Maverick Vinales proved to be Moto3’s man to beat once again, setting the fastest time on the penultimate day of pre-season testing, but the Spaniard ended Wednesday in a Barcelona hospital after an unfortunate crash. The accident took the shine off another impressive day for Vinales who had a comfortable lead over the rest of the field before falling.
The JHK Laglisse rider had clocked a 1:46.603s lap by lunchtime but shortly after doing so, crashed at the Criville corner, getting his right hand lodged under the KTM machine in the process. Vinales lost the nail on his third finger as well as suffering tissue damage, necessitating a trip to the Instituto Universitario USP Dexeus and he will undergo reconstructive surgery as a result on Thursday. The injuries will keep him from riding on the final day of testing tomorrow but his participation in Qatar is not thought to be in any doubt.
Without Vinales, Alex Rins topped the afternoon session although his 1:46.689 was still fractionally slower than his compatriot in the combined result. The four riders who have dominated the winter remained a class above the rest with Jonas Folger and Luis Salom third and fourth, four tenths further back.
A six-tenth gap separated the leaders from fifth placed Brad Binder who remained the best of the rest, just as he had been on Monday. Ambrogio Racing teammate Danny Webb was a subdued 27th following his crash in the wet yesterday with Alex Marquez, Eric Granado, Niklas Ajo, Jakub Kornfeil and Arthur Sissis rounding out the top ten.
| Moto3 Jerez Test: Combined Classification – Wednesday 20th March | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Best Time |
| 1 | 25. Maverick Vinales |  |
JHK t-shirt Laglisse | 1:46.603 |
| 2 | 42. Alex Rins | |
Estrella Galicia 0’0 | 1:46.689 |
| 3 | 94. Jonas Folger |  |
Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 | 1:47.010 |
| 4 | 39. Luis Salom | |
Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1:47.094 |
| 5 | 41. Brad Binder |  |
Ambrogio Racing | 1:47.701 |
| 6 | 12. Alex Marquez | |
Estrella Galicia 0’0 | 1:47.706 |
| 7 | 57. Eric Granado |  |
Mapfre Aspar Team Moto3 | 1:47.742 |
| 8 | 31. Niklas Ajo |  |
Avant Tecno | 1:47.787 |
| 9 | 84. Jakub Kornfeil |  |
Redox RW Racing GP | 1:47.854 |
| 10 | 61. Arthur Sissis |  |
Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1:47.861 |
| 11 | 8. Jack Miller | |
Caretta Technology-RTG | 1:48.038 |
| 12 | 23. Niccolo Antonelli |  |
Go & Fun Gresini Moto3 | 1:48.076 |
| 13 | 44. Miguel Oliveira |  |
Mahindra Racing | 1:48.083 |
| 14 | 32. Isaac Vinales | |
Bimbo-Ongetta-Centro Seta | 1:48.088 |
| 15 | 10. Alexis Masbou |  |
Ongetta-Rivacold | 1:48.253 |
| 16 | 63. Zulfahmi Khairuddin |  |
Red Bull KTM Ajo | 1:48.316 |
| 17 | 5. Romano Fenati | |
San Carlo Team Italia | 1:48.393 |
| 18 | 11. Livio Loi |  |
Marc VDS Racing Team | 1:48.568 |
| 19 | 7. Efren Vazquez | |
Mahindra Racing | 1:48.699 |
| 20 | 77. Lorenzo Baldassarri | |
Go & Fun Gresini Moto3 | 1:48.819 |
| 21 | 19. Alessandro Tonucci | |
Team La Fonte Tascaracing | 1:48.859 |
| 22 | 53. Jasper Iwema |  |
RW Racing GP | 1:48.868 |
| 23 | 4. Francesco Bagnaia | |
San Carlo Team Italia | 1:48.886 |
| 24 | 17. John McPhee |  |
Caretta Technology-RTG | 1:48.907 |
| 25 | 9. Toni Finsterbusch | |
Kiefer Racing | 1:48.988 |
| 26 | 89. Alan Techer | |
CIP Moto3 | 1:49.129 |
| 27 | 99. Danny Webb | |
Ambrogio Racing | 1:49.168 |
| 28 | 65. Philipp Oettl | |
Paddock TT Motion Events | 1:49.248 |
| 29 | 58. Juanfran Guevara | |
CIP Moto3 | 1:49.264 |
| 30 | 3. Matteo Ferrari | |
Ongetta-Centro Seta | 1:49.299 |
| 31 | 22. Ana Carrasco | |
JHK t-shirt Laglisse | 1:49.555 |
| 32 | 66. Florian Alt | |
Kiefer Racing | 1:49.740 |
| 33 | 29. Hyuga Watanabe |  |
Team La Fonte Tascaracing | 1:50.332 |
