2018 Catalunya MotoGP Test Results
Following Sunday’s seventh round of 2018 MotoGP at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit, the MotoGP grid remained at the track Monday for a one-day test.
The Ducati Team – and its rider Jorge Lorenzo who won his second-straight race Sunday – was not present.
Without the factory Ducati GP18 machines on the Catalunya track, four-time reigning MotoGP Champion Marc Marquez was the top rider on home soil.
Marquez, who leads Valentino Rossi by 27 points after seven of 19 rounds, claimed the top position with a best time of 1:38.916 on lap 86 of 88.
To put this lap into perspective, the Best Pole and Fastest Lap (across all sessions) was a 1:38.680, which was set by Lorenzo during Saturday qualifying.
Marquez, who claimed second at Sunday’s Catalunya Grand Prix, finished 0.104 of a second ahead of Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Andrea Iannone, and 0.446 of a second ahead of Reale Avintia Racing Ducati’s Tito Rabat, who suffered a DNF Sunday due to his motorcycle catching on fire.
“We worked a lot today as we had several things to test, some of which were quite important. As always in testing, some of them worked well, and others were good in that we gathered information for the future,” Marc Marquez says.
“We also worked on the electronics and aerodynamics. At the end of the day, we put together all the good things we had found, and I was able to set a fast time. Anyway, the most important thing is that we had a good test.”
Following is from the official MotoGP press release:
As for Marquez’s teammate, Dani Pedrosa suffered a crash, but was able to finish seventh behind LCR honda Castrol’s Cal Crutchlow. The Brit’s teammate and LCR Honda Idemitsu rookie Takaaki Nakagami was P16 after 88 laps, with fellow Honda-riding rookie Franco Morbidelli (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) beating him to top debutant in P12.
Despite Honda and Marquez taking over late on, Iannone reigned the timesheets for much of the day, with the Italian putting in 37 laps. He was joined by teammate Alex Rins – P8 after 83 laps – and test rider Sylvain Guintoli for the Hamamatsu factory as they continued working with a new chassis, and Rins tried a new swingarm in the afternoon.
Rabat was the leading Ducati machine, with the Real Avintia Racing rider putting in over 80 laps and ending the day four tenths off Marquez. He focused on suspension and showed yet more great pace at the venue. Teammate Xavier Simeon worked on track time, doing over 70 laps and ending the day in P19. Fellow Borgo Panigale machinery runners Alma Pramac Ducati had Danilo Petrucci in hot pursuit of Rabat in P4, with 40 laps put in despite a crash and work focused on the chassis of his GP18. Teammate Jack Miller was tenth, working on braking and making the bike smoother after race winner Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team) set a high benchmark on Sunday. The Ducati Team were not present.
Top Yamaha was Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Johann Zarco in P5, with the Frenchman putting in more than 70 laps, working on setups. Teammate Hafizh Syahrin was P13 after 42 laps. Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Maverick Viñales was the second fastest for the Iwata marque in ninth, doing more than 80 laps and they worked, for one, on electronics. Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was P14 after 58 laps.
Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Aleix Espargaro and Scott Redding were P11 and P18 respectively, working on improvements with their race bikes.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing were out in full force with Pol Espargaro, Bradley Smith and test rider Mika Kallio. Espargaro had a crash at the final corner in the afternoon. He was working with the early version of the 2019 RC16 ridden in wildcard performances by Kallio, and the three were focused on engine and chassis. Smith was top Austrian machine in P15, Espargaro was P17 and Kallio didn’t do many laps following a crash on Sunday.
The series now breaks for weeks ahead of round eight at the historic TT Circuit Assen.
2018 Catalunya MotoGP Test Results, June 2018
Pos | Rider | Team | Fastest lap | Lead. Gap | Prev. Gap | Laps | Last lap | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | MARQUEZ, Marc | Repsol Honda Team | 1:38.916 | 86 / 88 | ||||
2 | IANNONE, Andrea | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1:39.020 | 0.104 | 0.104 | 22 / 37 | ||
3 | RABAT, Tito | Reale Avintia Racing | 1:39.362 | 0.446 | 0.342 | 30 / 82 | ||
4 | PETRUCCI, Danilo | Alma Pramac Racing | 1:39.488 | 0.572 | 0.126 | 29 / 41 | ||
5 | ZARCO, Johann | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:39.534 | 0.618 | 0.046 | 5 / 72 | ||
6 | CRUTCHLOW, Cal | LCR Honda CASTROL | 1:39.727 | 0.811 | 0.193 | 22 / 61 | ||
7 | PEDROSA, Dani | Repsol Honda Team | 1:39.738 | 0.822 | 0.011 | 75 / 77 | ||
8 | RINS, Alex | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1:39.793 | 0.877 | 0.055 | 38 / 83 | ||
9 | VIÑALES, Maverick | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1:39.797 | 0.881 | 0.004 | 81 / 85 | ||
10 | MILLER, Jack | Alma Pramac Racing | 1:39.799 | 0.883 | 0.002 | 23 / 52 | ||
11 | ESPARGARO, Aleix | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1:39.915 | 0.999 | 0.116 | 15 / 56 | ||
12 | MORBIDELLI, Franco | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:40.004 | 1.088 | 0.089 | 24 / 70 | ||
13 | SYAHRIN, Hafizh | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:40.108 | 1.192 | 0.104 | 7 / 42 | ||
14 | ROSSI, Valentino | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1:40.124 | 1.208 | 0.016 | 13 / 58 | ||
15 | SMITH, Bradley | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:40.462 | 1.546 | 0.338 | 68 / 77 | ||
16 | NAKAGAMI, Takaaki | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | 1:40.541 | 1.625 | 0.079 | 44 / 88 | ||
17 | ESPARGARO, Pol | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:40.721 | 1.805 | 0.180 | 49 / 49 | ||
18 | REDDING, Scott | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1:40.732 | 1.816 | 0.011 | 11 / 62 | ||
19 | SIMEON, Xavier | Reale Avintia Racing | 1:41.145 | 2.229 | 0.413 | 47 / 74 | ||
20 | LUTHI, Thomas | EG 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:41.207 | 2.291 | 0.062 | 61 / 82 | ||
21 | GUINTOLI, Sylvain | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | 1:41.316 | 2.400 | 0.109 | 61 / 62 | ||
22 | KALLIO, Mika | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 1:41.976 | 3.060 | 0.660 | 15 / 16 |