VOL. 54 ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 7, 2017 P31
0.084 seconds slower than
the rider he replaced, having
headed the sheets on day two.
Iannone was 0.054 seconds
ahead of third-fastest Marc
Marquez (Repsol Honda). Then
came Andrea Dovizioso on the
second Ducati, marginally ahead
of Honda's Pedrosa, and then
Rossi.
Top non-factory rider was Al-
varo Bautista in seventh, adapt-
ing instantly to his Aspar Ducati
GP16 and just one-hundredth
faster than Ducati tester Casey
Stoner, who had topped the
sheets on day one.
Lorenzo finished up 10th as he
gets his head around the many
differences from Yamaha to
Ducati, but pronounced him-
self confident of continuing his
steady rate of improvement to be
fully competitive by the time the
real racing begins.
With a new Michelin in the
test, and riders variously working
on fast single laps (Iannone) and
race rhythm (Marquez), the first-
test times are open to interpreta-
tion. But the closeness whetted
the appetite, with two more tests
to follow (Phillip Island and
Qatar) before the first race at
Qatar on March 26.
Michael Scott
Iannone was
fast across
single lap runs
but it remains to
be seen if he'll
be able to stand
a full race at
that pace.
Marquez wasn't
overly flashy
at the test, just
consistently fast
after testing a
variety of engine
configurations.
