MotoGP | Qatar GP Free Practice 1: Martin precedes Zarco, Bagnaia does well

MotoGP GP Qatar Free Practice 1 – Jorge Martin achieved the best time in the first free practice session of the MotoGP class Qatar Grand Prix, the 19th round of the 2023 MotoGP championship scheduled at the Lusail International Circuit.

The Pramac Racing rider took his Ducati Desmosedici ahead of everyone with a time of 1.56.393, a far cry from last season's, when Brad Binder lapped in FP1 in 1:54.851. As in the Moto3 and Moto2 classes, the cause is to be found in the sand brought to the track by rain and wind.

The #89 Ducati who used a hard tire on the front and a medium on the rear preceded team-mate Johann Zarco by 0.172s, with the latter using the same tire solution.

An excellent session for world championship leader Pecco Bagnaia, who used the same set of hard-hard tires for the entire duration of the session and was only 0.229s from the top.

Raul Fernandez on the Aprilia SAT of Team RNF is fourth ahead of Franco Morbidelli's Yamaha and Luca Marini's Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati.

Also in the Top Ten are Aleix Espargarò with the Aprilia (he slipped at the start of the session without physical consequences, ed.), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Ducati Gresini), Pol Espargarò (KTM Team GASGAS) and Brad Binder (KTM).

Fabio Quartararo with the second Yamaha finished 11th, ahead of Maverick Vinales' Aprilia and Jack Miller's KTM (who fitted a new rear wing on his RC16, ed.).

Sepang winner Enea Bastianini (Ducati Factory) finished 17th, ahead of brand mate Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team).

Marc Marquez was only 20th, preceded by his Repsol Honda teammate Joan Mir, while after a crash his brother Alex, Ducati Gresini rider, finished 16th, a team that will also be part of the eight-time world champion starting from Tuesday after the Valencia GP, when everyone they will be on track in 2024.