Qatar MotoGP test: Iannone leads Dovizioso in Ducati one-two

On a very encouraging day for Ducati at Losail, Andrea Dovizioso and Iannone established themselves up front early on as most waited until night fell to undertake concerted running.

World champion Marc Marquez put his Honda ahead for a spell, but then a 1m55.265s from Iannone on the new GP15 re-established Ducati's advantage.

Dovizioso moved up to second shortly afterwards, 0.098 seconds off his team-mate and 0.191s ahead of Marquez's Honda.

Suzuki also showed excellent form, as Aleix Espargaro went fourth fastest for the returning team.

His team-mate Maverick Vinales crashed both his main and spare bikes during the day. He was unhurt and ended up 11th.

With Dani Pedrosa moving the second Honda up to fifth with a late run, Yamaha's top runner was Jorge Lorenzo in sixth. The Spaniard felt Yamaha was struggling particularly for grip on the still-dirty track surface.

He was two places ahead of Valentino Rossi, who crashed at Turn 8 early in the session and did not go for qualifying-style run later on as he had lost a set of tyres in the accident.

Cal Crutchlow continued his progress from the second Sepang test to put his LCR Honda between the Yamahas in seventh.

Two further British riders completed the top 10, with Bradley Smith ninth and Scott Redding and Marc VDS having their best winter result yet in 10th.

While Suzuki had another good day, the going got tougher still for fellow factory returnee Aprilia.

Alvaro Bautista and an unwell Marco Melandri brought up the rear, behind Ioda's ART version of the same bike in Alex de Angelis's hands.

SATURDAY TEST TIMES:

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	Ducati	1m55.265s	-	50
2	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	Ducati	1m55.363s	0.098s	48
3	Marc Marquez	Honda	Honda	1m55.554s	0.289s	44
4	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki	Suzuki	1m55.698s	0.433s	44
5	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	Honda	1m55.813s	0.548s	33
6	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	Yamaha	1m55.828s	0.563s	43
7	Cal Crutchlow	LCR	Honda	1m55.837s	0.572s	38
8	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	Yamaha	1m55.938s	0.673s	48
9	Bradley Smith	Tech 3	Yamaha	1m55.954s	0.689s	43
10	Scott Redding	Marc VDS	Honda	1m56.112s	0.847s	47
11	Maverick Vinales	Suzuki	Suzuki	1m56.130s	0.865s	42
12	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1m56.132s	0.867s	44
13	Yonny Hernandez	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1m56.301s	1.036s	38
14	Pol Espargaro	Tech 3	Yamaha	1m56.615s	1.350s	50
15	Karel Abraham	AB Motoracing	Honda	1m56.638s	1.373s	34
16	Mike Di Meglio	Avintia Racing	Ducati	1m56.719s	1.454s	45
17	Nicky Hayden	Aspar	Honda	1m57.099s	1.834s	47
18	Stefan Bradl	Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	1m57.146s	1.881s	27
19	Jack Miller	LCR	Honda	1m57.228s	1.963s	49
20	Loris Baz	Forward Racing	Forward Yamaha	1m57.376s	2.111s	40
21	Hector Barbera	Avintia Racing	Ducati	1m57.405s	2.140s	18
22	Eugene Laverty	Aspar	Honda	1m57.500s	2.235s	44
23	Michele Pirro	Ducati	Ducati	1m57.664s	2.399s	53
24	Alex de Angelis	IodaRacing Project	ART/Aprilia	1m58.026s	2.761s	45
25	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia Gresini	Aprilia	1m58.459s	3.194s	34
26	Marco Melandri	Aprilia Gresini	Aprilia	1m58.990s	3.725s	19