MotoGP Race And Practice Results

There wasn’t much to learn from the third practice session at Losail, given the pretty hot, notably windy and increasingly dusty track surface. That was not encouraging any changes to the combined top 14 classification and riders fought off the wind and sand to at least claim the headlines. After a quiet but steady start to his weekend, Sam Lowes showed up to the party in the final couple of minutes of FP3 and took the checkered flag as the fastest man on track. Marco Bezzecchi promptly joined him at the top, a tenth of a second behind the British rider and another tenth ahead of early session leader Remy Gardner.

Aron Canet and Tony Arbolino joined the top five, although only the Spaniard had secured a Q2 worthy position on Friday. Rapid rookie Cameron Beaubier had another solid session towards the top end of the classification and the American will be heading straight to Q2 later today, unlike Xavi Vierge behind him in seventh position.

Fabio Di Giannantonio finished eighth, after providing some decent slow motion shots throughout the session, with Jake Dixon and Marcel Schrotter rounding out the top ten. While Dixon will get some extra track time in Q1, Raul Fernandez remained the fastest man over the three practice sessions despite being only 23rd in FP3. The likes of Joe Roberts, Augusto Fernandez, Stefano Manzi, Ai Ogura, Celestino Vietti and Nicolo Bulega will join the Spaniard directly into the second qualifying session.

Results:

Fully aware of the unusual importance of FP2 given the high temperatures expected on Saturday afternoon, the premier class had a good few goes at a time attack to secure a top ten position. After going under the radar throughout the day, Jack Miller arrived under the spotlight with a massive rodeo ride at turn 14 but then he buckled up and headed to the top of the timesheets with two minutes remaining, ending the day three tenths of a second faster than Pecco Bagnaia.

Johann Zarco also shone quite late into the session and narrowly avoided yellow flags to make it an all-Ducati top three on the combined standings. Fabio Quartararo snuck amongst the red machines as the leading Yamaha in fourth, ahead of Jorge Martin, the rookie continuing to impress at the top end of the timesheets. FP1 leader Aleix Espargaro briefly led proceedings in FP2 as well, before dropping down to a solid sixth position, ahead of Franco Morbidelli, who avoided any further issues after repeatedly smoking it up in FP1.

Alex Rins in eighth position was only half a second off top spot, ahead of QatarGP victor Maverick Vinales. Stefan Bradl rounded out the top ten positions and is most likely to be the only Honda featured directly in Q2. Both Takaaki Nakagami and Alex Marquez showed good speed but saw the gravel trap before the checkered flag, dropping down to 15th and 16th on the timesheets. Joan Mir had a less eventful evening but the reigning world champion entered the final time attack late and his one flying lap was one tenth short of what he needed to achieve to join the provisional Q2 lineup. The Suzuki man finished the day 13th and barring a surprise turn of events in FP3, he might take another unplanned trip through Q1.

Results:

Once the sun set in Qatar, the lightweight class came out to play on a track that was more than 20 degrees cooler than in the afternoon. However, riders were not too keen to fight for provisional Q2 spots and spent almost as much time in pitlane as on track ahead of the time attack. With FP3 conditions expected to halt any attempts to change the combined top 14 order, you’d expect riders to show a little more initiative but we should really learn to adjust our expectations. Most of the field left pitlane with little over two minutes left on the clock and coupled with the usual outlap shenanigans, it meant that quite a few of them missed out on the shootout. Last week’s poleman, Darryn Binder, was one of them, but the South African was in no rush as he had already set up at the top of the timesheets with a time good enough not to cause him any concern.

With Binder untroubled at the front, Sergio Garcia was the big winner of the last lap rodeo, the Spaniard jumping into second position, ahead of Gabriel Rodrigo. John McPhee trailed his teammate for much of the session and only lost a couple of positions by the checkered flag, dropping to fourth. Tatsuki Suzuki’s rapid recovery continues, the Japanese rider joining the top five ahead of FP1 leader Jaume Masia and excellent rookie Izan Guevara.

Jeremy Alcoba, Pedro Acosta and Romano Fenati rounded out the top five, while Stefano Nepa, Ryusei Yamanaka, Kaito Toba and Niccolo Antonelli are the men very likely to join them straight into Q2 on Saturday evening. Although Dennis Foggia did time it right to make the cut for one final flying lap, he fell victim of the chaos in the pack and the Italian got stuck in 15th position, six tenths off top spot.

Results:

Back under the blazing sun of Losail, intermediate class riders were hot but unbothered as they fought for the first headline of the weekend. Fabio Di Giannantonio showed his intentions from the very beginning, the Italian spending the entire session at the top of the timing screens, although only half a tenth faster than his rivals. Keen to show a little bit more than last Sunday, Marco Bezzecchi joined his compatriot at the top end of the timesheets, closely followed by Joe Roberts. Qatar 1 winner Sam Lowes kept close and consistent in fourth, only two tenths of a second off top spot.

Rookie Raul Fernandez continues his fine run in Losail, this time from fifth position, ahead of Aron Canet, the Spaniard keeping sixth spot despite a tumble at turn seven quite early on. Ai Ogura, Xavi Vierge, Nicolo Bulega and Marcel Schrotter took the remaining top ten positions, while, Jorge Navarro, Celestino Vietti, Lorenzo Dalla Porta and Bo Bendsneyder are provisionally inside the top 14, although the hierarchy is very likely to change as track conditions improve for FP2.

Results: