Submitted by David Emmett on
Maverick Viñales ended the final day of preseason testing for the MotoGP class as fastest, leading a Yamaha domination of the top of the timesheets. With Petronas Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo in second and Franco Morbidelli in sixth, and Viñales' Monster Energy Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi in fourth, all four Yamahas put in fast times at the end of the session.
The Repsol Honda team were the only spoilers in the Yamaha clean sweep, Marc Marquez ending as third fastest, Jorge Lorenzo as fifth fastest. Pol Espargaro impressed on the KTM, finishing in seventh, and improving his time from yesterday by seven tenths of a second. Takaaki Nakagami was eighth quickest on the LCR Honda, while Danilo Petrucci set the ninth best time on the factory Ducati. Petrucci did a full race simulation on the last day, putting in 23 laps, most of which in the mid 1'55s. Jack Miller rounds out the top ten.
Testing is now done, and the riders head home for a week, before returning to Qatar for the start of the season, with practice kicking off on 8th March at the Losail International Circuit.
Final times:
| Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
| 1 | 12 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.208 | ||
| 2 | 20 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.441 | 0.233 | 0.233 |
| 3 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda RC213V | 1:54.613 | 0.405 | 0.172 |
| 4 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.651 | 0.443 | 0.038 |
| 5 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda RC213V | 1:54.653 | 0.445 | 0.002 |
| 6 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.660 | 0.452 | 0.007 |
| 7 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM RC16 | 1:54.770 | 0.562 | 0.110 |
| 8 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda RC213V | 1:54.789 | 0.581 | 0.019 |
| 9 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati GP19 | 1:54.818 | 0.610 | 0.029 |
| 10 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati GP19 | 1:54.851 | 0.643 | 0.033 |
| 11 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:54.852 | 0.644 | 0.001 |
| 12 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki GSX-RR | 1:54.997 | 0.789 | 0.145 |
| 13 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati GP18 | 1:55.074 | 0.866 | 0.077 |
| 14 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Ducati GP18 | 1:55.229 | 1.021 | 0.155 |
| 15 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati GP19 | 1:55.233 | 1.025 | 0.004 |
| 16 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:55.343 | 1.135 | 0.110 |
| 17 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda RC213V | 1:55.690 | 1.482 | 0.347 |
| 18 | 88 | Miguel Oliveira | KTM RC16 | 1:55.773 | 1.565 | 0.083 |
| 19 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:55.814 | 1.606 | 0.041 |
| 20 | 38 | Bradley Smith | Aprilia RS-GP | 1:56.072 | 1.864 | 0.258 |
| 21 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati GP18 | 1:56.121 | 1.913 | 0.049 |
| 22 | 5 | Johann Zarco | KTM RC16 | 1:56.162 | 1.954 | 0.041 |
| 23 | 55 | Hafizh Syahrin | KTM RC16 | 1:56.371 | 2.163 | 0.209 |
Circuit records and best time in testing:
| Year | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Event |
| 2018 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.029 | Qatar Test |
| 2018 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Yamaha M1 | 1:53.680 | Qualifying |
| 2016 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha M1 | 1:54.927 | Race |
Comments
What’s going on?!
It’s seems that on their day virtually everyone has the chance of a good result. Funny how, when the wick was really turned up the Suzuki’s faded, or are they happy with their race pace? I’m not a fanboy of anyone but did say from the Valencia test onwards how Quartararo was impressing me; he still is! I’m sure Mr Emmett will bring his cool analytical gaze to proceedings soon and calm my confused mind..