Qatar Grand Prix MotoGP FP1: at 40, Valentino Rossi sets the pace!

This time, here it is: putting aside the endless winter, the surgical operations, the various declarations, the presentations, the press conferences, and even the pre-season tests, the 2019 MotoGP season really begins with the Immediate immersion in a real Grand Prix weekend!

This FP1 of 45 minutes takes place with rather good weather conditions (sun, 28 degrees in the air, 37 degrees on the ground, moderate wind) and on a track that the Moto3 and Moto2 times already show quite clean and grippy despite the sand and dust of the surrounding desert.

THEtire allowance for this race consists, as in past years, of a soft tire (white stripe), a medium (without stripe) and a hard (yellow stripe) for the front and rear. For Losail, the front tires have a symmetrical design while the rears have an asymmetrical design with a harder right side because this circuit has 10 right turns and only 6 left. The front Hard has of a new mixture successfully tested before this first race, while the Soft rear is one of the new technology tires that Michelin has added to its range and which received very positive feedback from the drivers during pre-season testing. It is a tire designed to offer greater consistency and better grip.

Here are the references available before this first session:

MotoGP™ Losail Qatar	2018	2019
FP1	1'55.366 Andrea Dovizioso (see here)	1'55.048 Valentino Rossi
FP2	1'54.361 Andrea Dovizioso (see here)
FP3	1'54.966 Johann Zarco (see here)
FP4	1'55.248 Andrea Dovizioso (see here)
QP1	1'54.634 Jack Miller (see here)
QP2	1'53.680 Johann Zarco (see here)
Warm-up	1'55.201 Marc Márquez (see here)
Course	Dovizioso, Marquez, Rossi (see here)
Records	1'53.680 Johann Zarco	1'54.208 Maverick Viñales (Test)

When the red lights go out, we don't waste a second and that's Danilo Petrucci who brings with him the MotoGP pack.

The first lap allows us to see which tires the drivers have chosen, with a majority of medium rears, while the front is split between medium and hard, with the exception of fabio quartararo et Johann zarco who opted for a soft one.

At the end of the first round, Cal Crutchlow is the fastest in 1'57.648.

Obviously, this first reference is only very provisional, and from the next round, Marc Marquez impresses by already achieving a 1'55.667 on the handlebars of his Honda equipped with "Star Wars" fins which relegates the rest of the field to 7/10

Hafiz Syahrin then inaugurates the list of falls in MotoGP, at turn 16 and without the slightest seriousness.

After 4 rounds, Danilo Petrucci reduces its gap to 1/10 with Marc Márquez : the Honda-Ducati war is well declared, and we will also have to count in this confrontation on Jorge Lorenzo, already 3rd!

At the end of the first run, the hierarchy is composed of: Marc Márquez now in 1'55.164, Danilo Petrucci, Jorge Lorenzo, Franco Morbidelli, Maverick Vinales, Joan Mir, Takaaki Nakagami, Francesco Bagnaia, Andrea Dovizioso et Alex Rins. Fabio Quartararo then appears in 11th position, just in front Valentino Rossi, While Johann zarco is provisionally ranked 17th.
Only the first 5 are in the same second.

On resumption, Jack Miller enters the top 6 while Johann zarco tries a new configuration of his KTM RC16 after fitting a hard tire to the front.

Alex Rins, who was in 11th position, jumped to third place before being dislodged by Maverick Vinales. In the process, Valentino Rossi is positioned 5th and, at this moment, we therefore find 3 Yamaha in the first 7.

A little after mid-session, there are still many of them lighting at least one part in red, likeAndrea Dovizioso which moves up to 6th position.

But it's in the head where the war rages, and when Danilo Petrucci amounts to 1/10 of Marc Márquez, the latter accelerates the pace and lights the first 3 partials in red before losing time again in the 4th. Never mind, the Honda driver continues his effort but at least in the following laps, the process repeats itself.

At the end of the 2nd run, we therefore find Marc Marquez before Danilo Petrucci, Jorge Lorenzo, Alex Rins, Maverick Vinales, Takaaki Nakagami, Andrea Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi, Joan Mir et Franco Morbidelli. Fabio Quartararo is then 16th, John Zarco 20th, while there are now 12 drivers in the same second.

On resumption, Valentino Rossi positions himself 5th before returning this place to his teammate.

In the last run, Fabio Quartararo also abandons the Soft front tire in favor of a hard one.

5 minutes from the checkered flag, Aleix Espargaro goes back to 11th position but it's Franco Morbidelli who made the right move by positioning himself 3rd.

Many drivers improve in the first 2 sectors but lose time in the very fast T3.

2 minutes from the end of the session, Jorge Lorenzo took provisional pole position in 1'55.127 while Valentino Rossi, although embarrassed by Karel Abraham, achieves the 3rd best time. The Doctor then continued his effort and achieved the best time in 1'55.048 while Andrea Dovizioso places his Ducati GP19 in 3rd provisional position before being dislodged by Marc Márquez.

The times are extremely tight, with no less than 17 drivers in the same second!

French side, fabio quartararo finished 11th less than half a second behind Valentino Rossi, Johann zarco 19e.

Rossi, Lorenzo, Marquez, Dovizioso: what a great casting for these first “Fantastic Four” 2019!

See you at 18 p.m. for FP2!

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FP1 MotoGP ranking at Losail :

Classification credit: MotoGP.com