2016 Qatar MotoGP Qualifying Result: New Tires Means A Few Surprises

Results and summary of qualifying for the MotoGP class:

Jorge Lorenzo has taken the first pole of the brand new MotoGP era, pushing hard with his very first lap to set a time which nobody could end up beating, at least, not inside of the allotted 15 minute slot allowed for Q2. Jorge Lorenzo's pole brings his total to 62, passing his teammate Valentino Rossi in the record books and becoming the rider with the most pole positions since Grand Prix racing started tracking the position in 1974.

Try as Marc Marquez might, he could not beat Lorenzo's time, at least not during qualifying. Marquez crossed the line just a second too late to start a new timed lap, but thought he was just in time. He pushed, claiming afterwards that he had set a time of 1'54.2 on that lap, but as it was started too late, it was not counted.

Maverick Viñales completes the first row, the Suzuki rider leading a late charge of a large group of riders, and coming out on top. This is Viñales second front row start, after the impressive performance at Barcelona last year. Andrea Iannone is the first Ducati on the grid, the Italian unlucky not to go faster after coming across Scott Redding on his final flying lap. Valentino Rossi got a respectable starting position, traditionally his weakness since the introduction of the new qualifying system, setting the fifth fastest time as part of the group which contained Viñales and Iannone. Rossi needed that fast lap, as at the time, he had been languishing down in tenth. Andrea Dovizioso rounded out the second row, half a second behind the time of Lorenzo.

The effect of the Michelin tires is hard to see from qualifying, but it did seem like the tires were better after longer runs. A lot of riders improved their times on the last lap of their runs, while it was harder to set a time on the first run. Several riders did well using just a single set of tires: Dovizioso took 6th with just a single run, while Bradley Smith had made it through to Q2 using just a single run.

Results of both qualifying sessions: