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MotoGP testing: Maverick Vinales fastest again for Yamaha at Valencia

Maverick Vinales topped his second consecutive day of MotoGP testing for his new team Yamaha, as the official post-race session concluded

Vinales, arriving from Suzuki to replace Jorge Lorenzo, was fastest on Tuesday on debut and led Marc Marquez on Wednesday's times, while Lorenzo was eighth for Ducati.

His Tuesday benchmark of 1m30.930s was beaten inside the first hour on Wednesday by 2016 world champion Marquez, who recorded a 1m30.629s on his fifth lap.

The session was then red-flagged for an hour from 11am, after Suzuki riders Alex Rins and Andrea Iannone crashed at Turn 12 within 15 minutes of each other.

Safety conditions were assessed during that time, and additional barriers were installed straight on from the corner, before the session resumed, with 30 minutes of lost running time re-added to the end of the day.

Marquez's lap stood at the top until just after 2pm when he improved to a 1m30.558s, which was beaten shortly afterwards by Andrea Dovizioso on the 2017 Ducati.

Vinales made his move with about two hours of the day remaining.

He lapped within 0.080s of Dovizioso, then improved on his next lap to go fastest, and went quicker again on his next lap.

The Spaniard recorded a time of 1m29.975s and finished the day 0.196s faster than Marquez, who improved approaching 4pm.

Marquez's day did, though, include a strange crash early in the afternoon, a low-speed highside from his Honda while riding through a gravel trap after overshooting Turn 2.

Dovizioso finished the day in third place, ahead of his former team-mate Iannone, who improved after rejoining the session.

Dani Pedrosa was fifth fastest, while LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow and Yamaha's Valentino Rossi set identical times to be sixth and seventh.

Rossi appeared for the first time three hours into the day, and his programme included running Yamaha's 2017 engine in its '16 bike.

Having spent the bulk of his Tuesday on the 2016 Ducati, Lorenzo was the first rider out and upped the work on the machine he'll ride next year.

Lorenzo was as high as third in the order on two occasions, and finished eighth, 0.769s slower than Vinales.

The three-time world champion will not ride for Ducati again until the first pre-season test at Sepang starting on January 30.

Aleix Espargaro was ninth for Aprilia, while Jonas Folger completed the top 10, beating team-mate Johann Zarco by 0.063s to be the top rookie.

The best of the KTMs was Pol Espargaro in 19th, 1.878s off the pace, but eight tenths faster than he went on Tuesday.

Team-mate Bradley Smith was right behind in 20th, his day including a fall at Turn 14 late in the afternoon.

Aprilia rookie Sam Lowes sat out the day's running, after a crash at Turn 12 on Tuesday afternoon.

The Moto2 race winner was cleared of serious injury after checks on his neck, but elected not to ride on Wednesday, in order to ensure he is fit for next week's three-day test at Jerez.

VALENCIA TESTING DAY TWO TIMES

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 1m29.975s - 76
2 Marc Marquez Honda 1m30.171s 0.196s 78
3 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1m30.443s 0.468s 61
4 Andrea Iannone Suzuki 1m30.599s 0.624s 51
5 Dani Pedrosa Honda 1m30.686s 0.711s 41
6 Cal Crutchlow Honda 1m30.709s 0.734s 63
7 Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1m30.709s 0.734s 69
8 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati 1m30.744s 0.769s 66
9 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1m30.885s 0.910s 61
10 Jonas Folger Tech3 Yamaha 1m30.948s 0.973s 63
11 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha 1m31.015s 1.040s 61
12 Jack Miller Honda 1m31.069s 1.094s 59
13 Scott Redding Pramac Ducati 1m31.118s 1.143s 48
14 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati 1m31.186s 1.211s 69
15 Hector Barbera Avintia Ducati 1m31.244s 1.269s 59
16 Michele Pirro Pramac Ducati 1m31.816s 1.841s 40
17 Pol Espargaro KTM 1m31.853s 1.878s 70
18 Tito Rabat Honda 1m31.918s 1.943s 61
19 Loris Baz Avintia Ducati 1m32.161s 2.186s 52
20 Bradley Smith KTM 1m32.538s 2.563s 59
21 Eugene Laverty Aprilia 1m32.568s 2.593s 57
22 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati 1m32.699s 2.724s 41
23 Takuya Tsuda Suzuki 1m33.305s 3.330s 77
24 Alex Rins Suzuki 1m33.761s 3.786s 5

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