Fabio Quartararo and Yamaha emerged with the fastest lap time across the three-day pre-season test at Sepang, but Ducati may be harbouring concerns over its potential 2020 race pace.
Danilo Petrucci led a Ducati 1-2-3-4 at the test 12 months ago, but the works Ducati rider managed just the sixth best time across the three days, and was two places down on Pramac Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
Bagnaia’s Australian teammate Jack Miller was eighth on combined times, with Andrea Dovizioso 15th overall, 0.510s down on Quartararo.
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Six manufacturers featured in the top 10, with four filling the top four spots. Ducati, though, was the lowest of the big four behind Yamaha, Honda, and Suzuki, with Bagnaia the highest finishing Desmosedici rider.
While Quartararo set the fastest single lap time, with the top 18 riders split by 0.820s on the final day, Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha) and Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar) proved the benchmarks when it came to longer runs, the Spaniards setting a consistent high pace throughout.
Dovizioso was “quite satisfied” with the overall performance on the GP20, and set his fastest lap on the hard tyre compound – but admitted Ducati has work to do when it comes to consistent race pace, saying it will be “really difficult to make a complete evaluation” off Ducati’s Sepang test results leading into the second test preceding the season-opener at Qatar.
“This morning we were able to put in several laps, improving the bike setup and also my feeling with the new tyres,” the Italian said.
“It had not been easy because I had to adapt my riding style, and I was struggling a lot with this in the beginning.
“Danilo and I did a few laps together … the pace was good, but the tyre performance dropped quite a lot. We still need to understand how they will work on a race distance and here in Sepang, where the conditions are peculiar due to the high temperatures.
“I am sure that the final classification of these three days doesn’t completely reflect what will happen in the championship this year”.
Miller – who had a fall on the final day – said he was “very surprised” by his pace on the medium rear tyre, having conducted development work on the 2020 bike.
“A positive final three-day test... we made many changes today, we were lucky that it was dry until the last 20 minutes,” Miller said after the final say’s action.
“We are always happier with how the bike works, there are still a few details to work on but in general we have always been fast over the three days and we have done what we wanted.
“Today I had the best time with the medium rear tyre and I was very surprised. We have worked well with the team, now a couple of days to relax and then I will start preparing for Qatar.”
Miller added in a Q&A on his official website that his 2020 bike still feels “a little bit better in every aspect” than the older-spec machine.
“Acceleration, turning, the electronics, the consistency... many different things,” wrote Miller.
“I can’t see too many negatives with the bike, nearly all positives. And there’s still more to be found which makes me pretty positive.
“We need to sit with the computers and see what they’re telling us... mentally, it always takes a few laps for the eyes and brain to recalibrate and get used to the speed again, and everything coming at you so fast.
“It’s the same for all of us, doesn’t matter how you long you’ve been doing it... being fit and being race-fit are two different things, that’s for sure.”
Teammate Bagnaia, who conducted a long run at the end of the day, spoke along the same vein as Dovizioso and Miller: “It was a very positive day, in the time attack we were very fast.
“What I liked this morning was the consistency with my pace and this afternoon’s simulation helped us to understand a lot of things, how these tyres behave and how to improve my riding style to keep a better pace.
“In general it was a positive test, we are happy and we start with a good base for Qatar.”
https://www.foxsports.com.au/motorsport/moto-gp/motogp-2020-sepang-motogp-preseason-test-results-jack-miller-news-ducati/news-story/e0db0a917131716904ea48a4e7c8ccb6
2020-02-10 04:48:00Z
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