It was an all-Spanish top-four after preliminary sessions for the first race weekend of the 2022 MotoGP season, the Qatar Grand Prix.
Both the factory Suzuki riders, Alex Rins and Joan Mir, Honda’s multi-time champion Marc Marquez and Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin showed strong early pace at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar.
Although this is really only good for bragging rights, with racing proper in the premier class set for approx 3.25am on Monday, New Zealand time.
The first free practice session (FP1) on Friday started out cloudy with some dust still hanging around the track, but it didn’t stop Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Rins (pictured here) from lighting up the time-sheets.
Fellow Spaniard Mir was quick to join his Suzuki team-mate in the top five and both riders clocked very quick top speeds.
Rins and Mir favoured the hard compound tyres for the majority of the session, but switched to soft rubber for the final laps. Rins closed FP1 in 3rd and Mir in 7th.
The Repsol Honda Team were also feeling pretty good about themselves early on in Qatar as Spain’s Marquez opened his year with a solid second place.
And the Pramac Ducati team also had plenty of reason to smile as their Spanish rider Martin had clocked fourth fastest time at the end of FP2 that evening.
Marquez’ Honda team-mate Pol Espargaro, another Spaniard, posted steady improvements and quick times across Friday to end up ninth fastest.
Just one second covered the leading 15 riders.
“Today was a good day, we worked hard in the pre-season and it seems to have paid off because the bike is working well – even a bit better than we expected!” said Rins.
“I was able to be fast with used tyres and new ones, so that gives me some confidence for the next days. Obviously, we need to keep working and pushing because the level is high out there, but it’s certainly a great start.”
Mir, the 2020 world champion, was also well satisfied with his early going.
“It’s only the first day, but I’m very happy about how everything’s going, I feel great with the bike and we can really see and feel that the package has improved compared with last year.
“We understood what was needed to get faster and more competitive, and now everything feels a little easier, so that’s really important. I tried all the tyre options and I liked the feeling of all of them here.”
GRAND PRIX OF QATAR OPENING PRACTICE LAP TIMES
1 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 1’53.432s
2 Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.035s
3 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.147s
4 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP22) +0.220s
5 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.413s
6 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Lenovo (GP22) +0.438s
7 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) +0.454s
8 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.474s
9 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.531s
10 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Lenovo (GP22) +0.539s
11 Enea Bastianini ITA Gresini Ducati (GP21) +0.581s
12 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.606s
13 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +0.621s
14 Andrea Dovizioso ITA WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1) +0.721s
15 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +0.815s
16 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +1.043s
17 Maverick Viñales SPA Aprilia Racing (RS-GP) +1.092s
18 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP22) +1.133s
19 Raul Fernandez SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.452s
20 Marco Bezzecchi ITA Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21) +1.468s
21 Remy Gardner AUS KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.497s
22 Fabio Di Giannantonio ITA Gresini Ducati (GP21) +1.939s
23 Luca Marini ITA Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22) +2.343s
24 Darryn Binder RSA WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1) +2.483s
2022 PROVISIONAL MOTOGP DATES:
Rd 1: March 6: Losail International Circuit / Qatar.
Rd 2: March 20: Mandalika International Street Circuit / Indonesia.
Rd 3: April 3: Termas de Río Hondo / Argentina.
Rd 4: April 10: Circuit of the Americas / Texas.
Rd 5: April 24: Algarve International Circuit / Portugal.
Rd 6: May 1: Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto / Spain.
Rd 7: May 15: Le Mans / France.
Rd 8: May 29: Autodromo del Mugello / Italy.
Rd 9: June 5: Barcelona-Catalunya / Spain.
Rd 10: June 19: Sachsenring / Germany.
Rd 11: June 26: TYT Circuit Assen / Netherlands.
Rd 12: July 10: KymiRing / Finland.
Rd 13: August 7 : Silverstone Circuit / GB.
Rd 14: August 21: Red Bull Ring-Spielberg / Austria.
Rd 15: September 4: Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli/ San Marino.
Rd 16: September 18: Motorland Aragon / Spain.
Rd 17: September 25: Twin Ring Motegi / Japan.
Rd 18: October 2: Chang International Circuit / Thailand.
Rd 19: October 16: Phillip Island / Australia.
Rd 20: October 23: Sepang International Circuit / Malaysia.
Rd 21: November 6: Comunitat Valenciana-Ricardo Tormo / Spain.
Photo courtesy Suzuki
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