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Looking at the times, Andrea Dovizioso can go on holiday pleased with his work. He stopped the clock on 1’37”663 at Jerez today, that is two tenths quicker than the 1’37”910 set by Lorenzo on the Yamaha in 2015 (so with Bridgestones) which was the fastest lap ever set at the Spanish track during a GP. This time can also be put down, in part, to the track resurfacing work carried out this summer.
Lap times during testing are always taken with a pinch of salt, particularly at Jrez, a track that is often quicker in autumn than it is in spring, but there's not denying that the Ducati is very fast. Also with Lorenzo, who set a time of 1’37”921, he too just a few thousandths of a second off the record.
The two factory riders continued to test the laboratory bike, with some solutions that will serve to define the definitive 2018 bike, which will appear in late January at Sepang. Their work is now done and the GP18 prototype will be in Danilo Petrucci's hands for the first time tomorrow. Today the team Pramac rider was using the GP17, finishing eighth (a good second from Dovi) ahead of his new team-mate Jack Miller (a couple of tenths slower) who continues his apprenticeship with the red bike.
While the Ducati is fast, the Honda, in Cal Crutchlow's hands, is not messing around either. The LCR rider lapped under the track record, closing 0”155 behind Dovizioso. A clear sign that the 2018 version of the RC213V is already very competitive.
Fourth place for Andrea Iannone, who took a couple of tenths off his best time set yesterday, ending day two 0”404 from the #4 Ducati. The Italian shared the garage with Alex Rins today; the Spaniard did an amazing job and, having not ridden yesterday, he completed 78 laps today (the same number as Crutchlow) to close in 6th place, almost 3 tenths behind Iannone.
Andrea set his best time using the medium rear tyre, without using the soft.
“I'm pleased, I got on well again today. Everything's moving in the right direction but it's important to keep out feet on the ground because in MotoGP you can never relax. Tomorrow we have some work to do but the biggest part is already completed. In general we are taking continual steps forward, I'm pleased”.
Placing between the two Suzukis is the KTM of Pol Espargarò, increasingly consistent even if the gap to the front exceeds 6 tenths. Tito Rabat seems to be getting on well with the Ducati, he may be 7 tenths from Dovi but the Spaniard seems more comfortable on the red bike than he was on the Honda last season.
A bike he has passed on to Franco Morbidelli, 11th behind Smith and making progress. The Marc VDS rookie shaved 9 tenths of yesterday's time, ending the day 1”260 from the front and ahead of Nakagami, another Honda rookie.
In 13th place is Scott Redding, who continued to ride the RS-GP17 today but with weight distribution in line with what will be used next year. The Brit is a long way off the pace, 1”623 from the front and only two tenths quicker than test rider Laverty.
For Alex Marquez, the winner of a Honda test, 57 laps and a good 2 second gap from the front, all in all a good result. Xavier Simeon is taking a little time to adapt to the Ducati, as proved by the 2”669 gap.
As for SBK, with no factory Kawasakis and no Davies after yesterday's crash, the quickest rider was Marco Melandri with a time of 1’39”495. The ducatista was one tenth faster than Alex Lowes on the Yamaha, Camier just a fraction of a second behind on the Honda.
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