[kropotkin thinks...] - 2016 Phillip Island MotoGP Test Thursday Round Up: A New Alie

[Ninjette Newsbot]

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Faces dropped as teams headed into the paddock at Phillip Island on Thursday morning. Another day of rain? Surely not. Had they not suffered enough? What was needed was some dry track time, so that the teams could get on with the piles of work they still have to do getting ready for the 2016 season, and Michelin could start to get some proper feedback on their slicks.

Their supplications to the heavens did not go unanswered. As the day went on, the sun came out and the track dried out, conditions getting better and better. By the end of the session, lap times were tumbling, riders getting close to the times set during the race in October, and Maverick Viñales getting a tenth under Marc Márquez' best race lap.

Consistency is king

Was Viñales' lap just a fluke? Not according to the lap charts. Viñales finished ahead of Marc Márquez, Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, less than three tenths separating the four of them. But Viñales' fastest lap was not a one-off. The young Suzuki rider had two laps faster than Márquez' best lap, and three laps better than the best of the two Movistar Yamaha men. In total, he had ten laps in the 1'29s, only Rossi having more, the Italian having lapped eleven times in the 1'29 bracket.

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