Conclusion day 2 Losail GP 1

Lots of excitement in the first qualifying of the year

After FP2 on Friday evening, we warned against underestimating the Yamaha riders. Without claiming that Fabio Quartararo, Morbido and Maverick were bluffing. Nevertheless, our impression regarding their performance was that these three drivers still had reserves for Saturday. Twenty minutes before the end of FP3, we felt that our view was confirmed, as exactly these three were at the top. And we shouldn’t be mistaken in qualifying either, as the top three Yamahas were only beaten by pole setter Bagnaia in the top four at the end of the day. They were followed by Quartararo, Viñales and a sensational Valentino Rossi, who will start from 4th on the grid ahead of Miller and Zarco. While both Suzuki drivers made it into Q2, KTM embarrassed itself terribly. Three of their four drivers finished in the last four places and only two places better HRC Honda care child Stefan Bradl as a Marquez replacement. The following is the classification after qualifying.

Valentino Rossi at the season opener and the predictions
One should not ignore the statement made by the old MotoGP champion regarding the assessments of various opinions on the first Grand Prix of the year. Rossi said on Friday evening: “Nobody can predict what will happen in the last 4 laps. Regarding tire management and who will then hold the best trump cards. Miller and Pecco certainly looked good on Friday, but a fast lap in free practice says nothing at all about performance in the final of a race. “. This statement can indicate that drivers like himself and Johann Zarco could possibly have particularly good chances in the finish. The Italian darling of the masses and the likeable man from Cannes are considered two of the absolute specialists to be particularly strong with worn tires. Of course, pole setter Bagnaia is also very confident about the race, which is also true of his Ducati colleagues Miller and Zarco, as well as all of the Yamaha pilots.

The conclusion of the first two days before the first MotoGP race

The impressions after the second day of the first weekend of MotoGP also reflect the strengths of the tests in many ways. With the exception of Valentino Rossi, the first 6 places, along with the two Suzuki drivers, are the most frequently mentioned favorites in the first 6 places. Alex Rins in P9 and Joan Mir right behind are not too far behind to race for victory in the first Qatar Grand Prix. As was to be expected, the two “Asparagus Brothers” with starting position 8 for Aleix and 12 for Pol are not in the top positions. Franco Morbidelli should not be completely happy with P7 either, but the Italian is still one of the secret favorites for on Sunday. For the other Honda drivers Nakagami, Alex Marquez and Bradl, it looks more like damage limitation in the opening race. KTM, on the other hand, is exactly where they have always been in recent years without their test lead in the previous year, namely far behind, at least without their former flagship Pol Espargaró.

Moto2 Qualifying – Favorite Sam Lowes towering over to pole

Di Giannantonio, Vietti, Chantra and Dalla Porta qualified for Q2 in the first qualifying. It was no surprise that at the end of the second qualifying session with Lowes, the top favorite was the fastest, ahead of rookie Raul Fernandez and Dutchman Bo Bendsneyder. In the second row, Bezzecchi, Roberts and Gardner are three co-favorites for the podium. Jake Dixon in seventh just missed the sixth-placed Australian’s time by just 6 thousandths. For Barry Baltus, however, the day was already over after his violent crash in FP3. The Belgian will soon be flying back to his home country and will have an operation on his injured arm there, which means that he will probably not be in Jerez until he was able to estimate in the first interview.

Moto3 Qualifying – der Polesetter musste über das Q1

Darryn Binder had to take the detour via Q1 in order to recommend himself for the second qualifying. There the South African took the momentum with him and set the fastest time and a new pole record. With Petronas Sprinta Racing team mates John McPhee and Izan Guevara, the brother of MotoGP driver Brad will start from the front row on Sunday. Jeremy Alcoba, Jaume Masia and Kaito Toba are further podium candidates in the second row. Also there was the Swiss Jason Dupasquier with the strong 12th place and 4 places behind Max Kofler from Austria. Predictions for the Moto3 race are practically pointless from experience. The junior class is so tight that even in the last 2 to 3 rounds the order can still be turned upside down.

Qatar weekend schedule

From Saturday to Sunday the changeover is to summer time, which only affects Europe and which is why the time difference to Qatar is reduced by one hour. The races take place early on Sunday evening. Of course, we report live and in a summary every day. It doesn’t get much faster than ours. So the top ten can be seen on our site immediately after they cross the target.