VOL. 53 ISSUE 46 NOVEMBER 22, 2016 P29
1:30.171) and Ducati Team's An-
drea Dovizioso (1:30.443).
"We can be very pleased with
the progression we are making,"
said Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
Team Director, Massimo Mere-
galli. "Maverick's initial nerves
have gone now and he is already
very strong. It's amazing to see
him drop a 1'29" lap so shortly
after his transition and we are
also very impressed with how
accurate his feedback is with so
few kilometers under his belt on
this bike."
Fourth place at the test went
to the impressive Andrea Ian-
none. Replacing Vinales on the
Suzuki Ecstar team after four
seasons with the Ducati factory,
Iannone quickly got up to pace
and eventually set a 1:30.599
lap to head Honda riders
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda,
1:30.686) Cal Crutchlow (LCR
Honda, 1:30.709) and Movistar
Yamaha's Valentino Rossi. Rossi
spent the majority of the test us-
ing the 2017-spec machine and
finished with a 1:30.709 lap.
Despite Vinales' scintillating
pace, most eyes were on the
Ducati Team's new rider, three-
time MotoGP World Champion
and 2016 Valencia MotoGP race
winner, Jorge Lorenzo.
Contractually prevented to
make any comments about
his new machine to the press,
Lorenzo completed 66 laps on
day two under the watchful eye
of his former nemesis and now
Ducati MotoGP test rider Casey
Stoner to finish eighth-fastest
after clocking a 1:30.744 lap.
"It was the first contact for
Jorge on the Ducati after nine
years with Yamaha, so it was
not obvious that he would feel
comfortable, but I think he is
comfortable on the bike," said
Ducati Corse Sporting Direc-
tor Paolo Ciabatti to crash.net.
"There is still a lot of work to do,
but we spent the day trying to
adapt the bike to his (Lorenzo's)
ergonomics and settings. We
worked in a positive way and this
makes us very confident for the
future. We were happy with the
lap time, but more happy with
the general feeling. As I said it
was not obvious that after nine
years with one manufacturer you
would change and feel comfort-
able on a new bike. It looks like
this is happening so we can only
be happy."
Another rider happy with his
test was former Suzuki factory
star Aleix Espargaro. Debuting
for the Gresini Aprilia factory
squad, Espargaro went ninth
fastest with a time of 1:30.885
to edge clear of the impressive
Tech3 Yamaha rookie Jonas
Folger in 10th.
"The RS-GP is a little bit more
competitive than what I ex-
pected, the front is really, really
good and I'm looking forward to
improving, developing the bike
and see if we can go in the right
direction," said Espargaro.
Two-time and current Moto2
World Champion Johann Zarco
finished his first MotoGP test in
11th place, just behind Tech3
teammate Folger. Assen Mo-
toGP race winner Jack Miller
was 12th on the Estrella Galicia
0,0 Marc VDS Honda, followed
by Pramac Ducati's Scott Red-
ding, new Aspar Ducati signing
Alvaro Bautista and Hector Bar-
bera completing the top 15.
It was a tough debut for the
Red Bull KTM MotoGP squad,
with riders Pol Espargaro and
Bradley Smith ending the test
continued on page 34
Iannone was
immediately fast
on the Suzuki.
