Marquez ends Valencia post-season test on top

MotoGP's newly-crowned four-time champion Marc Marquez recorded the fastest lap of the post-season test at Valencia on the second and final day of running.

Marquez established himself at the top of the timing screens an hour and a half into the day, logging a time just a tenth slower than Maverick Vinales' pace-setting effort from the opening day.

But Vinales' benchmark remained unsurpassed for several more hours, until Marquez ramped up the pace with 60 minutes left on the clock.

The reigning champion first recorded a 1m30.037s lap and then went 0.004s quicker the next time by to end Wednesday's running comfortably on top.

Teammate Dani Pedrosa was closest to Marquez on the day, likewise improving late on to finish four tenths behind his fellow Honda rider.

Tech 3 privateer Johann Zarco, who continued to trial the 2017 Yamaha chassis, was the quickest representative of the Japanese marque, finishing 0.003s behind Pedrosa despite a Turn 4 off midway through the seven-hour session.

Jorge Lorenzo made up the top four for Ducati, with his factory teammate – 2017 runner-up Andrea Dovizioso – ending his Wednesday programme early and winding up only 15th.

Vinales spent much of the day trialling Yamaha's new aero fairing, before returning to the standard version and moving up to fifth in the running order.

His teammate Valentino Rossi placed seventh with the 2016-spec chassis, with Cal Crutchlow slotting in between the Yamaha duo.

Pramac Ducati's new signing Jack Miller was first out on track in the morning and duly crashed on his third lap, lamenting a lack of heat in the tyre.

Having shunted his only bike, he was sidelined for three hours as a result, before returning to the track and eventually ending up eighth.

Suzuki's two riders had sat out Tuesday due to a virus, but ran sizable programmes on the second day of the test. Andrea Iannone wound up ninth in the order, having suffered a crash at Turn 2, while Alex Rins placed 14th.

Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro was 10th, followed by the KTM duo - with his brother Pol Espargaro, whose day featured a crash and a mechanical failure, narrowly heading teammate Bradley Smith.

Marc VDS Honda's Franco Morbidelli was again the lead rookie in 16th, 0.081s ahead of fellow Moto2 graduate Takaaki Nakagami.

Both were among the crashers on the day, with Tito Rabat and Scott Redding – newcomers at Avintia Ducati and Aprilia respectively – also falling off their bikes.

Aspar Ducati riders Karel Abraham and Alvaro Bautista both sat out the day as a consequence of their respective crashes on Tuesday.