Now after an action packed Day 1, Valencia testing for the 2017 season reached its second and last day. And boy did the crashes continue! The last day of testing may have added to the tiredness of the recently concluded 2016 season but the action was certainly jam packed!
The bad news first! The crashes. Jack Miller, Marc Marquez, alex Rins and Andrea Iannone! With the latter two being serious ones. Yes, both the Suzuki riders lost the front. While the Italian was able to escape with bruises and a bandaged elbow, Rins, broke his T8 and T12 vertebrae! Team Suzuki will have a private testing session at Jerez, from Wednesday to Friday, deploying Andrea Iannone and Suzuki Test Team Rider Takuya Tsuda.
Vinales again topped the timesheets on the 2016 M1 with his 66th lap recording 1’29.975s. The nine time champion, Valentino Rossi posted a best of 1’30.709s on board the 2017 motorcycle. The Doctor preferred to spend his time on testing the new chassis and engine for the 2017 YZR-M1 rather than doing a time attack.
Honda’s Marquez finished the day 2nd despite not trying for a time attack. His timesheet ended at 1’30.171s. He did not even test the new Michelin fronts. Working on the 2017 engine, Marquez did not really enjoy the bike much and he still believes that Honda has much to do before the first race next year. Dani Pedrosa also rode the new bike to test how the tyres, suspension and mapping works in it. He finished fifth and refused to divulge more details about his outing.
KTM’s numbers though not impressive, were certainly consistent despite being very new in the pinnacle of motorcycle racing. The Austrian team, along with Suzuki, Ducati, Aprilia and Honda (tentative) will be at Jerez for a private test. Yamaha will have a private session in Sepang.
Dovizioso spent most of the day on the 2017 bike before shifting to the 2016 bike to compare the two motorcycles. He finished third with a best time of 1’30.443s. His new teammate Jorge Lorenzo spent a lot of time on the 2016 Desmosedici GP before switching to 2017 unit.
Here’s the full timesheet:
- 1. Maverick VIÑALES – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1’29.975
- 2. Marc MARQUEZ – Repsol Honda Team – 1’30.171 + 0.196
- 3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO – Ducati Team – 1’30.443 + 0.468
- 4. Andrea IANNONE – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1’30.599 + 0.624
- 5. Dani PEDROSA – Repsol Honda Team – 1’30.686 + 0.711
- 6. Cal CRUTCHLOW – LCR Honda – 1’30.709 + 0.734
- 7. Valentino ROSSI – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1’30.709 + 0.734
- 8. Jorge LORENZO – Ducati Team – 1’30.744 + 0.769
- 9. Aleix ESPARGARO – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 1’30.885 + 0.910
- 10. Jonas FOLGER – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1’30.948 + 0.973
- 11. Johann ZARCO – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1’31.015 + 1.040
- 12. Jack MILLER – Marc VDS Racing Team – 1’31.069 + 1.094
- 13. Scott REDDING – OCTO Pramac Yakhnich – 1’31.118 + 1.143
- 14. Alvaro BAUTISTA – Pull & Bear Aspar Team – 1’31.186 + 1.211
- 15. Hector BARBERA – Avintia Racing – 1’31.244 + 1.269
- 16. Michele PIRRO – OCTO Pramac Yakhnich – 1’31.816 +1.841
- 17. Pol ESPARGARO – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1:31.853 +1.878/ 70
- 18. Tito RABAT – EG 0,0 Marc VDS – 1:31.918 +1.943
- 19. Loris BAZ – Avintia Racing – 1:32.161 +2.186
- 20. Bradley SMITH – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1:32.538 +2.563/ 59
- 21. Eugene LAVERTY – Aprilia Test Team – 1:32.568 +2.593
- 22. Karel ABRAHAM – Pull & Bear Aspar Team – 1:32.699 +2.724
- 23. Takuya TSUDA – Suzuki Test Team – 1’33.305 +3.330
- 24. Alex RINS – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1’33.761 + 3.786
