Jorge Lorenzo fastest on final day of MotoGP test at Sepang

Lorenzo fastest as opening test ends

Yamaha's Jorge Lorenzo blitzed the final day of MotoGP's opening pre-season test at Sepang, as Casey Stoner starred for Ducati.

Reigning world champion Lorenzo topped the first day of the three-day test on Monday, and after setting the second-fastest time on Tuesday reasserted his dominance on Wednesday.

With one hour remaining, Lorenzo was 0.540 seconds clear of team-mate Valentino Rossi with a 2m00.016s effort, but there was more to come.

Lorenzo improved to 1m59.966s, the week's first lap beneath the two-minute barrier, and then underlined his dominance when he logged a 1m59.595s with 15 minutes remaining.

For good measure, he then recorded a 1m59.580s lap inside the final 90 seconds.

The lap was quicker than Lorenzo's fastest time during last October's Malaysian Grand Prix at the circuit, and just over half a second off Dani Pedrosa's pole lap, as the field was confined to Michelin's hard compound following Loris Baz's Tuesday crash.

More importantly, Lorenzo's time was 0.976s clear of Rossi, who did not improve in the afternoon after a rain shower interrupted running, while the first 90 minutes were also lost to inclement weather.

Honda's Marc Marquez slotted into third in the closing stages, but finished the day 1.303s behind Lorenzo.

LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow was another late improver and finished the day a strong fourth, while Marquez's team-mate Dani Pedrosa was sixth.

Between them was Stoner.

The two-time world champion shared the track with the MotoGP field for the first time since 2012 on Tuesday, and continued that programme on the final day.

Riding Ducati's 2015 machine, Stoner set his lap of 2m01.096s on his first run, to go second at the time, and he finished the day fifth.

Tuesday pacesetter Danilo Petrucci was seventh, ahead of factory Ducati rider Andrea Iannone.

The Italian crashed early on his 2015 Ducati, before setting his fastest time on the 2016 Desmosedici, with team-mate Andrea Dovizioso 13th.

Scott Redding and Maverick Vinales completed the top 10, ahead of Hector Barbera and Aleix Espargaro.

Tech 3 Yamaha rider Bradley Smith was the busiest man of the day, logging 65 laps on his way to 16th, including a mammoth stint late in the day.

After sitting out Tuesday's running following his crash on Monday, Eugene Laverty returned to action and was 22nd fastest.

Phillip Island will host the next test on February 17-19.

Pos	Rider	Team	Bike	Gap	Laps
1	Jorge Lorenzo	Yamaha	Yamaha	1m59.580s	36
2	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	Yamaha	0.976s	38
3	Marc Marquez	Honda	Honda	1.303s	45
4	Cal Crutchlow	LCR	Honda	1.412s	42
5	Casey Stoner	Ducati	Ducati	1.490s	30
6	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	Honda	1.581s	48
7	Danilo Petrucci	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1.637s	18
8	Andrea Iannone	Ducati	Ducati	1.643s	38
9	Scott Redding	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1.649s	42
10	Maverick Vinales	Suzuki	Suzuki	1.664s	51
11	Hector Barbera	Avintia Racing	Ducati	1.854s	30
12	Aleix Espargaro	Suzuki	Suzuki	2.043s	44
13	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	Ducati	2.095s	34
14	Yonny Hernandez	Aspar	Ducati	2.194s	40
15	Pol Espargaro	Tech 3	Yamaha	2.290s	44
16	Bradley Smith	Tech 3	Yamaha	2.338s	65
17	Loris Baz	Avintia Racing	Ducati	2.961s	33
18	Stefan Bradl	Aprilia Gresini	Aprilia	3.212s	44
19	Katsuyuki Nakasuga	Yamaha	Yamaha	3.360s	27
20	Esteve Rabat	Marc VDS	Honda	3.432s	57
21	Alvaro Bautista	Aprilia Gresini	Aprilia	3.603s	46
22	Eugene Laverty	Aspar	Ducati	3.939s	25

source:http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/122676