With the top 15 riders covered by only a second, it was Maverick Vinales who ended the final pre-season test at the top of the time sheets, with a time of 1:54.208. He hasn’t dropped below second place across the entire test.

A further strong performance came from rookie, Fabio Quartararo who ended the day just 0.233s behind Vinales in second.

With Valentino Rossi in fourth and Franco Morbidelli in sixth, a strong day saw all Yamaha bikes finish the day within the top six.

They were joined by the Honda of reigning champion, Marc Marquez and his teammate, Jorge Lorenzo in third and fifth respectively. This was despite both riders crashing late into the final day – Marquez came off at turn 6 and Lorenzo at turn 2. Neither crash, however, seemed to hinder the recovery of these two previous champions – who have both recently undergone surgery.

The top ten was rounded out by Danilo Petrucci in ninth and Jack Miller in tenth. They both ended the day marginally ahead of KTM’s Pol Espargaro and Honda rider, Takaaki Nakagami, who ended the day in seventh and eighth respectively.

Espargaro’s teammate, Johann Zarco, struggled in comparison and ended the day in 22nd. Zarco, along with Bradley Smith, Migueal Oliveira, Francesco Bagnaia and Tito Rabat all struggled with moments off the track, crashing at various points on the Losail track. However Rabat went on to complete the most amount of laps for the day, with 66 laps under his belt.

With pre-season testing now at an end, we only have a matter of days to wait before the 2019 season kicks off. The first race will take place at the Losail track in Qatar on the 8th-10th March.

Feature Image Credit: MotoGP.com

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Posted on 28th February, 2019 for The Checkered Flag

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