MotoGP, Qatar J1, Alex Rins: “Everyone was super fast today”.

Qualified last year on the second row of the Losail Grand Prix, Álex Rins hopes to reproduce at least one performance of this quality this Saturday. During last weekend's winter tests, he ranked third over the three days of testing, 0.385 behind the leader, his compatriot Maverick Viñales.

At the Thursday press conference, Rins could not have been clearer: “ I have never been so fit in life ". A word to the wise… This made an impressive contrast with the Honda drivers who were more or less victims of various physical problems.

On the occasion of the first day of free practice, Valentino Rossi celebrated its fortieth anniversary with dignity (since February 16) with the best time in 1'55.048, 0.079 ahead of Jorge Lorenzo. Álex Rins was provisionally content with ninth position in 1'55.409, 0.361 behind VR46.

Subsequently, Alex left the Suzuki pit 3 minutes from the end of FP2, while he was in tenth position. On the very last lap, Marc Marquez broke the circuit record in 1'53.380, 0.4 ahead of Maverick Vinales. Rins languished in thirteenth position in the final moments. He completed his warm-up lap just before the checkered flag and moved up to eighth position, in 1'54.320, which very probably qualified him for Q2, the very high temperature in FP3 preventing any exploits. It was interesting to note that Rins during Q2 in 2018 set a time of 1'54.339, which gave him the sixth fastest time.

Behind Rins and his eighth time this Friday afternoon, we could salute the good performances of Aleix Espargaró, 9th on his Aprilia 0.047 behind Rins, as well as of Joan mir, rookie and teammate of Alex at Suzuki, 0.035 from the RS-GP, and 1.022 from the new circuit record established by Marc Márquez in 1'53.380.

“I expected to finish a little higher today. This morning in broad daylight, in the sun, I struggled with low grip and the bike was sliding a bit. I was hoping that in the night conditions I would have a better feel with the settings, especially since the second session was at the same time as the race. But I still didn't feel very comfortable." commented the Spaniard.

“So we have to check the data with the engineers this evening to try to improve. My time wasn't that bad, but I don't have enough confidence yet. The first step tomorrow is to sort out the issues and then hope for a Q2, especially because everyone was super fast today.”

Results of the first day of free practice:

1	93	Marc MÁRQUEZ	Honda	1'53.380
2	12	Maverick VIÑALES	Yamaha	1'53.854	0.474	0.474
3	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1'53.908	0.528	0.054
4	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	Ducati	1'54.053	0.673	0.145
5	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	Yamaha	1'54.154	0.774	0.101
6	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Ducati	1'54.256	0.876	0.102
7	21	Frank MORBIDELLI	Yamaha	1'54.275	0.895	0.019
8	42	Alex RINS	Suzuki	1'54.320	0.940	0.045
9	41	Aleix ESPARGARÓ	Aprilia	1'54.367	0.987	0.047
10	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1'54.402	1.022	0.035
11	99	Jorge Lorenzo	Honda	1'54.428	1.048	0.026
12	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	Honda	1'54.444	1.064	0.016
13	35	Cal Crutchlow	Honda	1'54.452	1.072	0.008
14	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1'54.801	1.421	0.349
15	53	Tito RABAT	Ducati	1'55.032	1.652	0.231
16	44	Pol ESPARGARÓ	KTM	1'55.053	1.673	0.021
17	46	Valentino ROSSI	Yamaha	1'55.137	1.757	0.084
18	5	johann zarco	KTM	1'55.412	2.032	0.275
19	29	Andrea Iannone	Aprilia	1'55.432	2.052	0.020
20	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	KTM	1'55.635	2.255	0.203
21	17	Karel ABRAHAM	Ducati	1'55.654	2.274	0.019
22	55	Hafiz Syahrin	KTM	1'56.437	3.057	0.783
23	38	Bradley SMITH	Aprilia	1'56.834	3.454	0.397

Reference times:

Old test record: 1'53.680 by Johann Zarco (Yamaha) in 2018

Lap record: 1'54.927 by Jorge Lorenzo (Yamaha) in 2016

Best top speed: 351,9 km/h for Danilo Petrucci (Ducati) in 2018

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