The 19th meeting of the season MotoGP continued under the lights of the Lusail International Circuit on Saturday with qualifying stages just before sunset in Doha, followed later by Qatar's inaugural Tissot Sprint.
Augusto Fernandez qualified in twelfth position on the starting grid, behind Brad Binder, another Pierer Mobility driver, while Pol Espargaro took nineteenth place in the penultimate qualifying session. , Fernandez celebrated with a Tissot Sprint point by grabbing P9 in a tight finish with Johann Zarco, while teammate Pol Espargaro took sixteenth place.
Qualified directly into Q2 for the second time this season, Augusto Fernandez only played the final stage of qualifying on Saturday morning. Before that, the rookie continued his preparation for the race with a best time of 1'54.541 during free practice 2, where he ranked P17. Times were fast today after John Zarco secured the new all-time Q1 lap record with 1'52.382, and it only accelerated in the final qualifying phase with nine drivers beating Zarco's Q1 lap. Finally, it is Luca marini who won the pole, and Augusto Fernandez took P12 with a 1'52.784, 0.055 seconds behind Brad Binder.
At 20:00 p.m. local time (GMT+3), the man who officially became the 2023 MotoGP rookie this Saturday, got off to a good start to find himself behind Raul fernandez in P11 after one lap. The first laps are very fast, as usual, but the rookie manages to settle into a sustained rhythm which allows him to keep in contact with his opponents. From the 3rd lap, he began to reduce his times, to around 1'54, but a small loss of pace on the 6th lap allowed him to Fabio Quartararo to double it. As he finds himself behind again Raul fernandez with four laps to go, the GASGAS Factory Team Tech3 driver managed to give additional momentum to achieve his best lap in 1'53.763 on the 9th lap, which gave him the opportunity to overtake Raul fernandez et Marco Bezzecchi. He finds himself behind John Zarco, and his best time allowed him to take ninth place by overtaking the French driver in the last sector of the last lap. This is the second time this season that the rookie has scored points in the Tissot Sprint.
Augusto Fernandez: “I scored a point in the Sprint, which is usually not my strong point in race weekends, so it was a good day for us. I'm happy with the bike, the sensations, and the race pace is good for tomorrow. We need to adjust some things before the long race, but I'm pretty confident for Sunday, and I hope we can finish the overseas tour on a good note. »
Results of the Sprint of the Qatar Grand Prix on the Losail circuit:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
