Vinales edges out Marquez in Jerez MotoGP test

With the exception of Aspar Ducati, teams stayed on for a single day of testing following the year’s first European event.

After struggling for front-end grip and finishing sixth on Sunday, Vinales set his 1m38.635s late in the morning during Monday's test.

The time was 1.6 seconds quicker than the best recorded during the race, and was not bettered throughout the rest of the day.

Reigning word champion Marquez got close, though, with a lap on his Honda just 0.002s slower than Vinales, also recorded before midday.

Race winner Dani Pedrosa managed to join his Honda teammate in getting within a tenth of Vinales, improving in the final hour to a 1m38.716s to finish 0.081s off.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro set the fourth-fastest time, 0.364s slower than his former Suzuki teammate Vinales, just ahead of Ducati pair Andrea Dovizioso and Jorge Lorenzo.

Cal Crutchlow was seventh, with Hector Barbera, Johann Zarco and Scott Redding completing the top 10, Barbera and Redding joining Pedrosa in improving in the afternoon.

The best of the KTMs was Pol Espargaro in 16th, one spot ahead of teammate Bradley Smith, while Valentino Rossi was a quiet 21st, 1.828s slower than teammate Vinales.

Taking over from Takuya Tsuda as Alex Rins’ injury replacement at Le Mans, Sylvain Guintoli turned 37 laps in the afternoon ahead of Suzuki’s private test at Jerez on Tuesday, and finished at the foot of the times.

Riders worked with the tyres offered by Michelin over the race weekend, and evaluated the front used last November at Valencia but subsequently dropped during pre-season testing.

A group led by Rossi had called for the stiffer construction tyre to be reintroduced, and it was taken to Argentina last month but not used during the grand prix weekend.

Test results:

Pos.	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	25	Maverick Vinales	Yamaha	1m38.635s
2	93	Marc Marquez	Honda	1m38.637s	0.002s
3	26	Dani Pedrosa	Honda	1m38.716s	0.081s
4	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1m38.999s	0.364s
5	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1m39.030s	0.395s
6	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Ducati	1m39.124s	0.489s
7	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1m39.319s	0.684s
8	8	Hector Barbera	Ducati	1m39.460s	0.825s
9	5	Johann Zarco	Yamaha	1m39.528s	0.893s
10	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1m39.536s	0.901s
11	43	Jack Miller	Honda	1m39.548s	0.913s
12	53	Tito Rabat	Honda	1m39.576s	0.941s
13	29	Andrea Iannone	Suzuki	1m39.654s	1.019s
14	94	Jonas Folger	Yamaha	1m39.797s	1.162s
15	9	Danilo Petrucci	Ducati	1m39.879s	1.244s
16	44	Pol Espargaro	KTM	1m39.959s	1.324s
17	38	Bradley Smith	KTM	1m40.111s	1.476s
18	12	Takuya Tsuda	Suzuki	1m40.163s	1.528s
19	76	Loris Baz	Ducati	1m40.377s	1.742s
20	36	Mika Kallio	KTM	1m40.382s	1.747s
21	46	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	1m40.463s	1.828s
22	22	Sam Lowes	Aprilia	1m40.572s	1.937s
23	50	Sylvain Guintoli	Suzuki	1m41.260s	2.625s