Moto GP Barcelona :Marquez leads post-race test .

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Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez set the pace in the post-Catalunya Grand Prix test at Barcelona, beating Maverick Vinales in the closing minutes.

Other than Ducati, which won on Sunday with Andrea Dovizioso, and the satellite Aspar and Avintia outfits, teams stayed on at Barcelona for one day of official in-season testing.

Championship leader Vinales finished a perplexed 10th in the race, as Yamaha struggled, but looked set to bounce back with the fastest time with a 1m44.932s recorded early in the afternoon.

Yamaha has a pair of new frames to evaluate during two days of testing this week, having scrapped a plan to run at Aragon on Wednesday to instead remain at Barcelona on Tuesday.

In a shootout inside the final five minutes, Marquez turned a 1m44.340s to move from fifth to first, 0.592 seconds clear of Vinales.

Both riders improved again, with Marquez’s 1m44.071s good enough to finish 0.366s faster than his fellow Spaniard.

 

Tech3 Yamaha rider Jonas Folger finished third ahead of the pole-sitter for Sunday’s race, Dani Pedrosa, albeit both more than nine tenths adrift.

Aleix Espargaro set the fifth-fastest time for Aprilia, ahead of LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, Folger’s teammate Johann Zarco, Scott Redding and Tito Rabat.

Valentino Rossi finished 10th with a 1m45.635s, 1.564s slower than Marquez.

Suzuki had three bikes in action, as rookie Alex Rins returned after breaking his left wrist in two places at Austin in April.

Rins set the 17th-fastest time, just ahead of his injury stand-in Sylvain Guintoli and three spots behind regular teammate Andrea Iannone.

Suzuki will join Yamaha in testing at Barcelona on Tuesday, along with KTM, which is staying until Wednesday but without Bradley Smith due to his finger injury sustained on Saturday.

 

Test results:

 Pos  Driver  Bike  Time  Gap  Laps 
 Marc Marquez Honda 1’44.071 82
 Maverick Vinales Yamaha 1’44.437 0.366 81
 Jonas Folger Yamaha 1’44.972 0.901 42
 Dani Pedrosa Honda 1’45.003 0.932 53
 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1’45.046 0.975 48
 Cal Crutchlow Honda 1’45.296 1.225 60
 Johann Zarco Yamaha 1’45.452 1.381 33
 Scott Redding Ducati 1’45.565 1.494 59
 Tito Rabat Honda 1’45.582 1.511 59
10   Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1’45.635 1.564 71
11   Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1’45.863 1.792 28
12   Jack Miller Honda 1’45.897 1.826 52
13   Pol Espargaro KTM 1’46.107 2.036 75
14   Andrea Iannone Suzuki 1’46.130 2.059 78
15   Sam Lowes Aprilia 1’46.389 2.318 43
16   Mika Kallio KTM 1’46.405 2.334 61
17   Alex Rins Suzuki 1’46.490 2.419 62
18   Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki 1’47.055 2.984 55

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