Jorge Lorenzo blitzes final day of MotoGP pre-season test in Qatar

Lorenzo was the dominant force in the opening test last month at Sepang, and after a quieter week in Australia, led Wednesday's first night in Qatar, where the season will start in a fortnight.

The Spaniard went to the top just before 7pm local time with a lap of 1m54.810s, a full 0.725 seconds faster than the rest of the field at that stage.

That lap was also 0.457s better than the fastest lap of last year's Qatar Grand Prix, set by team-mate Valentino Rossi.

While no-one beat Lorenzo, his margin at the top did eventually close slightly.

Having been fifth and fourth on the first two days, Pramac Ducati rider Scott Redding continued his strong week on Friday when he slotted into second place with 90 minutes remaining.

The Briton turned a lap of 1m55.326s to be Lorenzo's closest challenger, 0.516s behind for the day and week, and the only satellite rider inside the top six.

Thursday pacesetter Maverick Vinales stopped on track during the session but capped a promising pre-season for Suzuki with the third-fastest time, just 0.007s behind Redding.

Marc Marquez and Rossi were fourth and fifth, the pair both falling for a second time in the test, at Turn 16 and Turn 10 respectively.

Marquez's Honda team-mate Dani Pedrosa finished a quiet 14th.

Ducati's Andrea Iannone led the way before Lorenzo's effort but did not improve thereafter and ended up sixth, ahead of Cal Crutchlow, Andrea Dovizioso, Hector Barbera and Pol Espargaro.

Crutchlow and Barbera each crashed before running effectively finished, while Loris Baz, Aleix Espargaro and Tito Rabat also crashed on their way to 13th, 15th and 17th respectively.

Alvaro Bautista put the new Aprilia RS-GP 18th, 2.233s off Lorenzo's pace and three spots ahead of team-mate Stefan Bradl.

FRIDAY TEST RESULTS: