MotoGP teams were back in action at the Circuito de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo in Spain on Tuesday where they began the first day of testing ahead of the 2017 MotoGP season.
Leading the way on day one was new Yamaha rider, Maverick Vinales with a best time of 1:30.930, closely followed by his new teammate, Valentino Rossi.
Though the main goal of the day‘s outing for Viñales was to get a feel for his new bike, he didn‘t waste any time making a statement. The Spaniard started his test around eleven o‘clock and only took half an hour to ride to second place and continued to be in the top six throughout his morning run. He kept the momentum going during his afternoon stint and showed his confidence posting a 1‘30.930s on lap 55 to take over first place from Rossi. The 21-year-old completed 61 laps in total and wrapped up the day of testing leading the way.
Meanwhile, Rossi had a mixed but ultimately successful day of testing. He was quickly on the pace in the morning on his 2016 bike and topped the standings after his 11th lap, clocking a 1‘30.950s, which was only bettered by Viñales later in the afternoon when the temperatures rose.
Despite suffering a crash on lap 32 in turn 10, he walked away unharmed and started the Valencia test with a positive feeling overall. The Italian spent his afternoon session preparing for next year‘s season. He completed 47 laps in total and finished in second place in today‘s testing results, just 0.020s off the front.
“It was a positive day, because I‘m second and the lap time was not so bad, but I did it with the old bike,” Rossi said. “With the new chassis the first feeling was OK, but after unfortunately I crashed because I put the hard tyre on the front, which on the right side doesn‘t give enough grip for our bike. I damaged the bike and I didn‘t have enough time to try it again, so now the guys are working and I will try the new chassis some other time tomorrow and we will see.”
New Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo was third quickest overall on his first outing for the team, just over a tenth off Vinales leading pace.
Marc Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the top five.
Testing continues here tomorrow.
Times from day one
- Maverick VIÑALES – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1'30.930
2. Valentino ROSSI – Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1'30.950 + 0.020
3. Jorge LORENZO – Ducati Team – 1'31.052 + 0.122
4. Marc MARQUEZ – Repsol Honda Team – 1'31.102 + 0.172
5. Andrea DOVIZIOSO – Ducati Team - 1'31.131 + 0.201
6. Cal CRUTCHLOW – LCR Honda - 1'31.156 + 0.226
7. Andrea IANNONE – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'31.165 + 0.235
8. Scott REDDING – OCTO Pramac Yakhnich - 1'31.242 + 0.312
9. Hector BARBERA – Avintia Racing - 1'31.286 + 0.356
10. Dani PEDROSA – Repsol Honda Team - 1'31.306 + 0.376
11. Jack MILLER – Marc VDS Racing Team - 1'31.477 + 0.547
12. Alvaro BAUTISTA – Pull & Bear Aspar Team - 1'31.674 + 0.744
13. Michele PIRRO – OCTO Pramac Yakhnich - 1'32.068 + 1.138
14. Aleix ESPARGARO – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'32.177 + 1.247
15. Loris BAZ – Avintia Racing - 1'32.315 +1.385
16. Jonas FOLGER – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'32.450 +1.520
17. Johann ZARCO – Monster Yamaha Tech 3 - 1'32.462 +1.532
18. Tito RABAT – EG 0,0 Marc VDS - 1'32.578 +1.648
19. Pol ESPARGARO – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'32.613 +1.683
20. Bradley SMITH – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing - 1'32.806 +1.876
21. Alex RINS – Team SUZUKI ECSTAR - 1'32.811 +1.881
22. Eugene LAVERTY – Aprilia Test Team - 1'32.935 +2.005
23 17 Karel ABRAHAM – Pull & Bear Aspar Team - 1'33.231 +2.301
24. Sam LOWES – Aprilia Racing Team Gresini - 1'33.359 +2.429
25. Takuya TSUDA – Suzuki Test Team - 1'34.110 +3.180
26. Francesco BAGNAIA – Pull & Bear Aspar Team - 1'36.940 +6.010
