Viñales leads Quartararo halfway through Day 3

Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) currently leads the way on Day 3 of the Official MotoGP™ Qatar Test with a 1:54.953, 0.045 ahead of fellow YZR-M1 rider and Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT). Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) is third at 16:30 local time in the Qatari desert.

On the final 2020 preseason test day, World Champion Marc Marquez has three RC213Vs in his side of the garage, on of them being Takaaki Nakagami’s (LCR Honda Idemitsu) 2019 machine, as HRC try to make headway before the season opener in a couple of weeks’ time. Elsewhere, Petrucci has two different fairings on his GP20s, a 2019 version and a 2020 version.

Michelin’s Head of Two-Wheel Motorsport Piero Taramasso has told motogp.com that the riders are going to be given the front tyres that will be available during the Qatar GP race weekend, with the harder option being asymmetric. So, expect some race simulations to be done on those tyres when the time in Qatar gets to around the time of when the premier class will be racing.

Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is the only rider who is yet to venture out on Day 3, while Iker Lecuona (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) crashed at Turn 15, rider ok.  

Don’t forget to tune into After the Flag LIVE at 17:30 CET for an in-depth debrief of the three days with Matt Birt, Steve Day and Simon Crafar. Interviews, highlights and more will be available on motogp.com at the end of the day too as we find out who leads the field into the opening race weekend of 2020.

Top 10 (16:30 LT)
1. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) – 1:54.953
2. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.045
3. Danilo Petrucci (Ducati Team) + 0.060
4. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.204
5. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) + 0.244
6. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.258
7. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 0.261
8. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.430
9. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) + 0.545
10. Johann Zarco (Reale Avintia Racing) + 0.560

Follow the Day 3 times via Live Timing!