1:54.455 | 1:54.330 | 1:54.330 | 0.849 |
| 94 | Jonas Folger | Yamaha M1 | 1:55.640 | 1:54.917 | 1:54.807 | 1:54.807 | 0.833 |
| 5 | Johann Zarco | Yamaha M1 | 1:55.705 | 1:55.354 | 1:54.900 | 1:54.900 | 0.805 |
| 43 | Jack Miller | Honda RC213V | 1:56.017 | 1:56.251 | 1:55.455 | 1:55.455 | 0.796 |
| 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:55.916 | 1:55.121 | 1:55.451 | 1:55.121 | 0.795 |
| 76 | Loris Baz | Ducati GP15 | 1:56.193 | 1:55.808 | 1:55.539 | 1:55.539 | 0.654 |
| 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda RC213V | 1:55.420 | 1:55.032 | 1:54.821 | 1:54.821 | 0.599 |
| 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:55.751 | 1:55.545 | 1:55.284 | 1:55.284 | 0.467 |
| 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati GP15 | 1:55.613 | 1:55.420 | 1:55.333 | 1:55.333 | 0.280 |
| 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati GP17 | 1:55.830 | 1:55.680 | 1:55.556 | 1:55.556 | 0.274 |
| 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM RC16 | 1:56.665 | 1:56.648 | 1:56.471 | 1:56.471 | 0.194 |
Comments
Smith, the workhorse
Smith must know that bike better than the back of his hand, by now. He tested so many things that I think, come racing time, his teammate, who seemed to have been there chasing a laptime every time he got on track, is not going to see where he went. Just check who the least improved rider was in this test.
To be fair, Pol was already
To be fair, Pol was already lapping roughly in the same times as Smith from the start. You may be the most improved rider, but if I start 5 seconds behind my teammate and then after 3 days I equal him, what does it actually mean?
Setup improvement
To me, if a rider starts a test 2.2sec in front of his teammate and ends it 0.2sec behind, having improved less than 0.2sec over three days of testing, said rider has a problem improving his setup. It reminds me of Eric Granado, from Brazil, who would start well on Friday but wouldn't improve his setup, therefore would keep nearly the same laptime over the weekend and move further and further down the order. We shall see.