Photo: motogp.com
Standing 2913 CRT champion Aleix Espargaro led the first day of the final pre-season test at the Losail circuit in Qatar. The Forward Yamaha rider was clocked with the fastest lap of the day towards the end of the session, as he posted a 1m55s386 lap.
Well under the fastest lap of the circuit set by Jorge Lorenzo in 2008 (pole position with 1m53s927), Espargaro’s time is however very close to the 1m55s153 circuit record set by Casey Stoner in the same year. We’ve already seen Aleix Espargaro riding exceptionally fast aboard his new M1-powered machine and we expect him to cause quite a stir in the upcoming season.
The Factory riders had their final testing sessions at Phillip Island few days ago, so Losail was an Open-class affair solely. The elder of the Espargaro brothers was followed by the Tech3 duo, Bradley Smith and younger Pol Espargaro, 0.25s and 0.68s adrift, respectively. Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista was 4th , with the other Honda (LCR) and Stefan Bradl 5th. Top 10 was complete with Iannone, Edwards. Hernadez, Hayden and rookie Scott Redding.
It’s hard to integrate these results with the rest of the field, especially with the top riders not taking part in this test, but we’re surely going to have a lot of fun on March 23 when the first round of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship will take place. Ducati going Open, elder Espargaro being unnaturally fast and seemingly having more chances for podiums than he ever did, Dorna causing even more stir with their Factory 2 class ideas… the 2014 season kicks off in quite a crazy atmosphere.
The Factory riders had their final testing sessions at Phillip Island few days ago, so Losail was an Open-class affair solely. The elder of the Espargaro brothers was followed by the Tech3 duo, Bradley Smith and younger Pol Espargaro, 0.25s and 0.68s adrift, respectively. Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista was 4th , with the other Honda (LCR) and Stefan Bradl 5th. Top 10 was complete with Iannone, Edwards. Hernadez, Hayden and rookie Scott Redding.
It’s hard to integrate these results with the rest of the field, especially with the top riders not taking part in this test, but we’re surely going to have a lot of fun on March 23 when the first round of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship will take place. Ducati going Open, elder Espargaro being unnaturally fast and seemingly having more chances for podiums than he ever did, Dorna causing even more stir with their Factory 2 class ideas… the 2014 season kicks off in quite a crazy atmosphere.
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