A crash-filled final day in Qatar as the MotoGP World Championship conclude their pre-season testing, Lorenzo on top again.
MotoGP riders were given one last test session before the 2016 season begins on the 20th of March in Qatar. For many riders it was a difficult final day as they pushed for a fast lap, a number of falls occurring as a result.
After a slow start to the session with only Stefan Bradl venturing out in the opening hours, Valentino Rossi suffered his second fall at Turn 10 midway through the session. The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider was unhurt and was able to return to his box and resume testing.
Soon after Tito Rabat suffered a fall at Turn 6, the rider unhurt. Later in the evening the Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS man suffered another fall, again unhurt. Both Aleix Espargaro and Loris Baz fell with over two hours remaining, Espargaro‰Ûªs a fast off at Turn 3. Neither rider was injured. There were further falls for Hector Barbera and Cal Crutchlow, the latter heading to the Clinca Mobile for checks and was deemed fit.
But it was Jorge Lorenzo who led the field on the final day with a 1‰Ûª54.810, easily the fastest lap of the test. The current MotoGP World Champion was the lone rider down into the 1‰Ûª54s at the end of the three-day test and over half a second faster than his closest rivals. Not only was Lorenzo‰Ûªs one lap pace near untouchable, his race simulation was demonic with the majority of laps in the low 1‰Ûª56s and several in the 1‰Ûª55s, even towards the end. Few other riders managed a run of 22 consecutive laps, none able to touch Lorenzo‰Ûªs pace.
"It was a very positive day, because we improved our lap time a lot and we did a complete race simulation, that has been very good because I did a few laps in the 1'55s even with not the best front tyre," Lorenzo said.
"With the softer one, with which you could be much faster, we had some graining. This tyre will probably not be available in the race weekend, because Michelin is planning to change its tyre allocation to one tyre that's a little bit harder and one that's not so hard as the one I used for the simulation. With the intermediate tyre on the front I could have been even faster, so I'm happy with the fastest lap time and the simulation and we are ready to be competitive for the race."
