Marc Marquez at a rainy Losail circuit. Photo: @marcmarquez93

TORRENTIAL rain on the final day of pre-season testing at the Losail circuit in Qatar prevented any track action due to safety concerns. 

Race direction at the circuit issued a red flag early in the day as conditions became hazardous on track.

With three hours left of the test session the green flag appeared, but by then teams had already packed up and were in the process of leaving. No riders made it onto the track.

The factory Ducati team left the last pre-season testing elated after dominating the first two days. Andrea Dovizioso was the only rider to break the 1:55 mark, at 1:54.907 – faster than Casey Stoner’s circuit record by over two-hundredths of a second.

Ducati’s ‘winglets’ made a re-appearance to Dovizioso’s bike on Sunday to enhance the aerodynamics. Overall, the Italian said he was very impressed with the GP15’s pace, especially considering they did not use the softer option tyres. Dovizioso’s team-mate Andrea Iannone finished third on combined times, just 0.197s behind.

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez finished the test second overall, just 0.184s behind Dovizioso. The reigning world champion focused on perfecting his race set-up and said he still believed the Ducati team was not a threat.

Dani Pedrosa finished the test in sixth place after trying out new forks on Sunday. He was 0.675s slower than Dovizioso.

Movistar Yamaha riders Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi both described the test as ‘difficult’ after two days of failing to get within 0.5s of the top Ducati. Both riders managed to improve over the course of the test, with Lorenzo finishing fourth and Rossi 0.081s behind.

Cal Crutchlow finished the test as leading satellite rider on-board the factory spec CWM LCR Honda RC213V, despite a small crash on Sunday. The Brit finished in seventh place and said he was happy with the progress the team had made. His team-mate Jack Miller is still adapting to the premier class on his Open-spec RC213V-RS. He finished 22nd.

Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Aleix Espargaro impressed on the first day, finishing fourth fastest. However, he was unable to improve on his time on the second day and finished 10th on combined times.

Rookie Maverick Vinales had some issues with two crashes on day one, damaging both of his bikes. The Spaniard was able to improve on his time and finished in 14th place overall.

Briton Bradley Smith finished in eighth place. Smith tested a new swing-arm and said he felt the bike was almost ready for the first race in Qatar.

Scott Redding ended the test on a good note after closing the gap on the leading riders for Marc VDS Racing. The team and Redding also managed a 16-lap race simulation on day two, leaving the British rider in 12th place overall, less than a second behind Dovizioso.

It was also an encouraging test for the Drive M7 Aspar team as Nicky Hayden finished in 16th place and his team-mate, rookie Eugene Laverty, finshed only 1.435s behind the leading Ducati, in 19th place.

Aprilia Racing Team Gresini decided on the base version of their RS-GP machine for the Qatar race. Alvaro Bautista finished 24th.

Less than one second separated the top 14 riders.

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