Qatar MotoGP Testing Results: Yamaha and Suzuki top, Honda struggling

Fabio Quartararo topped the timesheets on the second day of official MotoGP testing at Qatar as Yamaha and Suzuki continued to firm up their status as the teams to beat heading into the new season, not least because defending champions Honda appear to be struggling.

Having featured lower down the timesheets than usual on day one, Quartararo was right back at the sharp end on day two with his 1m 54.038 surpassing Saturday’s best as he edged out Alex Rins on the factory Suzuki.

Indeed, though Rins took a tumble at Turn 1, he was still well in hunt in terms of single lap performance and race pace, while Yamaha too will be pleased to Maverick Vinales, Franco Morbidelli and Valentino Rossi all comfortable inside the top ten in third, fourth and ninth respectively.

Pecco Bagnaia flew the flag for Ducati in fifth position but had a surprise package in stablemate Johann Zarco right there with him sixth position on the satellite Avintia bike.

Joan Mir also shrugged off a crash to go seventh best ahead of Dovizioso, while Takaaki Nakagami was the surprise front runner for Honda on the year-old LCR RC213V in tenth position.

Indeed, it was certainly a sobering day for the reigning champions as Marc Marquez suffered a fall – without consequence – en route to 14th, the reigning champion admitting his troublesome shoulder is still giving him grief.

Meanwhile, Alex Marquez was only 19th fastest, while Cal Crutchlow was forced to miss part of the day when a fall left him with an injured arm that could rule him out of Monday’s final outing. The LCR Honda rider came down at Turn 2 and suffered swelling to his forearm, preventing him from moving his fingers. 

Having starred at Sepang, the Aprilia Racing team is having a tougher time in Qatar with Aleix Espargaro 11th best, while his brother Pol Espargaro could only manage 13th on the leading KTM.

2020 MotoGP Qatar Testing – Day 2/3