Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati Racing) – the French was the classic underdog before the first weekend of the season. Almost all the supposed experts had his brand colleagues Jack Miller and Pecco Bagnaia on their radar and only very few believed in Yamaha due to the long start-finish straight in Losail. Almost everyone should be wrong, however, and Vinales played the leading role and the man from Cannes came in an excellent second.

Our live blog for the 1st day of the second Qatar weekend

Many drivers emphasized in interviews that apart from the winner Maverick Viñales there is no other driver who does not want to improve in the second race. Most also agreed that many are likely to improve. We will now see what this means on the coming Easter weekend. The first double race of the season is particularly advantageous for rookies and those switching, such as Pol Espargaró. For more information, see our report on this page under “Losail 2 preview”. Nevertheless, the favorites are of course the drivers who did their job best on the first weekend. As a result, one can assume that a lot will amount to a three-way battle between Ducati, Yamaha and Suzuki. But Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaró and a brother Pol on the Honda shouldn’t be ignored either.

Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha) – he actually wanted to get up and away at the start, but the Ducati drivers thwarted his plans and initially took the lead with four of them. But the Catalan kept working his way up and managed to break away from his pursuers on the winding part of the route when he took the lead. Exactly the recipe of a certain Jonathan Rea in WorldSBK, which we described as the ideal Yamaha strategy before the start of the season.

As usual, it starts with Moto3 on Friday

With Jaume Masia, the winner of the first race leads the rankings with 2’05.360 ahead of Dennis Foggia and Filip Salac. A significant increase in FP2 in the early evening can be expected. The following is the result of Moto3 after the first free practice.

Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – the beaming winner of the first of 2 races in Qatar is still in the lead after FP1.

The first free practice of Moto2 – Di Giannantonio in front of Bezzecchi, Roberts & Lowes

The temperatures are grueling when the drivers hit the track at almost 40 degrees Celsius. On the edge of the desert with such temperatures in their station wagons, this is no real pleasure. A good 30 minutes before the end of FP1. Di Giannantonio leads Cante, Lowes, Fernandez and Bezzecchi. Against this background, some people realize why huge sums of money were invested in lighting for night races, and even late in the evening we experienced an air temperature of up to 30 degrees. The mistake that many vacationers make in countries with such a climate is to set the air conditioning to 18 degrees Celsius and then wonder why they suddenly get sick. Lorenzo Baldassari stopped at Turn 7 with a technical problem on his Forward MV a good 25 minutes before the end of the first free practice. You can already hear the first MotoGP engines warming up while 16 minutes are still on the clock and the ranking of the FP2 of Moto2 will follow shortly. In the final laps of FP2, Cameron Beaubier crashed on Turn 7, but was uninjured after his harmless slip.

Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex) in the pits – not completely satisfied with 6th place, but still a result that can be built on. The US boy was just over 1.5 seconds short of the podium on the first weekend.

Ranking of Moto2 after the first free practice – Roberts third and Lowes on P4:

The first free practice of MotoGP – first slip for Johann Zarco

After almost a quarter of an hour, Johann Zarco was on the ground, but the Frenchman had just slipped in a left turn and immediately got up again. It was the penultimate Turn 15, and shortly before that the Frenchman was still on course for a new personal best, but lost some time in the third sector, which is why he had overdone it a bit in the fourth and final sector. After 25 of 45 minutes, Aprilia ace Aleix Espargaró leads in the afternoon heat of Losail ahead of Alex Rins, Takaaki Nagagami and Fabio Quartararo. Twelve minutes before the end of the first free practice session, Morbido is ahead of Petrux, Aleix and Rins. We will publish the top ten here shortly and the FP1 ranking list a little later.

Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) next to his bike in turn 15 after almost a quarter of an hour – a harmless slip when trying to attack the best time. Above all, such incidents cost valuable time until the drivers can get back on the replacement machine. Only in the evening, however, is FP2 about the provisional qualifying and the direct entry into Q2.

The ranking of the FP1: Aprilia ahead of Suzuki, Yamaha and Ducati

It wasn’t until 4:36 PM local time in Qatar for the official list to be released. The man with the highest top speed is right at the back after his harmless slip, but with Pecco Bagnaia the pole setter from the first weekend is only 2 places ahead. This for the simple reason that the fight for direct entry into Q2 will only take place in the evening in FP2 when the temperatures are significantly cooler.
The first 6 drivers of the 1st GP weekend at the press conference on Thursday with from left Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), Johann Zarco (Ducati), Joan Mir (Suzuki), Maverick Viñales (Yamaha), Alex Rins (Suzuki) and “Pecco “Bagnaia (Ducati).

FP2: Provisional qualifying of Moto3

The junior class drivers have been back on the track since 6:10 p.m. local time and it’s about the provisional, or almost certainly fixed, entry directly into Q2. As you could see on the first weekend, there is hardly any chance of improving on Saturday morning in FP3 compared to tonight’s second free practice session. It can be assumed that in the last few minutes everyone will therefore be fighting with a knife between their teeth for a time among the top 14 drivers. Fifteen minutes before the end, Binder leads Rodrigo, McPhee and Masia. For the last time attack, almost all drivers are going to the pits to prepare for the showdown.

Snapshot of Jaume Masia in the Ajo KTM box – the winner of the opening race in Qatar, just before his last stint trying to stay in the top 14..

Incredible scenes just before the end of FP2 – Brad Binder on provisional pole
Idiotic measures before the last stint cost a majority of the drivers their chance because many of them were unable to cross the finish line in time before the time ran out. There were also a few strollers, all of whom must expect penalties. Although alcohol is sinfully expensive in Qatar, one wonders if some of the team members at the hotel had consumed a little too much of it recently. Below are the top ten. Below is the ranking list with many favorites outside the top 14 because their teams did not send the drivers out on the track in time. The placement colored in green means the almost certain direct entry into Q2.

Moto2 FP2: The next provisional qualifying – Fernandez in front & Lowes P7

Half an hour before the end the times kept tumbling and Celestino Vietti, Raul Fernandez, Remy Gardner, Marcel Schrötter, Alex Lowes, Stefano Manzi and “DiGia” were the drivers in the front positions before Marco Bezzecchi was fastest, but immediately from Di Giannantonio was replaced again at the top. A little later his teammate Niccolò Bulega was to be found in the gravel trap. The last few minutes were far less dramatic than before in Moto3 and subsequently the ranking. Jake Dixon is outside the top 14 and will probably have to try to qualify for Q2 via Q1 just like Tom Lüthi.

Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing VR46 Kalex) in the pits – after losing a podium just a week ago in the last lap in the first Grand Prix, the Rossi protégé still has an account to go. His hairdresser should still be in lockdown, but the Italian is still fast.

MotoGP FP2: The bikes are on the track..

The first drivers are already on the track while Fabio Quartararo is still sitting comfortably in the pits. A little later, he too sits down on his Monster Energy Yamaha M1 to get down to the crucial 45 minutes of the day. It took exactly 7 minutes until “Pecco” Bagnaia drove a 1’54.074 and thus literally pulverized the best time from FP1. It is already clear that in FP3 on Saturday morning there will be almost no chance of qualifying directly for Q2. For all drivers it is important to get into the top 10 today in order to achieve this. Almost 13 minutes before the end, Quartararo is ahead of Rins, Martin and Pecco. The last laps will decide which 10 drivers have the almost certain qualification into Q2 in the end. Jack Miller almost crashed with a highsider at the back of the track, but with a lot of luck was able to prevent a fall.

Enea “la Bestia” Bastianini (Esponsorama Avintia Ducati) – best rookie on the first weekend in 10th place, ahead of Bradl on the Repsol Honda from Marquez and all of the KTM riders. Here after the first 20 minutes in FP2.

The preliminary decision for Q2: Joan Mir and all KTM riders fail again!
With four minutes to go, Alex Marquez would have been tenth in Q2, but now the hunt for the top ten began. Takaaki Nakagami failed with a crash two and a half minutes before the time ran out. Before that, however, the Japanese had just undercut the time of his LCR team-mate. A little later, Alex Marquez also crashed. Rossi and Joan Mir miss the top ten, as did all KTM riders on the first weekend. Below are the top ten with 4 Ducati riders, 3 on Yamaha and one driver each on Suzuki, Honda and Aprilia.

POS#RIDERTIME/GAP
143J. MILLER1:53.145
263F. BAGNAIA+0.313
35J. ZARCO+0.392
420F. QUARTARARO+0.438
589J. MARTIN+0.448
641A. ESPARGARO+0.501
721F. MORBIDELLI+0.554
842A. RINS+0.568
912M. VIÑALES+0.727
106S. BRADL+0.769

Live blog is closed now, conclusion coming soon..

The schedule for the 2nd Qatar weekend of MotoGP

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).