Fabio Quartararo fastest ahead of Jack Miller

(Motorsport-Total.com) – The second day of testing on the Losail Circuit in Qatar promised a lot of excitement for the MotoGP season 2021. 13 drivers were within one second and 23 within two seconds. Yamaha works rider Fabio Quartararo, who was still struggling yesterday, took the lead.

Quartararo set the best time of the week with 1: 53.940 minutes. With Jack Miller (Ducati), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Franco Morbidelli (Petronas-Yamaha) and Stefan Bradl (Honda) there was again a varied top field with tight time intervals.

The further development of the holeshot devices is interesting for the start. So far, the rear of the motorcycle has been compressed. On Aprilia, Honda and Ducati, the front fork is now also compressed. You want to lower the center of gravity of the motorcycle as much as possible for the start.

The aim is to minimize the tendency to wheelies and improve acceleration. Today KTM also tested such an additional device on the front wheel. Only Suzuki and Yamaha have not yet developed the system in this direction and only compress the rear.

Another detail on the side: The Losail circuit has revised the floodlight system in the past few weeks and the lights are now a little brighter. That is why drivers now use darkened helmet visors under floodlights in the evening.

Yamaha: New chassis and new swingarm

Yamaha tried out new developments with the works riders Maverick Vinales, Quartararo and Valentino Rossi. Comparisons were made with the previous aluminum swingarm and a new one in carbon. There was also a new chassis.

The day before, Yamaha had mainly focused on the motorcycle stand at the end of 2020, so that the riders can shoot again after the winter break. Quartararo in particular struggled to feel good again. Today the tests with the new chassis were intensified.

In the last hour Quartararo catapulted himself to the top and lapped the Losail circuit as the first driver under 1:54 minutes. Morbidelli was back in the top field in fourth. Vinales followed in seventh place, while Rossi ended up in 20th place, 1.7 seconds behind.

According to team manager Wilco Zeelenberg, the old M1 specification from Morbidelli has been revised in “very many” details. But they don’t know exactly what Yamaha has changed in the Petronas team. Something has also been done with the engine, because Morbidelli is now faster on the straights.

The three test drivers (Cal Crutchlow, Katsuyuki Nakasuga, Kohta Nozane) were also back on the track. Crutchlow crashed at Turn 2, but Vinales also got hit at this point at sunset. (Here are all photos from the test!)

Ducati: further tests of the aerodynamics

Ducati works driver Miller finished the day second fastest. Even today, the black side panel with the new aerodynamic elements in the lower area behind the front wheel was screwed onto one of the two Miller motorcycles.

The strong wind has made it difficult to draw clear conclusions so far. The day before, Francesco Bagnaia was positive about the new aerodynamics. In a fall, however, he damaged his new fairing. So the Italian had to drive with the standard fairing today.

With Miller, Johann Zarco and Bagnaia, three Ducati drivers were classified in the top 10. The rookies Enea Bastianini, Luca Marini and Jorge Martin were between P16 and P19. Martin suffered his second crash today (in the target corner).

Aprilia: Aleix Espargaro again quickly

Aprilia has brought two different aerodynamic packages. One has the distinctive “front wing” (with the inscription Fausto) for a lot of contact pressure. The other package is missing this and there are classic winglets to the left and right of the airbox.

Aleix Espargaro was the first driver to tackle a racing simulation at dusk. That was also a test of the reliability of the revised engine (new cylinder heads). With 69 laps he was also the hardest-working driver of the day.

In addition, Espargaro let the potential of the new RS-GP flash again. He improved yesterday’s best time by half a second and took third place. The acceleration of the RS-GP is better now, but the top speed is still missing.

Honda: Three chassis, Stefan Bradl strong again

Honda has a total of three different chassis in this test. The 2020 version, the version that Stefan Bradl drove last year with carbon reinforcements, and a completely new chassis that the German tried out in Jerez in February.

Bradl was also the fastest Honda driver on Sunday and was consistently in the top positions. In the end, Quartararo was almost three tenths of a second missing. Bradl ranked fifth.

New signing Pol Espargaro turned 62 laps today. The Spaniard calls Bradl his current reference. Espargaro was around half a second slower than Bradl and took twelfth place. He continues to learn about the RC213V while Bradl tests new parts.

The mechanics on the LCR satellite team had a lot of work to do. Like yesterday, Alex Marquez crashed in the target corner. Takaki Nakagami also had a fall. In addition, the Japanese tried a new fairing in which the winglets are pulled a little further down.

Suzuki with both drivers in the top 10

Suzuki doesn’t want to try radical things in order not to compromise the good racing pace of the GSX-RR. But there is a new chassis and a new swing arm. Other electronics strategies are tried out for this purpose. Test driver Sylvain Guintoli is already testing the engine for 2022.

World champions Joan Mir and Alex Rins weren’t looking for fast lap times. They focused on sorting out details and figuring out what makes the package better. Both were nevertheless classified in the top 10.

KTM not at the forefront

The KTM team is also working on optimizing the set-up and sorting out little things. Miguel Oliveira was seven tenths of a second behind on Sunday. That meant eleventh place in the narrow field. His teammate Brad Binder crashed twice and only finished 24.

In the Tech 3 team, Danilo Petrucci got to know the RC16 over 51 laps today. At almost 1.9 seconds, he was long behind. In the classification, “Petrux” landed directly behind his compatriot Rossi in 21st place. KTM test rider Dani Pedrosa continued to work with new developments for the future.

The best rookie on Sunday was Bastianini in 16th place. Luca Marini continued to work on the optimal seating position on the Ducati because of his height (184 cm). Aprilia driver Lorenzo Savadori was also among the three Ducati rookies.

The teams and drivers now have a two-day break and can analyze the data from the first days of testing in peace. Next week, from Wednesday to Friday, there are three more test days on the program.

Even then, the route is available between 2:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. local time (12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. CET). Michelin will bring a new rear tire (in the hard compound) with a small modification to the construction for the coming week.

Result MotoGP test in Losail (Sunday):
01. Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) – 1: 53.940 minutes (59 laps)
02. Jack Miller (Ducati) +0.077 seconds (57)
03. Aleix Espargaro (Gresini-Aprilia) +0,212 (69)
04. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas-Yamaha) +0,213 (63)
05.Stefan Bradl (Honda) +0.270 (61)
06. Johann Zarco (Pramac-Ducati) +0,416 (55)
07. Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) +0,455 (66)
08. Joan Mir (Suzuki) +0.575 (48)
09. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.711 (48)
10. Alex Rins (Suzuki) +0,718 (49)
11. Miguel Oliveira (KTM) +0.726 (47)
12. Pol Espargaro (Honda) +0,733 (62)
13. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR-Honda) +0,750 (60)
14. Alex Marquez (LCR-Honda) +1,012 (53)
15.Yamaha test rider 1 (Yamaha) +1,366 (35)
16. Enea Bastianini (Esponsorama-Ducati) +1,546 (45)
17. Lorenzo Savadori (Gresini-Aprilia) +1,630 (41)
18. Luca Marini (Esponsorama-Ducati) +1,665 (48)
19. Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati) +1,692 (36)
20. Valentino Rossi (Petronas-Yamaha) +1,768 (50)
21. Danilo Petrucci (Tech-3-KTM) +1,855 (51)
22. Yamaha test rider 2 (Yamaha) +1,927 (20)
23. Iker Lecuona (Tech-3-KTM) +1,933 (38)
24. Brad Binder (KTM) +2,004 (41)
25th Days of Pedrosa (KTM) +2,512 (53)
26. Sylvain Guintoli (Suzuki) +2,822 (45)
27. Michele Pirro (Ducati) +3,955 (20)
28. Takuya Tsuda (Suzuki) +4,970 (25)
29. Yamaha test rider 3 (Yamaha) – no time