Aleix Espargaro will start from the fifth row, Scott Redding from the sixth with the RS-GP
Aleix Espargaró fought until the last corner to qualify for Q2 but stopped one step short of the result and, with the third time in the first qualifying, will join the best place on the fifth row. The Spaniard was among the protagonists of the first qualifying session, on a track made insidious by the sand blown by the wind from the neighboring desert. He clocked 1'55.140, half a second from second place which would have earned him passage to the next qualification. The good race pace that Aleix showed during the weekend leaves every possibility of doing well during the Losail race.
Alex Espargaro: “With the new engine, my Aprilia has taken a step forward compared to the pre-season tests, also in terms of top speed. The bike I'm riding this weekend has improved significantly compared to winter. We now have to improve with the new tire in order to gain the three or four tenths that separate us from the leaders on a timed lap. But for tomorrow's race, I'm sure we will be in the pack. We have good pace and I think I will be able to fight for the top 10, even if all the drivers ahead of us are really very fast.”
Scott Redding: “We are struggling a bit with grip this weekend, both front and rear. To be honest I was worried, but today in FP4 we managed to take a step forward in this area and it gave me a better feeling for qualifying. In Q1 I used the soft front tire, which I had never done in training, and it worked very well. Unfortunately we didn't have the second bike ready with the same type of tire, so I did the second ride with a used front tire. However, the app is only good for one round, so I wasn't able to improve as much as I would have liked. I should also point out that this is my first race weekend with the new team and there are still some mechanics to smooth out. We have a good race pace, despite the fact that the track conditions are completely different from those in practice.”
Read the original article on Corsedimoto.com
MotoGP #QatarGP Losail J.2: Chronos
| 1 | 5 | johann zarco | Yamaha | 1'53.680 | ||
| 2 | 93 | Marc Márquez | Honda | 1'53.882 | 0.202 | 0.202 |
| 3 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'53.887 | 0.207 | 0.005 |
| 4 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'54.072 | 0.392 | 0.185 |
| 5 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'54.074 | 0.394 | 0.002 |
| 6 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'54.339 | 0.659 | 0.265 |
| 7 | 26 | Dani PEDROSA | Honda | 1'54.368 | 0.688 | 0.029 |
| 8 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'54.389 | 0.709 | 0.021 |
| 9 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'54.431 | 0.751 | 0.042 |
| 10 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'54.449 | 0.769 | 0.018 |
| 11 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'54.619 | 0.939 | 0.170 |
| 12 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'54.707 | 1.027 | 0.088 |
| Q1 Results: | ||||||
| Q2 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'54.634 | ||
| Q2 | 25 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'54.637 | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| 13 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'55.140 | 0.506 | 0.503 |
| 14 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Honda | 1'55.169 | 0.535 | 0.029 |
| 15 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | Yamaha | 1'55.258 | 0.624 | 0.089 |
| 16 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'55.273 | 0.639 | 0.015 |
| 17 | 45 | Scott REDDING | Aprilia | 1'55.380 | 0.746 | 0.107 |
| 18 | 12 | Thomas LUTHI | Honda | 1'55.381 | 0.747 | 0.001 |
| 19 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'55.392 | 0.758 | 0.011 |
| 20 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | KTM | 1'55.553 | 0.919 | 0.161 |
| 21 | 19 | Alvaro BAUTISTA | Ducati | 1'55.638 | 1.004 | 0.085 |
| 22 | 44 | Pol Espargaró | KTM | 1'55.706 | 1.072 | 0.068 |
| 23 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'56.401 | 1.767 | 0.695 |
| 24 | 10 | Xavier SIMEON | Ducati | 1'56.545 | 1.911 | 0.144 |
