MotoGP Qatar Test Day 4 Results: Vinales leads a Yamaha 1-2-3
Maverick Vinales headed the timesheets today in the fourth day of testing at Qatar as Yamaha lock out the top 3 positions.
Yamaha have been focusing on their race pace and qualifying times these past few days in Qatar with it becoming extremely evident today as Yamaha topped the session with Maverick Vinales, Fabio Quartararo then Franco Morbidelli in that order. Once again the circuit lap record was unofficially broken, this time with Maverick Vinales taking the honours in P1 with a time of 1:53.244 as his teammate Fabio Quartararo yet again broke the record, the 21-year old Frenchman showing some serious speed in Doha.
The official lap record is a time of 1’53.380 which was set by Marc Marquez in 2019, so far during testing this has been broken four times by three different riders namely Jack Miller, Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo twice. Vinales confirmed yesterday that he was working on his rhythm on the new Yamaha and is riding with a nice flow.
Franco Morbidelli continued to be the dark horse we have become accustomed to taking the P3 slot in the dying moments of the test today, the Italian rider also working on his race pace and consistency around the track which is normally favoured by Ducati.
Ducati? Did someone mention Ducati? Francesco Bagnaia thinks they did, Bagnaia posted a time worthy of P4 today as he continues to work with the new Ducati fairing which has been strongly praised by his teammate Jack Miller who has set the fastest testing lap time so far on Day 3 of 1:53.183, today Miller was able to take P11 overall but knows he has much more in reserve.
Bagnaia is making lots of progress on his GP21.
Aprilia are not slowing down, Aleix Espargaro once again finished within the top 6, finishing the test in P5 overall as he continues to work on the Aprilia’s reliability and how the bike adapts to the track. The Spanish rider is aiming to take Aprilia’s first podium in the premier class.
Suzuki once again put in a solid days work with their riders testing the 2022 engine, a new chassis and a new swingarm to try and improve the feeling and performance of the already impressive GSX-RR which was crowned the 2020 champion, Joan Mir and Alex Rins finished in P6 and P7 respectively and have not been concentrating a whole lot on fast laps.
Rins led Rossi, Zarco and Pol Espargaro with Espargaro opting out of a time attack at the end of the session, his teammate Stefan Bradl returned to testing after missing much of yesterdays test following on from some discomfort after a crash. Speaking of crashes, Alex Marquez suffered a broken fourth metacarpal on his right foot after crashing out and needing a taxi back from Iker Lecuona, it is unconfirmed if he will test tomorrow but has been quoted as saying, “If the doctor asks me to jump I will jump”.
Johann Zarco is also listed as having a top speed of 357.6km/h (222.20 mph) which would be a top speed record for the circuit.
Brad Binder was KTM’s fastest rider today in P16 ahead of Oliveira and Petrucci in P18 and P19 whilst Lecuona took a lonely P22. Binder has been suffering with some crashes during testing branding yesterdays test “shocking” but feels that KTM are working hard to improve it, the bike is struggling a lot around Qatar with Oliveira confirming that the KTM riders are having issues getting the Michelin front tyre into the range it needs to be able to perform.
The rookies are starting to show their colours as Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini place in P14 and P15 respectively, their times both within 1.300 of Vinales in P1 who is under the lap record as we know. Luca Marini is starting to find his feet after majorly struggling with the set up of his Ducati Desmosedici.
Tomorrow will be the final day of testing for MotoGP before Moto2 and Moto3 get a go in Qatar!
Full Results:
Featured images – Yamaha MotoGP (Vinales)
Ducati Media (Bagnaia)
