Maverick Vinales first on Sepang MotoGP test day 3

Maverick Vinales was fastest on the last day of MotoGP’s test in Malaysia. The Yamaha driver’s time was 1:59.368min, 0.138sec better than Mark Marquez’s best lap.

Andrea Dovizioso with Ducati was third.

Maverick Vinales said:

“Today again, like yesterday, we worked mainly on the race pace. We improved the pace a lot. I am quite surprised I could attain a 1’59 and I am really happy, because it was very fast and the bike was going well. We tried many things during this week, so I think we can have a better package for the next test in Australia. We will bring many good things to Phillip Island. At the moment it is difficult to say which aspect of the bike surprised me most. We are developing the bike, trying to better the package that we have, and I think for sure we have the best bike at the moment for one lap and on race distance. Step by step we are choosing the best things.”

Marc Marquez said:

“I’m much happier with my position today, even if the rhythm is really more important. We did a lot of laps, aiming to do as much work as possible. And indeed we did a good job; we completed much of our work schedule, though not everything. We need to make further improvements in some areas where I’m not yet totally comfortable, but even so, I’m happy that we got better and better over the three days, which is the most important thing. Today we again worked a lot on the electronics and also on the bike setup. In the last hour I did a mini-long run of 11 laps, sacrificing the time-attack a bit, but for us it was more important to work on the pace. I’m generally very happy with how the three days went.”

Andrea Dovizioso said:

“I’m very satisfied with the work we have done in these tests, because despite the weather conditions, we were able to do all the scheduled tests and checks and gather important information for our development. I have a good feeling with my bike, better than last year, something I really didn’t expect, but back in the factory the engineers have really done a good job. We have a good base, but we still have to improve some of our characteristics, even though I am leaving Malaysia very happy. In a few days’ time there will be an important test at Phillip Island, which is a completely different circuit to Sepang, and our aim will be to also be competitive on that track.”

Day 3 test times: