MotoGP: Aleix Espargaro sets the pace
The Spaniard has continued his stellar pre-season as the phoney war ends and the real action begins, setting the fastest lap in opening practice at QatarAleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) set the pace in the opening practice session of the year for the premier MotoGP class in Qatar, while the shining star for Australia was Jack Miller who was third in Moto3.
In the first GP practice session of the new ‘Open’ class, Espargaro set a best lap of 1:55.201 on his Yamaha-powered machine, with Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) 0.466 seconds behind him. Espargaro’s pace was over 0.3 seconds slower than he went in testing in Qatar two weeks ago.
At the start of his second season in MotoGP, Bradley Smith (Tech 3 Yamaha) was third, with Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and rookie Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) also in top five as the riders who tested in Qatar occupying the top end of the timesheet. The younger Espargaro brother appears to be riding smoothly despite his collarbone injury sustained 10 days ago at this track.
Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) were the quickest Factory riders in sixth and seventh, whilst the top 10 was completed by Colin Edwards (NGM Forward Racing), Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and Nicky Hayden (Drive M7 Aspar).
World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was 11th as he tested his fitness after breaking his right leg in preseason, while Yonny Hernandez (Energy T.I. Pramac Racing) finished 15th and went for a scan after walking away from a turn 16 crash which caused a brief red crash due to track debris.
Australia’s Broc Parkes (Paul Bird Motorsport) was 22nd fastest, 4.127 seconds behind Aleix Espargaro.
In Moto2, Queenslander Anthony West (Speed Up) was 19th on day one, with Japan’s Takaaki Nakagami (Kalex) the pacesetter, while in Moto3 KTM filled the top four spots with Romano Fenati the fastest from Jakub Kornfeil, Miller and Niccolo Antonelli. Australia’s second Moto3 rider, Arthur Sissis (Mahindra), was way down in 30th.
For all the day one times, click here
.
Tags
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
