Marc Marquez of Repsol Honda Team during the third free practice of Commercialbank Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit yesterday. PICTURES BY: SHAIVAL DALAL
DOHA: Reigning Moto2 world champion Marc Marquez of Spain yesterday lived up to his billing as a fast learner when he topped both free practice sessions ahead of today’s official qualifying for the first grid of the new season.
Marquez, who is being touted as a great addition to the MotoGP ring of riders, grabbed the overall top standings by 1000th of a second, leaving senior pros world champion Jorge Lorenzo of Spain, Britain’s Cal Crutchlow and Italy’s Valentino Rossi to settle for the next three spots.
All 24 riders registered their best times in the third free practice session held after a brief shower that disrupted proceedings during the the Moto2 session earlier.
Marquez, the 20-year-old Honda Repsol rider, clocked an impressive 1’56.084 on his 16th and final lap at Losail International Circuit to produce the fastest time over two days of practice.
Yamaha’s Lorenzo - the defending champion - was just .001secs adrift off the pace set by Marquez, notching up his top time of 1’56.085 on lap nine.
Crutchlow, the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider, was third fastest with a time of 1’56.326.
Rossi, Lorenzo’s new team-mate at Yamaha, was just as impressive, regaining his touch of old with a time of 1’56.416.
The 34-year-old Italian, commonly known as ‘The Doctor’, raced to his fastest time on the 17th and final lap.
Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso of Italy was fifth fastest, finishing the third free practice session .333secs behind Marquez.
Under the new qualifying regulations, the line-up for today’s Q2 has now been established.
From this season onwards, the first three practice sessions of the race weekend will have a direct bearing on the official qualifying at every race.
Once the practice timesheets are combined, the top 10 riders will be placed into today’s new Q2 qualifying period.
Prior to that, the first qualifying session (Q1) today will decide grid positions 13 and downwards.
According to the new rules, the quickest pair of riders from Q1 will proceed to Q2 and create a 12-rider shootout for pole position.
Yesterday Repsol’s Dani Pedrosa - having struggled for front end grip since the start of first practice on Thursday - secured a spot in Q2 with sixth fastest time of 1’56.502.
As track conditions improved towards the end of third practice, a dramatic battled raged while riders continued to push rivals out of the top ten.
Spain’s Alvaro Bautista (1’56.572) went seventh for GO&FUN Honda Gresini as the times suddenly became the tightest they have been all weekend.
In eighth spot was 2006 world champion Nicky Hayden (1’56.670) on the second Ducati Team bike.
British rookie Bradley Smith (1’56.901) grabbed the ninth spot for Tech 3.
Germany’s Stefan Bradl (1’.56.956) looked to have a challenge on his hands as the times came down, but snatched back tenth for LCR Honda MotoGP.
Ninth tenths of a second separate the top ten - a group in which may of the riders are split up by margins of just thousandths of a second.
Earlier in the evening, Italtrans Racing Team’s Takaaki Nakagami once again set the pace as sporadic rain showers forced a pause in proceedings during Moto2 practice.
Having already topped the timesheets on Thursday, Nakagami yesterday led the way with a best lap of 2’01.480.
This was to the frustration of Pol Espargara, a general title favourite who has been unable to retake the top spot he sealed in opening practice on Thursday,
The Tuenti HP 40 rider ended the night within a tenth of the quickest time as he and team-mate Tito Rabat sandwich Marc VDS Racing Team’s Scott Redding.
The third and final Moto2 practice period at Losail Circuit was expected to see improved times but the wet weather did not allow that. Various showers came over the course of the 45 minutes, leaving some greasy patches on the 5.38km track.
Due to wet conditions, Espargara was one of the riders to take a trip through the gravel to dry the tyres.
NGM Mobile Racing’s Simone Corsi ended the evening in fifth spot. QMMF Racing Team rider Anthony West finished in 23rd spot with his fastest time recorded in the third free practice session. Australia’s West clocked 2’03.343 while his team-mate Rafid Topan Sucipto (2’05.837) of Indonesia was last out of 32 riders.
The action at Losail Circuit starts today 5pm.
The Peninsula
