Pedrosa Outpaces Marquez On The Final Day Of Testing In Qatar

Both the Honda riders completed their testing plans, which included electronics, aerodynamics, and refinement for race setup and race pace. Pedrosa utilized the test time very well and continued until almost the end of the session.

Marquez suffered three crashes - causing him to abandon a race simulation. The rider was ok after he fell from his Honda multiple times. Both riders will get know how they stack up against the competitor on March 23 at Qatar for the season opener.

After the test, Pedrosa said, "I think today was a positive day in general. We had a few things to sort out from yesterday, and step-by-step we improved our feeling, the lap times and our rhythm in general. The improvement was general, and even if we still have work to do, we gained confidence, and this was a positive end to the pre-season.

"This track is not one of my favourites, but the team did a great job, and things kept improving. We're in better shape than last year, and we'll try to add this confidence to the motivation for the GP and to do our best at the first race."

Marquez said, "I'm happy with the pace we were able to keep today, but of course it hasn't been the best test of the pre-season for us. I crashed three times, the first at the very beginning because the bike had a wobble at turn 4 and I braked late.

"Then later in the night I lost the front twice, and especially the last crash during my race simulation was my fault. But when you're doing a long run you must try and push, otherwise, you can't understand where you really are.

"Anyway, better if this kind of thing happens now, during a test, and hopefully when we come here again for the race, we'll be able to manage things better. As I said, our rhythm is quite good; only Maverick [Viñales] is faster than everyone here, and if we were to race tomorrow I believe we should be able to fight for the podium."