Our live blog for the 2nd day of the second Qatar weekend
Friday evening brought various surprises that were not expected. Because it is hardly to be expected that the times of FP2 will be undercut on Saturday afternoon, this was practically the preliminary decision for the direct qualification into Q2. Valentino Rossi finished fourth on the first Saturday and this time missed the top ten by two tenths, which means that he will almost certainly have to go into Q1. Pol Espargaró, the reigning world champion Joan Mir and all KTM riders also missed the first ten, in some cases significantly. At least there will be quite a scramble for the first 2 places in the first qualifying. The following is the ranking from FP2, the placement in green means the almost certain direct entry into Q2.
The route map of Losail
It starts again with Moto3 and FP3
After the many embarrassing actions the day before (see our reports on Friday), the Moto3 drivers are now back on the track. It is unlikely that anyone will make it into the top 14. The Indonesian Andi Farid Izdihar has just stopped, obviously with a technical problem. After many drivers had strolled yesterday shortly before the end of FP2, as we announced, penalties rained down afterwards. We will save the list for later because there are more to be expected on Saturday. Up to 20 minutes before the end, John McPhee set the fastest time in the third free practice with 2,07,557. The following are the times from the FP2, which shows how much is missing from the standard times from the previous evening. The positions of the drivers provisionally qualified for Q2 are highlighted in green.
The last quarter of an hour – improvements and changes in the first 14 are no longer possible
With Dennis Foggia, only one driver was a few hundredths faster than McPhee, who, unlike the Italian, is already considered to be safely qualified. The Leopard Racing, on the other hand, is one of the drivers whose teams missed the timely exit from the pits in FP2. As a result, after his warm-up lap there was no longer enough time for a quick lap to qualify directly into Q2. The wind is already taking on threatening proportions when there are still 5 minutes left on the clock. Again we are near a sandstorm in Losail, which made the 5th day of the MotoGP test impossible. A little later the FP3 is already over and as expected there was no driver who was able to save himself into Q2 with sufficient improvement. For this reason, there is no need to list the ranking list here
FP3 of Moto2 – here too no improvements compared to the FP2
Here, too, as before in Moto3, it is unlikely that a time improvement will be possible in the heat of the afternoon. Drivers like Bo Bendsneyder, Jake Dixon and Tom Lüthi will almost certainly have to try to get into the top 4 via Q1 in order to make it into Q2. After a good 10 minutes, Hector Garzo had a crash at turn 16 in a very unusual place. So far, only very few drivers left the target bend. The last quarter of an hour has started and, as expected, the best times are nowhere near the same level as the night before. The best time so far was a 2’01,127 from Remy Gardner, who is already qualified for Q2. For this reason, as a precaution, the table of FP2 with the start numbers of the drivers, which are provisionally directly in Q2, highlighted in green.
Almost 3 minutes before the end of the third free practice session, Sam Lowes set an afternoon best. The Englishman is already in second qualifying and his time was still well over 2 minutes. The FP3 is now over and the times are irrelevant for the Q2 as announced.
The 3rd free practice of MotoGP – Johann Zarco waived
As in the previous classes, there is hardly any improvement compared to the previous evening. If you didn’t know that it was sand, you would speak of hazy here in Losail, in terms of the appearance of the sand blown up by the wind. Johann Zarco has just announced that he is completely foregoing the third free practice session. He emphasized that he had made a mistake the afternoon before and that he had fallen in the process. He therefore sees no advantage in risking another crash under such conditions. The wind is very annoying at the moment and there is a lot of dust and sand in the air. With just under 30 minutes on the clock, there are only 4 drivers on the track, and we are reminded of the 5th day of the tests when it was almost impossible to drive in Losail. The last 20 minutes have begun and only 5 drivers are doing their laps. In addition to the two Suzuki drivers, these are Binder, Lecuona (both KTM) and Savadori (Aprilia).
The last quarter of an hour
Currently, only Nakano, Pol Espargaró and Lecuona are still on the line. There was an incident between Binder and Rossi on Friday, which, according to the South African, is of little importance because they did not touch. Valentino saw it a little differently, of course, but in the end it shouldn’t have been the reason that he missed the top ten in FP2. Of course, little changed until the end, although the situation had improved slightly towards the end of FP3. We do not include the ranking list at this point, as it is absolutely irrelevant compared to Friday evening and 9 out of 22 drivers did not do 10 laps.
The Qualifying of Moto3: Masia in front of Garcia and Alcoba on Pole – McPhee on P8
There is now a one and a half hour break until the first Moto3 qualifying. By the way, no more spectators are admitted on the second weekend, whereas last Sunday there was still permission for 1,500 privileged people. However, on March 10, 2019, we already had the impression that there would have been little more than two to three thousand on Sunday. The official numbers (over 30 thousand over the whole weekend) must have been greatly exaggerated at the time. The drivers are now on the track, and it’s about the last 4 tickets for Q2.
Two crashes in second Qualifying
With a fall, Deniz Öncü is already out of the race when only 9 minutes are on the clock. After a line break, we continue and the Indonesian Izdihar was the next to crash shortly before the end. In the end, the Austrian Kofler was third from last in Q1 behind the two fallen drivers. Migno, Artigas, Foggia and Dupasquier made it into Q2, which is now in progress. The two Petronas Sprinta team-mates McPhee and Binder rode in tandem the entire first time and just headed for the pit before the last 8 minutes are on the clock. Below is the ranking after Q2.
Moto2 qualifying: Lowes on pole ahead of Gardner and Bezzecchi – Dixon on P5!
If you don’t look closely, you think the drivers are driving on a wet track, but this is sand, which lies on the track after the strong wind in the afternoon! Moto3 rider Jason Dupasquier has just confirmed that the wind is still very strong. Navarro, Bendsneyder, Arenas and Dixon broke the ticket for the second qualifying in Q1. Behind Vierge in P5 and Arbolino in sixth, Tom Lüthi was only seventh and will therefore only have to tackle the race in row 7 in 21st position. Even the bad starting position for the Swiss than a week ago. The starting position for Forward MV driver Lorenzo Baldassari, who won the Moto2 race two years ago before Lüthi, was even worse. The Italian was only fourth from last and this is possibly the final proof that his chassis is worlds inferior to the Kalex.
Showdown in Q2
There are still 7 minutes on the clock when Marco Bezzecchi takes over from Aron Canet as the temporary leader. Two minutes later, Sam Lowes is in front, but of course the cheese isn’t bitten yet. Shortly before the end, Lowes is still leading ahead of Gardner, who has fought his way up to P2. The order at the front doesn’t change after that, Sam Lowes is the pole setter ahead of Gardner and Bezzecchi. The following is the classification after qualifying for Moto2.
MotoGP qualifying: Fastest Mir in Q1 – Oliveira displaces Marini by 8 thousandths
Four minutes before the end of the fourth free practice, Johann Zarco leads the best Ducati in front of the 3 Yamahas of Vinales Quartararo and Morbidelli. A little later, Suzuki ace Joan Mir drove the fourth best time. Shortly afterwards, Stefan Bradl crashed, even though the German wasn’t on a really fast lap. FP4 is now over and the hunt for the last two places in Q2 will soon begin with a number of prominent contenders. At the forefront of this is reigning world champion Joan Mir on Suzuki. Nine minutes are still on the clock when the Spaniard leads the Q1, but a little later Binder was the fastest. Shortly afterwards, Mir countered again with 3 tenths ahead of the South African and a 1’54.314. Pol Espargaró is preparing for his attack in the pits, he has not yet completed a timed lap and is obviously betting everything on one card. But it is not enough and his successor Miguel Oliveira at KTM displaces Luca Marini from second place at the last minute, while Mir is certainly also in Q2 with the fastest time. Bad news for the Rossi fans too, because their idol has to start from the penultimate place.
Showdown in Q2: Martin in front of Zarco and Vinales on pole – 2 Ducatis in front of Yamaha in row 1
Eight minutes before the end, rookie Jorge Martin leads Quartararo, Aleix Expargaró, Morbido and Pecco. With 6 minutes left on the clock, Johann Zarco is the only driver on the track, while everyone else pits. With just under two minutes to go, Vinales is ahead of rookie Martin. In the end, he took pole just ahead of Pramac Ducati team-mate Johann Zarco and Maverick Viñales started like the Frenchman from the front row for the second time in a row. The second row is made up of Miller, Quartararo and Bagnaia. Aleix Expargaró starts from P7 and next to him are the two Suzukis of Alex Rins and Joan Mir in the race on Sunday. Franco Morbidelli was ninth ahead of Bradl and Oliveira, the last two in Q2. Below is the ranking list of the qualifying, equivalent to the starting grid with 3 drivers per row. The biggest loser is again KTM with all the riders in the back half after it even looked as if a significant increase was possible.
End of the live blog – a summary will follow shortly in a separate report.
Schedule for the second weekend in Qatar
Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© MotoGP).
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