OVER the three-day tyre safety test at Phillip Island, it has been Jorge Lorenzo has topped the time-sheets as well as also improving on his time each day.
Factory Yamaha's Lorenzo carried out a race simulation where he completed consecutive laps in the low-mid 1:30's, but the fastest lap that the double MotoGP World Champion had set was on a 2013 specification race tyre.
At the second Sepang test last week, it was clear that Lorenzo had some frustrations with the new 2014 specification tyre, however after the Phillip Island test, Lorenzo appears more comfortable with the new options.
Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa finished the day in second, but was unable to improve from his time set yesterday. Pedrosa's team-mate Marc Marquez has remained in Spain during this test as he recuperates from his leg injury sustained a couple of weeks ago.
Nine time MotoGP World Champion Valentino Rossi almost completed a full race simulation, but finished the test 0.486 seconds down on his team-mate Lorenzo. Although this test was mainly about tyres instead of lap times and bike development, Rossi as well as Lorenzo also tested a new fairing.
Cal Crutchlow completed 39 laps on the final day, 18 of which were part of a race simulation before front end issues began. His Ducati team-mate Andrea Dovizioso only completed 23 laps on the final day due to an ongoing illness and finished the day early in fifth.
In Moto2, Esteve 'Tito' Rabat crashed his Marc VDS Racing Kalex bike twice, but was luckily was primarily unhurt despite causing major damage to the bike in the second crash. However, Rabat finished only 3.1s off Lorenzo's lap time.
Rabat's team-mate Mika Kallio finished in third with Jordi Torres was the only Moto2 rider to improve his time on the final day finishing the day in second with Rabat's Finnish team-mate Mika Kallio finishing in third. Torres' Mapfre Aspar team-mate Nico Terol finished in fourth.
Pre-season testing has now finished for the MotoGP riders who attended the Phillip Island test, however all other MotoGP riders have a final three-day test at the Losail circuit in Qatar from 7th-9th March before the opening round of the season from 20th-23rd March in Qatar.
Times at the end of day 3 of the Phillip Island tyre safety test:
1. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Yamaha Factory Racing 1:29.068
2. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team 1:29.458 (+0.390)
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha Factory Racing 1:29.554 (+0.486)
4. Cal Crutchlow GBR Ducati Team* 1:29.606 (+0.538)
5. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team* 1:30.101 (+1.033)
6. Esteve Rabat ESP Marc VDS Racing** 1:32.194 (+3.126)
7. Jordi Torres ESP Mapfre Aspar Team** 1:32.998 (+3.930)
8. Mika Kallio FIN Marc VDS Racing** 1:33.149 (+4.081)
9. Nico Terol ESP Mapfre Aspar Team** 1:34.443 (+5.375)
