Marquez fastest in Valencia post-season test

Marc Marquez has set the fastest lap as MotoGP’s post-season test at Valencia drew to a close.

Marquez and his Repsol Honda team-mate went one-two on Day 2, with Tech 3 Yamaha’s Johan Zarco third-fastest and Jack Miller eighth on his second day on a Pramac Ducati.

The now four-time MotoGP world champion Marquez took over top spot around the 90-minute mark as he set a time 0.1s slower than Maverick Viñales’ Day 1 benchmark.

He went on to set the fastest lap of the test altogether in the final hour before marginally improving on the next lap in clocking a 1:30.033s.

The effort put him a full four tenths ahead of Pedrosa, who also set his best lap in the latter stages of a day in which the factory Honda riders spent time on the 2017 and 2018 bike.

Tech 3 privateer Johann Zarco, who continued to trial the 2017 Yamaha chassis, was the quickest representative of the Japanese marque, finishing 0.003s behind Pedrosa despite a Turn 4 off midway through the seven-hour session.

Jorge Lorenzo made up the top four for Ducati, with his factory team-mate and 2017 runner-up Andrea Dovizioso ending his Wednesday program early and winding up only 15th.

Viñales spent much of the day trialling Yamaha’s new aero fairing, before returning to the standard version and moving up to fifth in the running order.

His team-mate Valentino Rossi placed seventh with the 2016-spec chassis.

Cal Crutchlow finished between the Movistar Yamaha pair as he logged a day-high 72 laps for LCR Honda.

Miller was first out on track in the morning and crashed on his third lap, lamenting a lack of heat in the tyre.

Having shunted his only bike, he was sidelined for three hours as a result, before returning to the track and eventually ending up eighth.

Maybe it was too soon for @jackmilleraus 😣

The Australian slides out at turn 10 with the track not up to temperature yet! #2018StartsNow pic.twitter.com/cBqcILovt3

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) November 15, 2017

Suzuki’s two riders had sat out Tuesday due to a virus, but ran sizeable programs on the second day of the test.

Andrea Iannone wound up ninth in the order, having suffered a crash at Turn 2, while Alex Rins placed 14th.

Rounding out the top 10 was Gresini Aprilia’s fastest man, Aleix Espargaro.

The Red Bull KTMs were next, with Pol Epsargaro 11th despite a crash and a mechanical failure, and Bradley Smith 12th.

Marc VDS Honda’s Franco Morbidelli was again the lead rookie in 16th, 0.081s ahead of fellow Moto2 graduate Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda).

Both were among the crashers on the day, with Tito Rabat and Scott Redding, newcomers at Avintia Ducati and Gresini Aprilia respectively, also falling off their bikes.

Aspar Ducati riders Karel Abraham and Alvaro Bautista both sat out the day as a consequence of their respective crashes on Tuesday.

Some teams will move on to Jerez for further testing, with the next official test at Sepang on January 28-30.

Results: Valencia Post-Season Test: Day 2

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time/Gap	Total laps
1	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1’30.033	61
2	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1’30.436	51
3	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	1’30.439	65
4	99	Jorge LORENZO	SPA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1’30.534	39
5	25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1’30.640	66
6	35	Cal CRUTCHLOW	GBR	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	1’30.654	72
7	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Movistar Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1’30.724	62
8	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	OCTO Pramac Racing	Ducati	1’30.860	45
9	29	Andrea IANNONE	ITA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1’30.877	47
10	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1’30.889	44
11	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1’31.100	46
12	38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1’31.202	39
13	53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1’31.386	64
14	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1’31.516	38
15	04	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	1’31.758	22
16	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1’31.786	58
17	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	1’31.867	62
18	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	OCTO Pramac Racing	Ducati	1’31.874	36
19	45	Scott REDDING	GBR	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1’32.358	56
20	10	Xavier SIMEON	BEL	Reale Avintia Racing	Ducati	1’32.698	61
21	72	Takumi TAKAHASHI	JPN	EG 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	1’33.870	70
	17	Karel ABRAHAM	CZE	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	No time
	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Pull&Bear Aspar Team	Ducati	No time