Maverick Vinales topped the times for a second day in a row today, the new Yamaha rider finishing the third and final day of the session with a 1: 28.549.
"Today we had the opportunity to attempt two race simulations with Maverick and we also tried some new settings with Valentino," said Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Team Director. "The fast pace that Maverick was able to keep up during the long runs proves that we have improved the rear tyre life, which was one of our main objectives for this season."
"Though we couldn‘t fully decide which chassis we will use, we accomplished most of what we had set out to do here and we leave Phillip Island topping today‘s and the combined timesheets thanks to Maverick‘s impressive 1‘28.549s lap. We secured a lot of interesting information, which will allow our engineers to prepare another step for the test in Qatar in March."
The young Spaniard was just under three tenths of a second faster than reigning champion, Marc Marquez with his Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, finishing third overall, almost two tenths of a second further back.
Jorge Lorenzo had a better day finishing ninth overall, eight tenths off Vinales pace, yet less than a tenth behind Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso.
Valentino Rossi was twelfth fastest, almost a second off his new teammate's leading pace.
Combined classification after Day3:
1. Maverick VIÑALES, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1:28.549 – Session 3
2. Marc MARQUEZ, Repsol Honda Team – 1:28.843 +0.294 – Session 3
3. Dani PEDROSA, Repsol Honda Team – 1:29.033 +0.484 – Session 3
4. Jonas FOLGER, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1:29.042 +0.493 – Session 3
5. Cal CRUTCHLOW, LCR Honda – 1:29.101 +0.552 – Session 3
6. Alex RINS, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1:29.103 +0.554 – Session 3
7. Andrea DOVIZIOSO, Ducati Team – 1:29.248 +0.699 – Session 3
8. Jorge LORENZO, Ducati Team – 1:29.342 +0.793 – Session 3
9. Jack MILLER Marc, VDS Racing Team – 1:29.358 +0.809 – Session 3
10. Aleix ESPARGARO, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 1:29.361 +0.812 – Session 3
11. Alvaro BAUTISTA, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 1:29.411 +0.862 – Session 2
12. Valentino ROSSI, Movistar Yamaha MotoGP – 1:29.470 +0.921 – Session 3
13. Andrea IANNONE, Team SUZUKI ECSTAR – 1:29.547 +0.998 – Session 3
14. Danilo PETRUCCI, Octo Pramac Racing – 1:29.615 +1.066 – Session 3
15. Johann ZARCO, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 – 1:29.670 +1.121 – Session 3
16. Hector BARBERA, Reale Esponsorama Racing – 1:29.791 +1.242 – Session 3
17. Pol ESPARGARO, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1:29.857 +1.308 – Session 3
18. Loris BAZ, Reale Esponsorama Racing – 1:29.977 +1.428 – Session 3
19. Bradley SMITH, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1:29.978 +1.429 – Session 3
20. Scott REDDING, Octo Pramac Racing – 1:30.005 +1.456 – Session 3
21. Karel ABRAHAM, Pull&Bear Aspar Team – 1:30.142 +1.593 – Session 2
22. Sam LOWES, Aprilia Racing Team Gresini – 1:30.200 +1.651 – Session 3