Honda’s Espargaro fastest on final day of MotoGP pre-season testing

Repsol Honda’s Pol Espargaro has pipped Fabio Quartararo to top spot in MotoGP’s final pre-season test, at Indonesia’s Mandalika street circuit.

Pol Espargaro clocked a 1:31.060s in the first hour of Day 3 of the test and no one would go any quicker thereafter.

Quartararo, who said on the day prior that his future is “wide open” due to ongoing frustration with the YZR-M1, came up just shy of #44’s time when he rode his Monster Energy Yamaha entry to a late 1:31.074s.

The Frenchman had been second on the timing screen for most of the eight hours and Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro stayed in third with the 1:31.385s which he set inside the first 60 minutes of proceedings.

That state of affairs can be attributed to the focus on race runs for much of the field, although Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha) climbed to fourth near the end with a 1:31.416s.

The Italian edged his compatriot at the Ducati Lenovo Team, Francesco Bagnaia, by 0.020s, with the rest of the top 10 being Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) in sixth, from Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM), and Alex Marquez (Castrol LCR Honda).

Luca Marini had been quickest on the second day with a 1:31.289s, and he ended up 12th on Day 3 with a personal best 1:31.665s on his Mooney VR46 Ducati, while Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) was 14th with a 1:31.793s.

The Ducati Lenovo Team’s Jack Miller was 15th on a 1:31.870s and Tech3 KTM Factory Racing’s Remy Gardner 21st on a 1:32.860s with a relatively low 42 laps under his belt.

Gardner’s team-mate Raul Fernandez notched up even fewer kilometres, pulling out of proceedings early due to still feeling the effects of a big crash on Day 2.

Suzuki’s Joan Mir did not ride at all due to suffering gastrointestinal problems, the cause of which is believed to be food poisoning.

Round 1 of the season is the Qatar Grand Prix, on March 4-6 (local time).

Day 3: Mandalika Official test