---
title: "Vinales on top on day two of Qatar test"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2017/03/11/vinales-top-day-two-qatar-test/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "MotoGP News"
published: "2017-03-11T20:16:00Z"
modified: "2017-03-11T20:16:49Z"
---

# Vinales on top on day two of Qatar test

Maverick Vinales ended the second day of the final MotoGP pre-season test in Qatar top of the time sheets, edging Yamaha team-mate Valentino Rossi by 0.277s.

The day got off to a slow start, with spots of rain early on forcing most to seek refuge in their garages. Mercifully, the weather quickly improved and everyone cracked on with their programme’s for Saturday.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/652132788.jpg)

Vinales has been fastest in every test so far this pre-season, and once again in Qatar the Spaniard is finding his YZR-M1 a joy to ride. Completing 49 laps on Saturday, Vinales dipped half a second underneath the Losail circuit record with a 1m54.455s.

Rossi struggled on corner entry on Friday, but has seemingly made headway in this area, shooting up to second on the time sheets later in the day despite a nasty off. Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Jonas Folger completed the top three, just 0.462s off of the pace.

LCR’s Cal Crutchlow was top Honda rider again in Qatar in fourth, the Briton making up for lost time today after a technical issue limited his lap count on Friday.

Despite coming off of his RC213V at Turn 12 with 40 minutes of the session remaining, Crutchlow still managed 46 laps, setting a best effort of 1m55.032s on his 43rd tour.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/651541986.jpg)

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro put the Noale factory’s progress with the RS-GP over the winter on display this evening, the Spaniard guided his motorcycle to a 1m55.121s to go fifth. Team-mate Sam Lowes continued to get to grips with the 2017 bike down in 20th.

Marc Marquez was sixth quickest on Saturday after completing 50 laps of the Qatari track, though did not run HRC’s aerodynamic fairing.

Ducati, on the other hand, finally unveiled their aerodynamic fairing. The Italian marque’s design is a radical take on what Aprilia has done, utilising a front bubble with tunnels on each side to recreate the effect the now-banned strakes of 2016 had.

Andrea Dovizioso was tasked with gathering data on it, and as such his times were not quite as headline-grabbing as they were yesterday. The Italian was 13th on a 1m55.583 after 42 laps, with factory team-mate Jorge Lorenzo eighth and growing in confidence on the Desmosedici.

> Twitter: Something new in the aerodynamics field from #DucatiTeam being tested now by #AD04 #forzaducati https://t.co/JVLCgNh1Ig (@DucatiMotor)

Pramac Racing’s Scott Redding reverted to the forks he used throughout the 2016 season, and this had a positive effect as the Briton was able to ride the GP16 more confidently. He ended the evening ninth, with Tech 3’s Johann Zarco rounding out the top 10.

Karel Abraham continues to impress on the two-year-old GP15, the Aspar rider improving on his best time from yesterday by two tenths to a 1m55.420s to go 11th. Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone was 12th, while Danilo Petrucci and Loris Baz completed the top 15.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/651544654.jpg)

KTM has brought a new engine with them to Qatar. However, it hasn’t been the massive step forward hoped for, and as a result the Austrian marque will race the previous version of its ‘screamer’ motor in two weeks’ time.

Pol Espargaro, Bradley Smith and test rider Mika Kallio brought up the rear of the field on their RC16s, the trio completing a useful 140 laps between them.

Pre-season testing concludes tomorrow from 16:00 (GMT+3).

![](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2017/03/2017-03-11-3-1.png)