Pedrosa Faster Than Marquez At Final MotoGP Test

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by Press Release

Marquez also fell three times. Is he ready for the race in two weeks?

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Repsol Honda conclude final pre-season test in Qatar

Qatar (Monday, March 13th 2017) – The 2017 MotoGP pre-season came to an end today with the third and final night of testing in Qatar. The timesheets saw Dani Pedrosa ending in third place (1’54.469” on lap 46 of 50), with teammate Marc Marquez 10th (1’54.990” on lap 12 of 47).

Both of the Repsol Honda men spent a productive night completing their testing plans, which included electronics, aerodynamics and refinement of general race setup, with the focus on keeping a good race pace. Dani continued until almost the end of the session, further improving his lap time at the end.

Marc fell once very early in the session and twice after 9 p.m. with no consequences, but he had to abort his race simulation on his sixth lap in the mid-1’55” range.

Action will resume at the same track on Thursday, 23 March, with FP1 for the Grand Prix of Qatar, the opening race of the 2017 MotoGP Championship.

Dani Pedrosa
3RD 1’54.469
“I think today was a positive day in general. We had a few things to sort out from yesterday, and step-by-step we improved our feeling, the lap times and our rhythm in general. The improvement was general and even if we still have work to do, we gained confidence and this was a positive end to the pre-season. This track is not one of my favourites, but the team did a great job and things kept improving. We’re in better shape than last year and we’ll try to add this confidence to the motivation for the GP and to do our best at the first race.”

Marc Marquez
10TH 1’54.990
“I’m happy with the pace we were able to keep today but of course it hasn’t been the best test of the pre-season for us. I crashed three times, the first at the very beginning because the bike had a wobble at turn 4 and I braked late. Then later in the night I lost the front twice, and especially the last crash during my race simulation was my fault. But when you’re doing a long run you must try and push, otherwise you can’t understand where you really are. Anyway, better if this kind of thing happens now, during a test, and hopefully when we come here again for the race we’ll be able to manage things better. As I said, our rhythm is quite good; only Maverick [Viñales] is faster than everyone here, and if we were to race tomorrow I believe we should be able to fight for the podium.”

Results Day 3

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Time/Gap
1
VINALES
Maverick 25 SPA Yamaha Factory Racing Team 1’54.330
2
DOVIZIOSO
Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team 0.071
3
PEDROSA
Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team 0.139
4
LORENZO
Jorge 99 SPA Ducati Team 0.189
5
BAUTISTA
Alvaro 19 SPA Pull&Bear Aspar Team 0.384
6
REDDING
Scott 45 GBR Octo Pramac Racing 0.420
7
FOLGER
Jonas 94 GER Monster Yamaha Tech 3 0.477
8
CRUTCHLOW
Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda 0.491
9
ZARCO
Johann 5 FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 0.570
10
MARQUEZ
Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team 0.660
11
ROSSI
Valentino 46 ITA Yamaha Factory Racing Team 0.855
12
IANNONE
Andrea 29 ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar 0.954
13
ABRAHAM
Karel 17 CZE Pull&Bear Aspar Team 1.003
14
RINS
Alex 42 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar 1.032
15
ESPARGARO
Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1.121
16
MILLER
Jack 43 AUS Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS 1.125
17
BAZ
Loris 76 FRA Reale Avintia Racing 1.209
18
PETRUCCI
Danilo 9 ITA Octo Pramac Racing 1.226
19
LOWES
Sam 22 GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini 1.837
20
RABAT
Tito 53 SPA Team EG 0,0 Marc VDS 1.964
21
SMITH
Bradley 38 GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 2.021
22
ESPARGARO
Pol 44 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 2.141
23
KALLIO
Mika 36 FIN Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 2.561

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