Even if this Warm Up takes place in conditions very different from those of the race, it can be interesting to try a final small geometry adjustment.
It can also be an opportunity to battle on a psychological level... provided you don't fall into it, which almost always causes a small loss of confidence (unless your name is Marc Marquez)!
For this last MotoGP free practice session before the race, the Losail circuit once again presents a dirty track because of the wind, which was a little less strong than yesterday, which brought sand.
It is now 27° in the air, 40° on the track, for this final 20-minute test session of the weekend before the race.
|
MotoGP #QatarGP Losail Qatar |
2017 |
2018 |
| FP1 |
1'54.316 Maverick Vinales (See here) |
1'55.366 Andrea Dovizioso (See here) |
| FP2 |
1'55.085 Scott Redding (See here) |
1'54.361 Andrea Dovizioso (See here) |
| FP3 |
1'54.834 Maverick Vinales (See here) |
1'54.966 Johann Zarco (See here) |
| FP4 |
Canceled due to rain (See here) |
1'55.248 Andrea Dovizioso (See here) |
| Qualification 1 |
Canceled due to rain (See here) |
1'54.634 Jack Miller (See here) |
| Qualification 2 |
Canceled due to rain (See here) |
1'53.680 Johann Zarco (New record) |
| Warm Up |
1'55.728 Marc Marquez (See here) |
|
| Course |
Vinales, Dovizioso, Rossi (See here) |
|
| All time lap record |
1'53.927 Jorge Lorenzo 2008 |
1'53.680 Johann Zarco 2018 |
The final practice session before racing begins in 2018 is on! 🏁
This could be a crucial 20 minutes for a number of riders! pic.twitter.com/T7S7bdYByo
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) March 18, 2018
When the red lights go out, Marc Márquez et Andrea Dovizioso take their time to get going.
The quickest to take action is called Danilo Petrucci (medium/medium who records a 1'55.567 while Cal Crutchlow (medium/soft) was trapped by the front of his Honda RC213V at turn #1.
Danilo Petrucci improves to 1'55.364 on the 4th pass, just ahead of Marc Márquez et Valentino Rossi. The other drivers are more than half a second behind.
Shortly before mid-session, alex rins gets caught in the same turn as Cal Crutchlow.
Before final packaging, the hierarchy is composed of Danilo Petrucci, Marc Marquez, Valentino Rossi, Alex Rins, Johann Zarco, Andrea Iannone, Andrea Dovizioso, Esteve Rabat, Jorge Lorenzo, Hafizh Syahrin, Pedrosa, et Maverick Vinales, all in the same second.
2 minutes before the checkered flag, Andrea Dovizioso produces his effort and climbs to 2nd position, 30/1000 behind Danilo Petrucci and 5/1000 ahead Marc Márquez.
On the next pass, the latter achieved the best time in 1'55.201.
In extremis, Dani Pedrosa ranks 3rd while Maverick Vinales, 18th, has obviously still not resolved his problems.
