Qatar MotoGP testing: Dovi still out front

Andrea Dovizioso set the fastest time on day two of the MotoGP test in Qatar on March 15, with less than one-second separating the top 14 riders.

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

The dust on the racing line 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 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 sixth 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 0.3s and finished in fourth place. His teammate Valentino Rossi set his quickest lap late on in the evening, improving by almost 0.5s from yesterday, and finishing in fifth.

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 seventh (+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 (+1.851s).

“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," said Miller. "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.”

In eighth 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 ninth, even if it was by just 0.01s.

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.

The Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RRs 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.

Click here for the full testing results.