Source: Supplied.

Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) completed his incredible MotoGP pre-season form by the end of the Qatar test, taking to the top once again on the final day of testing ahead of lights out for the race weekend.

Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) was the closest challenger after also having gone quickest on day one, with Repsol Honda Team’s Dani Pedrosa completing the top three on day three.

Viñales’ quickest was a 1m54.330s – the fastest lap on day three and overall – heading Dovizioso by only 0.071s on the final day. The gap back to Pedrosa was smaller again at 0.068s, with P4 closer still and only 0.050s in arrears. The man in fourth was new Ducati Team recruit Jorge Lorenzo.

After the Borgo Panigale factory broke cover on a radical new aero fairing design on day two – put through some paces by Andrea Dovizioso – it was ‘Spartan’ Lorenzo’s turn on the third and final day of testing, alongside the more traditional fairing design of the Desmosedici.

The five-time world champion did 53 laps in total on day three and showed his real progress since first taking the GP16 out for a spin in Valencia – a 1m54.519s and a tenth off his team-mate.

There was more good reading for Ducati slightly further back. Alvaro Bautista had another impressive day of pre-season as it came to a close, locking out the top five for Pull&Bear Aspar on his GP16, just ahead of another good day for Octo Pramac Racing’s Scott Redding in sixth.

Bautista also suffered a crash, alongside incidents for a number of other riders on the grid including team-mate Karel Abraham, Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar), Danilo Petrucci (Octo Pramac Racing), Sam Lowes and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and reigning world champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team).

Marquez, who completed the day in 10th on the time-sheets, crashed three times before the close of action in the final session. He also tested a new and more radically different fairing design on his Honda – radical compared to the first adjustment to have broken cover earlier in the test.

The number 26 Repsol Honda was the faster of the two on day three, with Pedrosa flying the flag in third. A 1m54.469s for Pedrosa took back the honour of top Honda from day one and day two’s fastest for the Japanese manufacturer Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) and moved the Spaniard up more than 10 places. Crutchlow ended up eighth.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rookies Jonas Folger and Johann Zarco continued to impress, with Folger again fastest rookie in seventh. Reigning Moto2 world champion Zarco was P9 by the end of the day, less than a tenth off his German teammate.

With one Movistar Yamaha rider at the top of the time-sheets, nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi ended the final day of testing in 11th. The Doctor had a day two of two contrasting fortunes with a crash, but a huge improvement and breakthrough in pace, before day three saw a more muted presence on the time-sheets.

Iannone took P12 despite his crash as Abraham split the Suzukis in 13th, just ahead of rookie Alex Rins. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) ended the final day of pre-season in 15th, after running much further up the time-sheets earlier in the day. Aussie Jack Miller (Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS) was 16th on combined times.

Next up? Same venue, same faces, and a very different reality. Two weeks remain until race day, as Losail International Circuit hosts the first GP of the year from the 23-26 March, where another chapter in MotoGP history awaits.