FIM MotoGP World Championship

Losail International Circuit

Doha, Qatar

March 15, 2015

Day Two Test Times (all on Bridgestones):

1. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy (Duc GP15), 1:54.907

2. Marc Marquez, Spain (Hon RC213V), 1:55.091

3. Andrea Iannone, Italy (Duc GP15), 1:55.104

4. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain (Yam YZR-M1), 1:55.500

5. Valentino Rossi, Italy (Yam YZR-M1), 1:55.581

6. Dani Pedrosa, Spain (Hon RC213V), 1:55.582

7. Cal Crutchlow, UK (Hon RC213V), 1:55.624

8. Bradley Smith, UK (Yam YZR-M1), 1:55.648

9. Pol Espargaro, Spain (Yam YZR-M1), 1:55.658

10. Karel Abraham, Czech Republic (Hon RC213V-RS), 1:55.765

11. Yonny Hernandez, Colombia (Duc GP14), 1:55.772

12. Aleix Espargaro, Spain (Suz GSX-RR), 1:55.795

13. Scott Redding, UK (Hon RC213V), 1:55.803

14. Maverick Vinales, Spain (Suz GSX-RR), 1:55.810

15. Hector Barbera, Spain (Duc GP14), 1:56.058

16. Nicky Hayden, USA (Hon RC213V-RS), 1:56.104

17. Mike Di Meglio, France (Duc GP14), 1:56.259

18. Eugene Laverty, Ireland (Hon RC213V-RS), 1:56.342

19. Michele Pirro, Italy (Duc), 1:56.476*

20. Stefan Bradl, Germany (Forward Yamaha), 1:56.724

21. Jack Miller, Australia (Hon RC213V-RS), 1:56.758

22. Danilo Petrucci, Italy (Duc GP14), 1:56.762

23. Loris Baz, France (Forward Yamaha), 1:56.936

24. Alvaro Bautista, Spain (Apr RS-GP), 1:57.273

25. Alex De Angelis, San Marino (ART-Aprilia), 1:57.390

26. Marco Melandri, Italy (Apr RS-GP), 1:57.982

* = test rider

More, from a press release issued by Dorna:

Overcast conditions greeted the teams as they arrived at the 5.4 km circuit in Losail, with most riders preferring to wait until the floodlights came on before heading out on track.

The dust on the circuit that had affected riders yesterday seemed to not be such an issue today thanks to all of the on-track activity, and it didn’t take long for Marc Marquez to lay down a marker early on in proceedings by setting a time faster than anyone had managed on day one.

Marquez traded fastest laps with the Ducati’s of Andrea Iannone and Andrea Dovizioso throughout the day, but it was the GP15 of Dovizioso that eventually claimed the top spot with a 1’54.907 as the evening wore on.

Not only was this the quickest time of the test so far, but it was 0.2s faster than Casey Stoner’s circuit record set in 2008, and he was the only rider to break the 1’55 mark.

The Ducati Team had brought a new exhaust for its riders to test and we also saw the reappearance of “winglets” on the Desmosedici for the first time since 2010. The Italian manufacturer just missed out on another 1-2, with Iannone finishing in third just 0.197s back from his teammate and only 0.013s behind the 2nd placed Marquez.

The reigning MotoGP™ Champion led the timesheets for most of the day on his Repsol Honda but had to settle for second place, 0.184s behind Dovizioso, with his teammate Dani Pedrosa in 6th on the other factory Repsol Honda. Marquez had been searching for his ideal race setup while Pedrosa evaluated a new set of front forks on his RC213V.

After a difficult first day of testing, where both riders complained of not getting a “good feeling” around the Losail circuit, Movistar Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo improved his time from day one by 3 tenths and finished in fourth place. His teammate Valentino Rossi set his quickest lap late on in the evening, improving by almost half a second from yesterday, and finishing in 5th (+0.674) just one-thousandth of a second faster than the Honda of Pedrosa.

Cal Crutchlow was once again the leading satellite rider and managed another impressive showing on his CWM LCR Honda as he ended the day in 7th (+0.717s), setting his best time late on, despite an earlier crash. His teammate, class rookie Jack Miller managed to improve today by almost half a second to finish in 21st place (+1.851).

In 8th place, just 0.024s behind his compatriot Crutchlow, was Bradley Smith on his Monster Tech 3 Yamaha. The British rider tried out a different swingarm as he once again outperformed his teammate Pol Espargaro in 9th, even if it was by just one-hundredth of a second.

Karel Abraham improved his best time from day one by almost a second to once again be the leading Open class rider, setting a 1’55.765, good enough for 10th place and just 0.674s behind Marquez.

Yonny Hernandez finished in 11th on the Pramac Ducati, almost a second quicker than his teammate Danilo Petrucci, as he continues to regain his confidence following his recovery from a shoulder injury.

The Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR’s of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales were 12th and 14th respectively, with both riders struggling to improve on their times from day one as they continued work on the setup of their ECU.

Scott Redding on the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Racing Honda again finished within a second of the leader in 13th place (+0.896s) as he was one of the busiest guys out on track completing over 50 laps. He was also one of the only riders to complete a full race simulation as he managed a 16-lap stint late on in the day.

The Avintia Racing Ducati of Hector Barbera was in 15th place, with Nicky Hayden on the Open class Drive M7 Aspar RC213V-RS in sixteenth. The American’s teammate Eugene Laverty was a further 0.238s back in 18th ahead with the Avintia Racing Ducati of Mike De Meglio between them.

Stefan Bradl crashed early on, but was unhurt as he ended the day in 20th ahead of the Pramac Ducati of Danilo Petrucci and his Athinà Forward Racing teammate Loris Baz in 23rd (+2.029s).

Octo Ioda Racing’s Alex De Angelis on the open class ART bike separated the two factory Aprilia Racing Team Gresini RS-GP’s of Alvaro Bautista (24th) and Marco Melandri (26th) respectively at the bottom of the timesheets.

Testing resumes Monday at 16:00 local time.

More, from a press release issued by Marc VDS Racing Team:

Further improvements for Redding in Qatar

Losail, Qatar – 15 March 2015: Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS rider, Scott Redding, enjoyed another productive day in Qatar, improving his lap time by more than three tenths to once again finish within a second of the fastest time of the day.

Redding spent the early part of today’s test evaluating how changes to set up and his riding style impacted on lap times at the 5.38km Losail International Circuit, before moving on to do a race simulation later in the evening.

The 22-year-old Briton posted his fastest lap in the penultimate hour of today’s test, with his time of 1’55.803 putting him 13th on the timesheet but just 0.896s off the time of Andrea Dovizioso as the final session drew to a close.

Redding is confident of making further improvements tomorrow, when he returns to the Losail International Circuit for the third and final day of testing.

Scott Redding – 13th – 1’55.803

“We made another step forward today and we’re a little bit closer to the front runners; not the Ducatis, but certainly to the other Hondas. This was our target, to bring the gap down, so I’m pretty happy with that. We also did a longer run today; we don’t quite have the lap time to do a blistering race pace just yet, but we did get to check a couple of things, like tyre endurance, riding style and fuel consumption. The long run was done on the softer option tyre and, now we’re going a bit faster, the tyre is starting to work better for me. Overall it’s been another productive day.”

Chris Pike: Chief Engineer

“We’re making progress and that can be seen on the timesheet. The Ducati may have gone a bit faster today, but we’ve closed the gap to Marc Marquez and the other Hondas, which is a step forward for us. The changes we made to the bike today brought positive comments from Scott and we’re now finding a decent base set up. Tomorrow we’ll continue working in the same way and I’m confident we can improve further.”

More, from a press release issued by Pramac Racing:

Qatar Test, Day 2. Hernandez with confidence ends up 11°. Petrucci works on race pace

The second testing day in Qatar ends up with positive indications for the riders of the Pramac Racing Team.

Yonny Hernandez confirmed the progress shown in the first test day pushing hard from the start and setting after 13 laps a laptime of 1: 55 772 that allowed him to close 11th, just two tenths away from the fourth position of Jorge Lorenzo. His physical conditions are getting better and better as he seems to have almost completely recovered from the shoulder. At the same time even the feeling between the Colombian rider and the Desmosedici GP14.2 is growing day by day.

Danilo Petrucci worked hard throughout the whole session to regain confidence after the two crashes on Saturday. The rider from Terni got focused on the race pace without thinking about the performance over one lap and finished with a time of 1:56,762 running with a good rhytm during the 32 laps he managed to complete.

Qatar Test, Day 2. Hernandez with confidence ends up 11°. Petrucci works on race pace

Yonny Hernandez – Pramac Racing # 68-11 ° (1: 55 772, 33 laps)

“For sure it was a good testing day. I immediately found a good feeling with the bike. I can only thank the team that put me in the position to gain so much confidence to push hard. We have worked a lot with the hard tyres since the first Gp here in Qatar is now very close. I only did a few laps with the soft tyre and the laptime was almost the same. Due to the humidity I preferred to end up the session a bit in advance to avoid the risk of crashes in view of the last day of testing. I feel much better than in Malaysia. Tomorrow I will try to further improve not only my laptime but the especially the race pace”.

Danilo Petrucci – Pramac Racing # 9 – 22 ° (1:56,762, 32 laps)

“My first goal was to regain confidence after the crashes in the first testing day. That’s why i’m quite satisfied. We worked a lot on race pace, without trying any time attack as we decided not to use the soft tires. All in all it was a positive session even if in my last exit I had to face some problems with the new tyre: I felt something was going wrong and the data confirmed this sensation. The lap time and the pace are not bad but the timesheet can’t satisfy me. The two crashes of yesterday have perhaps left their sign. I have an other intense testing day to improve the race pace and i want to exploit any lap on the track”.

More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda:

Marquez 2nd and Pedrosa 6th on day two in Qatar

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa have completed a productive second day at the Qatar pre-season test.

With more rubber laid down after yesterday’s action, track conditions improved today and the final times were very close with less than a second separating 1st and 14th. Marc spent the day working on general setup on his RC213V machine and Dani tested a new front fork as well as various other settings.

The top time was traded amongst a few riders and despite breaking the circuit lap record with his time of 1’55.091 on lap 27 of 54 (beating Stoner’s time from 2008 of 1’55.153), Marc had to settle for the 2nd spot on the timing sheets behind Dovizioso. Teammate Dani finished in 6th place with his time of 1’55.582 (lap 22 of 40).

The test concludes tomorrow and will signal the end of the 2015 pre-season.

Marc Marquez

2ND 1’55.091 (54 LAPS)

“I’m happy that we improved our fastest lap, but above all I’m pleased with our overall pace, which is the most important thing. We have also gained confidence with the front end – thanks to a change to the geometry – which was something we had been finding difficult at this circuit. Tomorrow we will continue our programme, focusing on the rear in order to see if we can find more grip, but the overall verdict is positive so far and I feel confident.”

Dani Pedrosa

6TH 1’55.582 (40 LAPS)

“Today we were able to improve our pace, put in some good laps and be more consistent, which is positive. We also worked on the front end of the bike with a new fork, trying to improve the feeling and corner entry. Tomorrow we will work on the rear, to see if we can find a bit more grip. That is an important factor at this track, because you spent a lot of time leaned over and I’m sure that any improvement would be notable.”

More, from a press release issued by Aprilia:

SECOND DAY OF MOTOGP TESTS AT LOSAIL (QATAR)

Losail (Qatar), 15 March 2015 – The second day of testing on the Losail circuit marks a milestone in the growth process for the Aprilia RS-GP.

After the autumn tests in Valencia and Jerez and the two test sessions in Malaysia, Bautista and Melandri, the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders, chose which version will be the one to make its début in the MotoGP world championship.

Both Melandri and Bautista dedicated the day to developing solutions that will be taken to the races in two weeks when – on 29 March – the circuit just outside of Doha will host the first act of the 2015 season with night races.

Alvaro made a clear improvement, lapping with a time of 1.57,273, more than a second less than his time of 1.58,459 yesterday. Marco Melandri suffered the consequences of a pesky flu again today, significantly compromising his work. In the end Bautista put in 46 laps and Melandri 23 with a best time of 1.57,982, which is also progress compared to his time of 1,58.990 the day before.

ROMANO ALBESIANO (Aprilia Racing Manager)

“We have now defined a version that we worked on all day. It is, as would be expected, a combination of the various RS-GP versions that we’ve tested on the track thus far. Tomorrow we’ll pick up where we left off. For Alvaro it’s a question of reacquiring the good feeling he had in Sepang, whereas for Marco, although hampered by poor health conditions, closed the gap behind the front runners. Now we have a lot of work ahead of us on the setup, especially in terms of managing the engine brake, electronics strategies and the chassis. On the other hand, I’m quite pleased with our progress session after session in terms of reliability. We need time and a lot of work and that is exactly why we are here.”

FAUSTO GRESINI (Team Manager)

“What we need to do is simply continue working hard with the riders and stay united as a team in order to achieve a common goal, which is to improve constantly throughout the entire season. There is a lot to be done, but it is quite normal and we have always been well aware of that. These tests are very important for defining a base to use in the first Grand Prix, although we know that there will always be changes at each round.”

ALVARO BAUTISTA

“Today we focused on the base that we selected for the first Grand Prix, trying various solutions in terms of chassis geometry in order to try and improve corner entry and my feeling with the front end. We need to eliminate some vibrations in mid turn that keep me from holding a good line. This track definitely has less grip than Sepang, but we still have a day left to work and we’ll try to take the best possible advantage of it to gather as much information as possible so the racing department can work in view of the first race.”

MARCO MELANDRI

“We improved a bit today but we need to do better, especially on corner entry and getting the bike to close the line on the exit opening up the throttle. Unfortunately I still had a cough when I got to Qatar and I’m having trouble breathing, but today I’m a bit better than yesterday. I’m still short on energy but tomorrow I’m confident that I’ll be a little stronger for the last session.”

More, from a press release issued by Movistar Yamaha:

Positive Second Day of Testing in Qatar for Movistar Yamaha MotoGP

Losail International Circuit (Qatar), 15th March 2015

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi completed the second night of preseason testing at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar this evening, finishing in fourth and fifth place respectively.

Beating the crowd, Jorge Lorenzo was one of the first riders to leave the pits and face the slippery circuit. Though today’s conditions were cool and overcast the competition soon heated up when he was joined by the rest of the field. Lorenzo positioned himself as a key protagonist with a 1’55.500s lap and slotted into second place in the time standings. He spent the remaining time of the session concentrating on a race set-up and finished the day in fourth place, +0.593s from the front.

Teammate Rossi followed the trend and waited until just after 6pm to hit the track. He continued working on the technical setup of his YZR-M1 and posted a 1’55.983s lap. As the day progressed so did his feeling with the bike and he was able to improve his time to 1’55.581s and take fifth position in the standings, +0.674s from the front, directly behind his teammate.

With today’s progress, Lorenzo and Rossi also hold fourth and fifth place respectively in the combined session time sheets.

Jorge Lorenzo

4th / 1’55.500 / 51 laps

“It was another difficult day. The conditions of the track improved not a lot, but a little bit. Even though we improved the feeling with the bike a little, we are still far from the fastest time. We tried many things, but everyone else made a bigger step in their work, so let’s see what happens tomorrow. We’ve found something important and we’ll also do a long-distance run to see how the bike works.”

Valentino Rossi

5th / 1’55.581 / 61 laps

“It was a difficult day for me, because we tried to work a lot on the setting of the bike to improve and to be faster, but we didn’t get the improvement we expected. I was in a difficult situation, but fortunately in the last hour we modified something. We did a step back and went a different way. The last part of the test was good, because I was fast with both the hard and the soft tyre and I was able to improve my position so I’m in the top five, but especially I was able to improve my pace and stay in the 1’55’s so at the end it was not so bad. We have to continue working for tomorrow and try to fix as much as possible for the weekend of the race. We have some other things to try; some different parts, settings and we have to decide on the tyres. It looks like today was hard work, a lot of laps, a lot of effort, but at the end it was a good day. We did good work and we found something good at the end.”

Massimo Meregalli

Team Director

“It has been a very busy day today for the team and the riders. On Jorge’s side they focused on electronic adjustments and settings and on Vale’s side they focused on mechanical settings. It’s definitely been a better day than yesterday. Jorge’s crew made an important learning that they need to test on a long run and in Vale’s last run he was able to get back some extra feeling and confidence and was able to provide some extra info that will help us to find more solutions. We still have some work to do to find half a second to close the gap but we are making progress in the right direction and have both riders further up the timesheets. We are confident that for tomorrow’s session when there is more rubber on the tarmac we will be able to close the gap even further.”

More, from a press release issued by Ducati Corse:

Ducati Team riders continue their positive progress in Qatar: Dovizioso 1st and Iannone 3rd at the end of second day of testing at Losail.

Day 2 of pre-season IRTA testing at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar again proved to be positive for the Ducati Team, as both Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone continued with set-up work on their Desmosedici GP15 bikes, always using the hardest compound tyres available for the Italian squad.

From his eighteenth lap onwards, Dovizioso, who was constantly up at the front throughout today’s session, also experimented with a fairing that sported two aerodynamic carbon winglets, and it was on this GP15 “with wings” that he set his best time of the day in 1’54.907 on lap 33, guaranteeing him the top slot at the end of the day.

His team-mate Iannone also lapped at a good pace throughout and he set his best time on lap 16 in 1’55.104, finishing the day in third place just 13/1000ths of a second from Marquez.

Michele Pirro, test-rider for the Ducati Test Team, continued with valuable development work, testing various chassis solutions on his Desmosedici GP14.3. The rider from Puglia completed a total of 32 laps, the best of which in 1’56.476, to end day 2 of testing in nineteenth position.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team #04) – 1’54.907 (1st), 38 laps

“I am very pleased with my time today: we worked really well and always used the hard tyre, just like yesterday. I am also happy from the point of view of our speed because we are able to be very competitive both with used tyres and with new ones. We still have to improve certain aspects, like stability under braking, and in the first part of acceleration the bike still moves a bit too much, but as for our lap speed we are at a good point. Now we’re working on fine-tuning and on race distance, because on this track the drop in tyre performance is very significant.”

Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team #29) – 1’55.104 (3rd), 46 laps

“I am very happy with the way today went, for sure it was a positive session because I improved my best time by a little bit but above all we concentrated on race pace to try and improve this aspect, which for us until the end of last year was a bit critical. We obtained a lot of useful indications, especially from the point of view of the electronics and tomorrow we will also try and do an entire simulation over race distance.”

More, from a press release issued by CWM LCR Honda:

CRUTCHLOW IMPROVES DESPITE MINOR CRASH

This Sunday evening marked the penultimate test session of the pre-season for the entire MotoGP World Championship field, including the CWM LCR Honda Team and its two new riders.

Under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit, just on the outskirts of the Qatari capital of Doha, Cal Crutchlow improved his best lap time towards the end of the session, bringing a positive end to a session which had earlier seen him suffer a small crash.

The British hopeful endured a small ‘lowside’ at turn two of the desert track, tucking the front wheel after entering the corner just slightly too hot on the brakes of his factory spec. Honda RC213V. Despite the setback Crutchlow was thankfully uninjured, and the hardy 29 year-old even dusted himself down to clock a 1’55.624, and once more set the pace as top ‘satellite’ rider in seventh place.

Tomorrow at Losail sees the final day of pre-season testing before the MotoGP World Championship proper begins with the first free practice session on Thursday March 26th.

Cal Crutchlow #35, 1’55.624 (lap 40 of 42)

“It was a more disappointing day today, simply because we struggled to turn the bike a fair bit. Overall, I wasn’t taking too many risks, and felt quite comfortable and confident we could go a lot faster if required, but then just as we really started to work with the bike and get the setting sorted, I made a mistake and crashed at turn two. It was completely my own fault. I braked a little too late, got onto the dirty part of the track and then crashed, so we lost some time, some laps, and a set of tyres too.”

“It all means the longer runs we were planning to do today, we will have to do tomorrow now, but I was still fairly pleased as I was able to go out and go quite a bit faster at the end of the evening despite making a few errors on the lap. There is room for improvement there definitely, but we will need to work hard tomorrow. What I can say is that myself and the whole of the CWM LCR Honda Team are looking forward to that final day of testing before the championship begins.”

More, from another press release issued by CWM LCR Honda:

MORE STEPS FORWARD FOR MILLER IN QATAR

This Sunday evening marked the penultimate test session of the pre-season for the entire MotoGP World Championship field, including the CWM LCR Honda Team and its two new riders.

Under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit, just on the outskirts of the Qatari capital of Doha, Jack Miller continued his adaptation to the open spec. Honda RC213V-RS he campaigns this season for the first time in MotoGP.

In terms of lap-time the Australian knocked another half a second off his best from Saturday’s first night of testing, and was even closer than he had been to the fastest rider of the night, which tonight was Andrea Dovizioso.

Miller eventually ended up as the 21st fastest rider of the day with a best of 1’56.758, just 1.851 seconds behind Dovizioso, and admitted that he is feeling happier with every single lap he takes on board his new machine.

Jack Miller #43, 1’56.758 (lap 47 of 50)

“I’m very happy with today, and although it’s not quite what I want just yet, we still made some more improvements and got that bit closer to the front once again. I also made the lap time all alone, which is a positive for me and honestly a real boost.”

“I’m feeling really good on the hard tyre, even when it’s got full race distance on it. That’s why I’m looking forward to the race simulation we will try tomorrow and also trying to put in some faster laps in the early stages tomorrow when the track is perhaps at its best.”

More, from a press release issued by Team Suzuki Press Office:

HARD WORK FOR TEAM SUZUKI ECSTAR IN QATAR 2ND DAY

The second day of testing on the Losail International Circuit at Qatar today saw Team SUZUKI ECSTAR very busy trying several improvements to find the best direction to move forward tomorrow.

The final classification of today’s session saw 14 riders within less-than-a-second of each other, with both Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales inside this group; meaning that the team’s development-plan is producing good results.

Both Team SUZUKI ECSTAR factory riders spent the day working mainly with hard tyres on their GSX-RRs in order to define the most competitive set-up to be used in the upcoming GP of Qatar in two weeks’ time.

Espargaro struggled to find good confidence with today’s set-up and couldn’t improve yesterday’s lap-time, closing the day in 12th position with 1:55.795, which was set in his 22nd of 33-laps.

Viñales continued with consistent improvements, and in his 31st of 42-laps, recorded 14th place with 1:55.810, more than three-tenths-of-a-second better than the first day.

Davide Brivio – Team Manager:

“It’s been a very intense day today, we only have one-more session before the official GP weekend, therefore both the crews focused on testing different configurations of the two GSX-RRs to collect data and find the most effective ones. Aleix worked to find some more grip but he struggled, again he tested some improvements in electronics – some worked while some others didn’t – so the team has data to work on and will continue the work tomorrow.

“Maverick had to find his confidence back after the two crashes he had yesterday and he had a positive day. The positions in classification are not as good as yesterday, but there is a leading-group within less-than-a-second and we are in it again with the top riders.”

Aleix Espargaro:

“Today I struggled to find a good feeling with the rear tyre. We tested different steps in electronics but we weren’t as effective as we expected. I still believe that the hard tyre is better than the soft one; there is not a big difference in terms of lap times but of course the soft gets worn pretty quickly. At the same time, today I didn’t feel confident with the hard, we tried to improve our performance but at the end of the day we saw that it got worst, so for tomorrow we will try some different configurations of the bike’s geometry, set-up and also electronics. We have still room for improvement with the traction control. It will be the last day of testing so we will also try a race simulation, but beforehand we have to fix the traction and grip problems we encountered today.”

Maverick Viñales:

“Today we really worked step-by-step, I wanted to keep calm and not to repeat the mistakes I did yesterday. My best lap is not so good because I had some issues with the front when we tried the soft tyre, but our main focus today was to test the hard tyre intensively which will be used in the race. We made many small changes to the bike to see its reactions and I also focused on refining my riding skills. The electronics are giving us a lot of indications and we have a new direction to look at. I’m pretty confident that tomorrow we will make a big-step forward and improve a lot.”

More, from a press release issued by Drive M7 Aspar Team:

DRIVE M7 Aspar pair make strong progress on second day of Losail test

Nicky Hayden improves by almost a second from yesterday, Eugene Laverty by more than a second, as both riders cut the gap to the top

The second night of testing at Losail took place today, with just one more night tomorrow evening for the MotoGP teams and riders to complete their preparations for the 2015 season. Similar conditions continued from yesterday, with the track again open from four to eleven, althoughmost riders waited until sunset before heading out onto the track. The Ducati riders continue to surprise in Qatar and whilst Andrea Iannone was fastest yesterday, today was the turn of his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso with a time just inside the circuit record (1.55.153, Casey Stoner, 2008). After a Honda / Yamaha duopoly in recent seasons, it looks like the Italian factory will have a say in some races this year. Equally positive is the fact that the first fourteen riders were separated by less than a second, showing how close the premier class promises to be in 2015.

This second day in Qatar has been tremendously positive for DRIVE M7 Aspar riders Nicky Hayden and Eugene Laverty, who have gained confidence and significantly lowered their lap times. Both Hayden and Laverty have worked on the geometry of their Honda for stability, and have also done some electronics testing. The American improved by almost a second from yesterday, lapping a little more than a second off the best time of the day, which is a narrow margin considering the length of the Losail circuit. Similarly Eugene improved by over a second from yesterday, also with excellent feeling on board his machine. Tomorrow they will continue working in the same direction in order to be completely ready for the first race of the new season.

Nicky Hayden 1.56.104 (44 laps) “The conditions were quite stable today and we could find a couple of improvements. Our times have dropped considerably. Our consistency, feeling… everything has been noticeably better, the team has done a great job. In some areas the feeling with the bike has really improved. We varied the geometry and the changes have been successful. We are preparing for the first race and today we have taken a big step forward. To finish 1.1 seconds back at a circuit where you need about two minutes a lap, is not a big difference, so it is a good result. We’re seeing that this year in MotoGP it’s going to be very tight and interesting. I hope we can take another big step tomorrow and finish strong. Tomorrow we will try to eliminate some chatter in the fast corners. We have a lot of data, so try to learn from that and keep improving.”

Eugene Laverty 1.56.342 (54 laps): “The bike works much better here than in Sepang, so yesterday I only had to adapt myself to the circuit without making major changes. Our work, both yesterday and today, has focused on the chassis to find the best possible balance. We have also done some electronics testing, but we still have things to do tomorrow. I’m happy with my feeling and also because today we could go faster than yesterday and set some positive lap times. I’m happy with this bike, it is stable and the tyre gives me confidence and allows me to brake hard. I hope tomorrow we can still improve a little more to finish the test on a high.”

More, from a press release issued by Athina Forward Racing:

Stefan Bradl unharmed after crashing in Qatar

Today’s testing session at the Losail track ended prematurely for Stefan Bradl due to a bad crash, luckily without consequences. The German, who had just got on the tarmac suffered a violent impact on the ground and was taken to the Medical Center of the circuit. After the doctors had excluded any possible complication, he was brought to the Clinica Mobile where he remained under observation for a while before deciding not to let him go back on track and complete the today’s test session. Bradl will almost certainly be on track tomorrow to try to make the most of the last day of testing.

It was a full day for his teammate Loris Baz who completed 40 laps with a personal best of 1.56.936. The Frenchman continued his work program in view of the season premiere, he remained focused on race pace and he tried several new solutions.

Stefan Bradl

“Until now it has been a very difficult test for us. Yesterday I was not 100% fit because of an intestinal problem and I was forced to stop. Today I felt better and I wanted to complete the program we had but I crashed heavily. I hit my head and, as a precaution, I was taken first to the circuit Medical Center and then to the Clinica Mobile. Luckily I’m fine, but I decided not to get back on the track and rest to be ready for the final day of testing”.

Loris Baz

“I am quite satisfied with the work done today. Our goal was to improve the lap time and from the beginning I was faster than yesterday. Towards the end of the test we tried a race simulation: it was the first time for me riding this bike, but the feeling is positive. I shortened a little the gap with the top guys and this is pretty good for us. We stay focused for tomorrow, I can still improve my laptime”.

More, from a press release issued by Monster Yamaha Tech 3:

Tech3 pair climb up the field on day 2 in Qatar

Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team rider Bradley Smith showed his determination to finish in 8th position on the second day of testing at the final pre season outing. The young British rider dug deep throughout the session under the floodlights to post a top time of 1’55.648 after completing a total of 49 laps around the Losail International circuit. His result left him fractionally behind 4th position with a gap of just 0.148 as he continued to improve by cutting his lap time by three tenths of a second. This leaves the 23-year-old rider fully charged and primed to resume his performance tomorrow in the final day of testing.

Meanwhile Pol Espargaro shot to 9th position after a rapid run in the desert, leaving him with a best time of 1’55.658, which was only 0.010 behind his teammate. The 2014 MotoGP rookie of the year successfully addressed the front end issues that he faced yesterday and completed a total of 46 laps, as he set his best time mid way through his day on the 29th lap. His leap in performance was illustrated by notably cutting a whole second from his time set yesterday. In addition, his result was a blink of an eye behind 5th position by a mere eight hundredths of a second, which leaves him confident for further progress tomorrow.

Bradley Smith

Position : 8thTime : 1’55.648Laps : 49

“We had a really busy day today as we had to work through a long check list that we were given by Yamaha and the task was to confirm different ideas, both positive as well as lesser ones. Sometimes when you do these kind of tests you feel as if you are losing some time, but actually it’s very important as you might discover a modification which may help in the future. I’m happy the pace was there today and I was able to improve my lap time from yesterday. I managed to save one set of tyres which will enable us to do a long run tomorrow as well as my practice sessions, so now I need a good rest and I will then go for it again. I believe my bike is 95% there, we may just need to improve the balance of the Yamaha a little bit in order to have even more corner speed which is our main strength, but all in all I’m pleased.”

Pol Espargaro

Position : 9thTime : 1’55.658 Laps : 46

“Today has been much more positive than yesterday because we were able to solve the issue with the front tyre which we were struggling with on day 1. In addition, we manage to work through our testing schedule where we evaluated several settings that we were not able to try at Sepang 2. As soon as we put in the second tyre option from Bridgestone at the beginning of the session, my confidence with the front of the bike improved a lot and the adjustments we made afterwards increased it even more. Later on, we worked mainly on electronic setups such as the anti wheelie and I’m really pleased with how the day went. Even though we didn’t concentrate on the lap time at all, it’s nice to see that the other Yamahas are less than two tenths away which means we did a good job today and I can’t wait to get back on the bike tomorrow afternoon.”