VOL. 52 ISSUE 11 MARCH 17, 2015 P43
I am very disappointed that we
were unable to benefit from this
final day of testing, which for us
was important. I am optimistic
for the race weekend and can't
wait to get back on track here in
ten days' time."
Repsol Honda's Marc Mar-
quez split the two Ducatis,
trailing Dovizioso by .184 of
a second. Marquez too was
disappointed in not being able to
make use of the final day of test-
ing, especially since the first day
was marred with clutch prob-
lems. But the reigning World
champ is looking for the start of
the season in a week and a half
and predicts tight racing at the
season opener, as the top 14 are
all within a second of the leader.
"It's a shame this last day was
cancelled due to the rain, but
I'm happy with how we are go-
ing into the first race," Marquez
said. "In time we will see how
we do at different circuits, but
we can make a positive assess-
ment of our progress this winter.
I can't wait to start the season
here in Qatar, in just a week and
a half's time. It will be interest-
ing because having this test
so close to the race will make
everything tighter. As you can
see from the time sheets from
the past two days here, the dif-
ferences will be very small."
In fourth was Movistar Ya-
maha's Jorge Lorenzo, edging
out teammate Valentino Rossi
by .081 of a second. The Movi-
star Yamaha duo both spent the
test working on their
race setup and further
developing their new
seamless shift gear-
box.
Marquez' teammate
Dani Pedrosa was sixth
ahead of CWM LCR
Honda's Cal Crutchlow.
The Monster Yamaha
Tech 3 duo of Bradley
Smith and Pol Espar-
garo finished eighth
and ninth, respectively.
Rounding out the top
10 was Pol's older
brother Aleix Espargaro
on the Team Suzuki
Ecstar machine.
Dovizioso's
teammate
Andrea
Iannone led
day one of
testing and
finished third
overall.
PHOTO
COURTESY
OF
DUCATI
Rain puts a halt to the final of testing in Qatar.
