news: Miller remains fastest after wind, sand hits Qatar

Street sweepers clearing sand at Losail on the final day of the second Official Test. Picture: Yamaha Factory Racing

Jack Miller remains fastest overall at the conclusion of MotoGP pre-season testing after high winds effectively wiped out the final day of running in Qatar.

The Queenslander unofficially broke the Losail International Circuit’s All Time Lap Record when he rode his Ducati to a 1:53.183s on Day 1 of the second Official Test of 2021.

Only five riders set a lap time on Day 3, which included a red flag period with just over two hours remaining in order to clean the track of the sand which had been blown onto it.

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Best of those was Tech3 KTM’s Danilo Petrucci, who clocked a 1:58.157s, while Honda Test Team’s Stefan Bradl ended up second with a 1:59.432s on his third and final lap.

As such, it is two Ducati pilots sandwiching three from Yamaha in the combined top five for the test.

Behind Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team), Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha) is second-fastest with the 1:53.244s with which he topped the penultimate day, from Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha), Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT), and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team).

Moto2 and Moto3 have their Official Test at Losail on March 19-21, before all three classes are in action when the season proper kicks off with the Qatar Grand Prix on the following weekend.

Combined: Losail Official Test 2

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Fastest lap	Day	Gap 1st/Prev
1	43	J.MILLER	AUS	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	1:53.183	TD3
2	12	M.VIÑALES	ESP	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:53.244	TD4	0.061/0.061
3	20	F.QUARTARARO	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:53.263	TD3	0.080/0.019
4	21	F.MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	1:53.323	TD4	0.140/0.060
5	63	F.BAGNAIA	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	1:53.444	TD4	0.261/0.121
6	41	A.ESPARGARO	ESP	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1:53.640	TD4	0.457/0.196
7	36	J.MIR	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:53.827	TD4	0.644/0.187
8	42	A.RINS	ESP	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:53.860	TD4	0.677/0.033
9	5	J.ZARCO	FRA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:53.899	TD3	0.716/0.039
10	44	P.ESPARGARO	ESP	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1:53.899	TD3	0.716
11	46	V.ROSSI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	1:53.993	TD4	0.810/0.094
12	30	T.NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	1:54.262	TD3	1.079/0.269
13	6	S.BRADL	GER	Honda Test Team	Honda	1:54.427	TD4	1.244/0.165
14	89	J.MARTIN	ESP	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:54.483	TD4	1.300/0.056
15	23	E.BASTIANINI	ITA	Avintia Esponsorama	Ducati	1:54.505	TD4	1.322/0.022
16	88	M.OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:54.526	TD3	1.343/0.021
17	33	B.BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:54.691	TD4	1.508/0.165
18	73	A.MARQUEZ	ESP	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	1:54.692	TD4	1.509/0.001
19	9	D.PETRUCCI	ITA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:54.895	TD4	1.712/0.203
20	82	Y.TEST2		Yamaha Test Team	Yamaha	1:54.998	TD3	1.815/0.103
21	10	L.MARINI	ITA	SKY VR46 Avintia	Ducati	1:55.022	TD4	1.839/0.024
22	81	Y.TEST1		Yamaha Test Team	Yamaha	1:55.080	TD4	1.897/0.058
23	27	I.LECUONA	ESP	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:55.195	TD4	2.012/0.115
24	26	D.PEDROSA	ESP	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:56.706	TD4	2.457/0.445
25	50	S.GUINTOLI	FRA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:55.642	TD3	2.459/0.002
26	32	L.SAVADORI	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1:56.168	TD3	2.571/0.112
27	83	Y.TEST3		Yamaha Test Team	Yamaha	1:55.831	TD4	2.648/0.077
28	51	M.PIRRO	ITA	Ducati Test Team	Ducati	1:56.732	TD4	3.549/0.901
29	85	T.TSUDA	JPN	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:57.795	TD3	4.612/1.063