Andrea Iannone led a Ducati 1-2 on Saturday as the final MotoGP pre-season test got underway under the floodlights at Losail. The new GP15 impressed many straight out of the box in Malaysia and Iannone underlined its promise, edging out his teammate Andrea Dovizioso and reigning champion Marc Marquez.
The session didn’t start well for Valentino Rossi and Movistar Yamaha, the Italian crashing shortly before sunset, but his compatriots were competitive from the outset, Iannone and Dovizioso breaking into the 1:55s. Aleix Espargaro was another rider to start quickly on the ever-improving Suzuki but the Spaniard was soon relegated from third by Marquez.
The field was incredibly closely matched behind the top four with just a tenth of a second covering five riders from fifth-placed Dani Pedrosa to Bradley Smith in ninth. That group included the Movistar Yamahas of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi with the team having decided between Sepang 2 and Losail to run their new seamless gearbox on a permanent basis in 2015. Lorenzo and Rossi were sixth and eighth respectively, sandwiching CWM-LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow, while Bradley Smith and Scott Redding completed the top ten on a promising night for the British riders.
The rookies experienced mixed fortunes with Maverick Vinales damaging both of his Suzuki GSX-RR machines in accidents, forcing him to end his evening early, but the production-spec Hondas made gains, allowing Jack Miller to finish within two seconds of the ultimate pace.
2015 MotoGP Testing: Losail – March 14
| 1 | Andrea Iannone | Ducati | Ducati Team | 1:55.265 |
| 2 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | Ducati Team | 1:55.363 |
| 3 | Marc Marquez | Honda | Repsol Honda Team | 1:55.554 |
| 4 | Aleix Espargaro | Suzuki | Team Suzuki MotoGP | 1:55.698 |
| 5 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | Repsol Honda Team | 1:55.813 |
| 6 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1:55.828 |
| 7 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | CWM LCR Honda | 1:55.837 |
| 8 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | Movistar Yamaha MotoGP | 1:55.938 |
| 9 | Bradley Smith | Yamaha | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:55.954 |
| 10 | Scott Redding | Honda | Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS | 1:56.112 |
| 11 | Maverick Vinales | Suzuki | Team Suzuki MotoGP | 1:56.130 |
| 12 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | Pramac Racing | 1:56.132 |
| 13 | Yonny Hernandez | Ducati | Pramac Racing | 1:56.301 |
| 14 | Pol Espargaro | Yamaha | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | 1:56.615 |
| 15 | Karel Abraham | Honda | AB Motoracing | 1:56.638 |
| 16 | Mike di Meglio | Ducati | Avintia Racing | 1:56.719 |
| 17 | Nicky Hayden | Honda | Drive M7 Aspar | 1:57.099 |
| 18 | Stefan Bradl | Forward Yamaha | Forward Racing | 1:57.146 |
| 19 | Jack Miller | Honda | CWM LCR Honda | 1:57.228 |
| 20 | Loris Baz | Forward Yamaha | Forward Racing | 1:57.376 |
| 21 | Hector Barbera | Ducati | Avintia Racing | 1:57.405 |
| 22 | Eugene Laverty | Honda | Drive M7 Aspar | 1:57.500 |
| 23 | Michele Pirro | Ducati | Ducati Test Team | 1:57.664 |
| 24 | Alex de Angelis | ART | Octo IodaRacing Team | 1:58.026 |
| 25 | Alvaro Bautista | Aprilia | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1:58.459 |
| 26 | Marco Melandri | Aprilia | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | 1:58.990 |
