Jorge Lorenzo completed a clean sweep of fastest times at MotoGP’s Phillip Island tire test on Wednesday. The Yamaha rider’s 1m29.068s put him 0.39 second of second-placed Dani Pedrosa’s Honda to finish an encouraging week on top.
Lorenzo’s strong Phillip Island form came after a troubled Sepang test last week, in which he raged against the characteristics of the 2014 Bridgestone tires, feeling that they favored Honda. The Spaniard also managed a race simulation on Wednesday, while both he and Yamaha teammate Valentino Rossi – who was third on day three – tried a new fairing during the test.
Pedrosa attempted a race simulation but had to stop due to neck pain, which he put down to the recent intensive test schedule.
The Ducatis had issues, too, with a front-end mechanical problem interrupting Cal Crutchlow’s running and the illness that has hampered Andrea Dovizioso all week forcing him to park early.
Rain had been forecast for Wednesday, but ultimately only a brief shower intruded on proceedings.
There were two red flag stoppages, both for Moto2 rider Tito Rabat. Although the Marc VDS man showed great pace during the week, he ended it with a destroyed Kalex after his second shunt of the day. His teammate Mika Kallio had also crashed heavily on Monday.
The works Yamaha, Honda and Ducati teams will not now run again until the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix on March 20-23. The rest of the MotoGP field is testing at Losail from Friday to Sunday this week.
Pos Rider Team/Bike Time Gap Laps 1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 1m29.068s 55 2. Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m29.458s +0.390s 32 3. Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m29.554s +0.486s 56 4. Cal Crutchlow Ducati 1m29.606s +0.538s 39 5. Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m30.101s +1.033s 23 6. Tito Rabat Marc VDS Kalex 1m32.194s +3.126s 40* 7. Jordi Torres Aspar Suter 1m32.998s +3.930s 77* 8. Mika Kallio Marc VDS Kalex 1m33.149s +4.081s 61* 9. Nico Terol Aspar Suter 1m34.443s +5.375s 53* * Moto2
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