MotoGP: Rain dampens post-race test in Catalunya

Published Jun. 15, 2015 1:10 p.m. ET

foxsports

MotoGP riders stayed after the Catalunya Grand Prix to conduct an official post-race test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but a heavy downpour limited their running.

The rain came just after noon on Monday and forced the majority of the riders into the pits, with a few taking the opportunity to test in the wet. However, most of the experienced riders decided to call it a day.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3's Bradley Smith, who was focused on improving his overall setting on the bike, set a 1:42.018 to lead the test overall ahead of the Suzuki duo of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro.

Coming off a strong outing this past weekend, the Suzuki riders focused on improving electronics. Vinales and Espargaro set their times in the dry and opted out of running in the rain.

After a mixed weekend, the Repsol Honda Team were eager to test a revision to their electronics package before the approaching software freeze. The team had also brought their 2014 chassis to run alongside their current one in order to conduct a back-to-back comparison, but did not manage to do so. Marc Marquez finished in fourth and Dani Pedrosa in sixth, with Pramac Racing's Yonny Hernandez splitting the two in fifth.

Cal Crutchlow of CWM LCR Honda went out on track early to put in a race simulation, wanting to fully understand his potential pace from Sunday's race where he was unable to finish after having contact with another rider. He ended the test in 10th.

Scott Redding finished the test in 12th, but completed 39 laps, the most of any rider.

The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team did not go out on track after their dominant race performance on Sunday, instead heading to test at Aragon on Tuesday.

Eugene Laverty and American Nicky Hayden of the Aspar MotoGP Team worked hard throughout the day as the pair continued to test a new swing arm for the Open Honda machine. Hayden was especially eager to get more time on the bike after two DNFs. The American completed 23 laps and was 11th fastest, while Laverty was 17th.

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