Losail, MotoGP, qualifying: Jorge Lorenzo becomes the best Grand Prix Poleman!

With the signing of Valentino Rossi for two additional years, then the announcement of an offer from Yamaha to Jorge Lorenzo, MotoGP news did not wait for this first qualifying of the season in Qatar to generate comments.

However, this evening, it is indeed 2016 that we are talking about and the drivers of the premier category only have this FP4 to finish setting up their bike in racing configuration, choose their tires and, possibly, do a simulation race.

With 23° in the air and 22° on the ground, the conditions are simply ideal, and the teams will be able to work calmly to try to get closer to the Iannone rocket.

Valentino Rossi takes to the track with his M1 equipped with medium-sized wings and a Soft/Soft tire configuration.
Jack Miller fell without seriousness in his first flying lap at turn #15. He is followed shortly after by Loris Baz.

The first to break the 1'56 mark is Jorge Lorenzo (big wings), taking Hector Barbera on his wheel, but it is again Andrea Iannone who gives him the reply: 1'55.878!

A few minutes later, Scott Redding had a minor accident at turn #16.

Just before the end of the first run, Marc Marquez (wings, hard tires front / medium rear) sets a time of 1'55.478.

The ranking, which we remember counts for nothing, is then Marquez, Iannone, Lorenzo, Vinales, Redding, Dovizioso, Rossi, Pol and Aleix Espargaro.
Pedrosa (wings, hard front / soft rear tires) is then only 17th.

Stefan Bradl fell for the first time this year, at turn #2 and without seriousness.

Valentino Rossi begins the second run without changing tire configuration, but with his bike without fins. Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso move up in front of Andrea Iannone. Dani Pedrosa moved up to 10th, just behind Rossi who took advantage of the last 5 minutes to position himself 5th, half a second behind Marc Marquez, then 4th, 2 tenths behind.

The Italian champion arrives at Jorge Lorenzo, who was at the apex at low speed when leaving the pits, and gestures to express his dissatisfaction. The latter (Medium/Medium) is however not destabilized and, at the last minute, takes the best time, in 1'55.301.

FP4 ranking (text continued below): 

Pos	number	Pile	Country	Team	Motorcycle	Km / h	HIGHLIGHTS	difference 1st/Prev.
1	99	Jorge Lorenzo	SPA	Yamaha Motor Racing	Yamaha	332.8	1'55.301
2	93	Marc Márquez	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	332.6	1'55.466	0.165 / 0.165
3	4	Andrea Dovizioso	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	343.9	1'55.656	0.355 / 0.190
4	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Yamaha Motor Racing	Yamaha	333.8	1'55.703	0.402 / 0.047
5	29	Andrea Iannone	ITA	Ducati Team	Ducati	348.4	1'55.853	0.552 / 0.150
6	35	Cal Crutchlow	GBR	Honda LCR	Honda	334.0	1'55.904	0.603 / 0.051
7	44	Pol Espargaró	SPA	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	334.3	1'56.036	0.735 / 0.132
8	25	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	333.9	1'56.037	0.736 / 0.001
9	45	Scott REDDING	GBR	OCTO Yakhnich bow	Ducati	337.7	1'56.108	0.807 / 0.071
10	38	Bradley SMITH	GBR	Monster Yamaha Tech 3	Yamaha	333.7	1'56.123	0.822 / 0.015
11	26	Dani PEDROSA	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	334.0	1'56.442	1.141 / 0.319
12	68	Yonny HERNANDEZ	COL	Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	338.8	1'56.467	1.166 / 0.025
13	8	Hector BARBERA	SPA	Avintia Racing	Ducati	336.1	1'56.540	1.239 / 0.073
14	76	Loris BAZ	FRA	Avintia Racing	Ducati	329.8	1'56.541	1.240 / 0.001
15	41	Aleix Espargaro	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	329.8	1'56.547	1.246 / 0.006
16	19	Alvaro BAUTISTA	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	331.3	1'56.873	1.572 / 0.326
17	6	Stefan BRADL	GER	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	326.3	1'57.155	1.854 / 0.282
18	50	Eugene LAVERTY	IRL	Aspar Team MotoGP	Ducati	337.3	1'57.203	1.902 / 0.048
19	43	Jack Miller	AUS	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	329.5	1'57.538	2.237 / 0.335
20	53	Tito RABAT	SPA	Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS	Honda	330.0	1'57.757	2.456 / 0.219

 

QP1: the last two chances to progress to QP2.
Bradl, Bautista, Crutchlow, Smith, Aleix Espargaro, Miller, Laverty, Rabat, Hernandez and Baz compete to advance to QP2.

Aleix Espargaro falls without seriousness mid-session. Crutchlow and Smith put themselves relatively safe by relegating Hernandez to 6 tenths.

Alvaro Bautista falls without gravity one minute from the checkered flag.

QP2: THE qualification!

Valentino Rossi goes Hard Front/Soft Rear, like the Hondas. Jorge Lorenzo prefers a Soft configuration everywhere, like the Ducati.

The Michelins requiring two laps to be really hot, that leaves us a few minutes before seeing Jorge Lorenzo clock a 1'54.543, relegating Iannone, Marquez, Pedrosa, Vinales and Dovizioso to at least 3 tenths.

Halfway through the session, the Hondas increased the pace, which placed Marc Marquez 2nd (less than a tenth) and Pedrosa 4th. Barbera, stuck in Marquez's wheel, took the opportunity to move up to 5th.

Valentino Rossi is only 9th at the start of the last run but the latter hardly brings any changes to the ranking, except in the last seconds where the impressive Maverick Vinales and Valentino Rossi position themselves 3rd and 5th. The Italian driver will therefore start just behind Marc Marquez…

The latter also almost fell during his initial attempt.

To everyone's surprise, the first line is, with 3 different brands, entirely Japanese, and without any Ducati!