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Sepang MotoGP testing: Maverick Vinales fastest for Yamaha

Yamaha's Maverick Vinales led MotoGP champion Marc Marquez on the final day of the opening 2017 pre-season test at Sepang

After Monday and Tuesday's running was affected by rain, teams made the most of dry conditions on Wednesday morning.

Alvaro Bautista continued his strong test with Aspar Ducati by leading the field into the sub-2m00s bracket with a time of 1m59.628s.

Vinales and Marquez then lowered that benchmark to 1m59.514s and 1m59.506s.

For Marquez, that effort was more than a second faster than he managed on the first two days, when he was battling electrical gremlins and developing Honda's new engine.

Just after 12:30pm local time, Vinales moved to the top again after setting a 1m59.368s, a time that stood for the rest of the day.

Running was then again interrupted by rain, with a downpour around two hours later costing teams one hour of meaningful track time, as the back part of the circuit dried slowly.

There was not a repeat of Tuesday's flurry of late times, and Vinales finished the test 0.138 seconds ahead of Marquez.

Andrea Dovizioso was the lead Ducati in third, with test rider Casey Stoner seventh and new recruit Jorge Lorenzo getting within 0.398s of the pace in ninth.

Dani Pedrosa and Valentino Rossi were the biggest movers after the rain delay, both moving up from 10th place to fourth - Rossi with about 90 minutes left, then being displaced by Pedrosa inside the final 10 minutes.

Bautista wound up sixth in the final order, while LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow in eighth and Tech3 Yamaha rookie Johann Zarco in 10th. Both improved in the final hour, Zarco finishing as the top rookie.

Tuesday pacesetter Andrea Iannone had a pair of falls on his way to 11th, one spot ahead of rookie team-mate Alex Rins, who like Zarco found time late.

Iannone's Tuesday time of 1m59.452s put him second on the combined order for the three days.

Aleix Espargaro was 13th for Aprilia despite a late fall at Turn 15, as the top 15 riders finishing with a second of Vinales' benchmark.

KTM finished the test with Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro in 21st and 23rd, 1.970s and 2.138s off the pace respectively for the incoming Austrian manufacturer.

WEDNESDAY TIMES:

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Maverick Vinales Yamaha Yamaha 1m59.368s - 72
2 Marc Marquez Honda Honda 1m59.506s 0.138s 85
3 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Ducati 1m59.553s 0.185s 56
4 Dani Pedrosa Honda Honda 1m59.578s 0.210s 67
5 Valentino Rossi Yamaha Yamaha 1m59.589s 0.221s 62
6 Alvaro Bautista Aspar Ducati Ducati 1m59.628s 0.260s 64
7 Casey Stoner Ducati Ducati 1m59.639s 0.271s 46
8 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Honda 1m59.728s 0.360s 71
9 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Ducati 1m59.767s 0.399s 66
10 Johann Zarco Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 1m59.772s 0.404s 45
11 Andrea Iannone Suzuki Suzuki 2m00.045s 0.677s 49
12 Alex Rins Suzuki Suzuki 2m00.057s 0.689s 60
13 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia Aprilia 2m00.108s 0.740s 53
14 Danilo Petrucci Pramac Ducati Ducati 2m00.310s 0.942s 53
15 Jonas Folger Tech3 Yamaha Yamaha 2m00.312s 0.944s 54
16 Jack Miller MVDS Honda Honda 2m00.439s 1.071s 70
17 Karel Abraham Aspar Ducati Ducati 2m00.445s 1.077s 38
18 Hector Barbera Avintia Ducati Ducati 2m00.537s 1.169s 50
19 Scott Redding Pramac Ducati Ducati 2m00.645s 1.277s 74
20 Loris Baz Avintia Ducati Ducati 2m00.873s 1.505s 58
21 Bradley Smith KTM KTM 2m01.338s 1.970s 62
22 Sam Lowes Aprilia Aprilia 2m01.341s 1.973s 43
23 Pol Espargaro KTM KTM 2m01.506s 2.138s 67
24 Katsuyuki Nakasuga Yamaha Yamaha 2m01.658s 2.290s 30
25 Takuya Tsuda Suzuki Suzuki 2m02.769s 3.401s 68


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