MotoGP: Andrea Dovizioso Under Race Lap Record During Tight FP2 In Qatar (Updated)

MotoGP: Andrea Dovizioso Under Race Lap Record During Tight FP2 In Qatar (Updated)

© 2018, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Editorial Note: The current Circuit Record Lap (a.k.a. race lap record) is 1:54.927, which was set by Jorge Lorenzo in 2016.

FIM MotoGP World Championship

Losail International Circuit, Qatar

March 16, 2018

Free Practice Two Results (all on Michelin tires):

1. Andrea Dovizioso, Italy (Ducati), 1:54.361

2. Danilo Petrucci, Italy (Ducati), 1:54.367

3. Alex Rins, Spain (Suzuki), 1:54.458

4. Jorge Lorenzo, Spain (Ducati), 1:54.831

5. Andrea Iannone, Italy (Suzuki), 1:54.841

6. Marc Marquez, Spain (Honda), 1:54.850

7. Dani Pedrosa, Spain (Honda), 1:54.851

8. Cal Crutchlow, UK (Honda), 1:54.852

9. Valentino Rossi, Italy (Yamaha), 1:54.853

10. Johann Zarco, France (Yamaha), 1:54.912

11. Maverick Vinales, Spain (Yamaha), 1:55.195

12. Aleix Espargaro, Spain (Aprilia), 1:55.236

13. Tito Rabat, Spain (Ducati), 1:55.308

14. Jack Miller, Australia (Ducati), 1:55.360

15. Takaaki Nakagami, Japan (Honda), 1:55.694

16. Scott Redding, UK (Aprilia), 1:55.718

17. Pol Espargaro, Spain (KTM), 1:55.919

18. Franco Morbidelli, Italy (Honda), 1:55.965

19. Tom Luthi, Switzerland (Honda), 1:56.242

20. Bradley Smith, UK (KTM), 1:56.260

21. Karel Abraham, Czech Republic (Ducati), 1:56.394

22. Hafizh Syahrin, Malaysia (Yamaha), 1:56.454

23. Alvaro Bautista, Spain (Ducati), 1:56.990

24. Xavier Simeon, Belgium (Ducati), 1:57.765

More, from a press release issued by Tech3:

Zarco and Syahrin deliver a strong start into the new season

The Monster Yamaha Tech3 pair kicked off the racing year with some great achievements today at the Losail International Circuit. During the first Free Practice session both, Johann Zarco and Hafizh Syahrin adapted quickly to the hot conditions in Qatar, before the impressive floodlights delivered similar circumstances to the test some days ago in FP2.

Thereby, Zarco displayed a solid performance to finish the first day of action inside the top 10, just 0.059 seconds behind fellow Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi. Meanwhile Syahrin showed his outstanding talent in being the fastest rookie in his first ever MotoGP Free Practice session. The Malaysian concluded Friday 1.542 seconds behind his team mate and is eager to further improve in FP3, which takes place on Saturday at 14:35 local time.

Johann Zarco

Position: 10th – Time: 1’54.912 – Laps: 33

“For the first day in Qatar it is quite ok to be inside the top 10. I experienced some issues, which made it difficult to find the same great feeling like I had during the test here. I tried to keep calm and work. It’s just small details, because the balance of the bike is good, but to be as fast as the top guys, we need to understand better how the grip level is changing. We’re working on it and I know that we need to improve tomorrow to be competitive and ready for Q2.”

Hafizh Syahrin

Position: 22nd – Time: 1’56.454 – Laps: 33

“In the first Free Practice, I had a lot of confidence and felt really comfortable on the bike. I’m not sure why my feeling was not as good as in FP1 in the second session. We used the soft tyre for the first time, but couldn’t improve a lot. In the end, we went one tenth of a second faster than in the first session. Now, we try to understand the situation, I know, that I have to stay calm and that I have to try to understand the telemetry, therefore I’ll speak with my guys tonight. Anyway, I’m very positive. For tomorrow, I aim to improve further.”

More, form a press release issued by Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS:

Morbidelli and Lüthi make progress in Qatar practice

Team Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS riders Franco Morbidelli and Tom Lüthi made the most of today’s opening free practice sessions in preparation for the opening race of the 2018 MotoGP World Championship.

Both Morbidelli and Lüthi are MotoGP rookies making their premier class debuts in the Qatar Grand Prix.

Reigning Moto2 World Champion Morbidelli posted his fastest time of 1.55.965 in FP2 making a massive 1.3 s improvement over his best in FP1 despite missing the ideal set-up on new tyres.

Lüthi is still making up for lost time aboard his Honda RC213V having missed a couple of winter test sessions through injury.

But the classy Swiss rider is taking a measured approach and improved his pace by just over one second to set a best time of 1.56.242 just 0.2s behind his teammate.

Grid positions for the unique night race format of the Qatar GP will be decided in Saturday evening’s qualifying.

Franco Morbidelli: 18th – 1.55.919

“Today was a little bit unlucky for me after some problems in FP1 and then late in FP2 when we put new tyres on bike but I’m sure we can find a better feeling tomorrow. Everyone has started the weekend very strong but I’m confident we can improve. We have done a lot of testing and have plenty of data but now I just want to go racing.”

Thomas Lüthi: 19th – 1.56.242

“We made an important step in FP2 with the feeling from the front-end and this is a very positive step for me because this will allow me make other improvements, it is a like a chain reaction for the set-up. There is a big gap to the front guys but that is not my focus right now, it is understanding the bike and having a good feeling for the race.”

More, from a press release issued by Aprilia Gresini Racing:

THE APRILIA RS-GP MACHINES DO WELL ON THEIR DÉBUT IN THE FIRST PRACTICE SESSIONS IN QATAR

ESPARGARÓ AND REDDING GET GOOD SENSATIONS IN VIEW OF TOMORROW’S DECISIVE SESSIONS

The engines have finally roared to life for the long-awaited 2018 MotoGP season. And among the many reasons for high interest in the new world championship is also Aprilia, called on to confirm the growth demonstrated in the final part of last season.

Aleix Espargaró and Scott Redding rode the fledgling 2018 RS-GP in the official opening sessions. Their sensations were clearly positive. Both of the Aprilia Racing Team Gresini riders improved significantly between the first and second Friday sessions. In FP2, Aleix even made an appearance in the top end of the standings, then continuing to work in view of the race, getting good sensations especially in the comparative tests between the different tyre solutions for Sunday. He finished with the 12th best time of 1’55.236, just 87 hundredths from the leader and 38 hundredths behind the top 6.

Redding made clear progress in the second session, although continuing to work, as advisable for him, on the settings, both for tomorrow’s sessions which will decide the starting order and with Sunday’s race in mind, finishing with a time of 1’55.718.

ALEIX ESPARGARO’

“I am very happy with the day. After a winter of ups and downs, the initial feedback here in Qatar was good. The evolution of the engine, which has not been revolutionised, proved to work well all around. It lets me ride with a style very close to my needs, whereas before I had to open up the throttle with the bike still very much leaned over. As for the race configuration, we are rather close to the leaders. We lost a few positions in the final attempt with a soft tyre. In the time attack, even pushing to the limit, we are still struggling to get as much out of the tyre compared to the other riders. We’ll work especially on this in the technical debriefing today, because even though our pace is promising, we still cannot sacrifice qualifying.”

SCOTT REDDING

“The sessions today once again confirmed how close the times are this year. It really takes very little to make a big difference. I am satisfied with our first day. The evolved engine works well, but overall I feel like we can still improve quite a bit. Compared to the tests, I have less feeling with the front, even testing different compounds, and I feel the dips on the track more, so much that I risked locking up the front a couple of times. If I can increase my confidence in braking, I’m sure that we can take a step forward.”

More, from a press release issued by Team ECSTAR Suzuki:

SHINING START FOR SUZUKI ECSTAR ON DAY 1 IN QATAR

Alex Rins battling for top spot throughout FP2.

  • Andrea Iannone consistently quick and improving pace.
  • Successful day for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR with both riders inside the Top 5.
  • The opening day of the 2018 MotoGP season got underway in the heat of Losail Interna-tional Circuit. FP1 took place in the daylight, and FP2 was held after sundown under Qa-tar’s iconic lights. The track conditions were very different to those found during the pre-season test, with both riders reporting a lack of grip on the slippery track.

    In the first session of the day both Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins completed 3 runs, al-lowing them time to try the feel with and without the aerodynamic fairing, and using both worn and new tyres. Rins completed the entire session on one set of tyres and kept in-side the Top 10, 8th at the flag. Iannone was impressive in the 3rd sector, where he set the fastest time. The Italian ended FP1 in 4th place.

    As night fell and temperatures dropped it was a good chance to understand the likely conditions for Sunday’s race, and both riders showed impressive pace from the start of FP2 onwards.

    Alex Rins fought it out for the top spot for much of the closing half of the session, setting the second fastest time in sectors 1&2 and looking comfortable on his GSX-RR. The young Spaniard became the first rider to drop under a 1:55 on his 14th lap, he then popped in a new tyre and ended the session in 3rd place with a 1:54.997, just +0.097 seconds from the leader.

    Meanwhile Andrea Iannone, who had been consistently hovering around the Top 10 and was particularly strong on used tyres, picked up his pace in the closing moments of FP2 and earned himself 5th place, +0.480 from the front. The Italian had some catching up to do after missing a day of testing due to illness, but is showing good improvements and is feeling positive.

    With both riders less than half a second from the head of the field in FP2, and also hold-ing 3rd and 5th on combined times, Day 1 in Qatar has been a highly successful start for Team SUZUKI ECSTAR and it bodes well for tomorrow’s practice and qualifying ses-sions.

    Davide Brivio – Team Manager

    “I would say it was a good start, of course it’s only Friday, but I feel we’re approaching these days with a different mood. I’m happy because the riders were quite quick during the sessions, not only in the fast laps at the end of FP2; this is what makes us happy about today, we’re aware it’s only Friday, but we know we just need to continue like this to be ready for the race.”

    Alex Rins

    “It’s nice to come back here, and this time for the race! In the morning the track was differ-ent to how it was during the test; there was a lot of dust and not much grip. In the evening session, however, the track was fine and I had the same sensations as in the test we did here a few weeks ago. Tomorrow we have to keep working with some small details that I believe we can still improve.”

    Andrea Iannone

    “We started this first day with a step in the right direction, with positive results and also a good feeling. Since we lost the last day of testing two weeks ago we had to finish off some of the work from there. But I have good feelings with the GSX-RR and we are going in the right direction. Today the track was a lot more slippery than in the test, so we need to find a better feeling with the grip. This is what we’ll focus on now to try and become even more competitive.”

    More, from a press release issued by Angel Nieto Team:

    ÁNGEL NIETO TEAM RIDERS GET 2018 ACTION UNDERWAY IN QATAR

    Karel Abraham and Álvaro Bautista start a new MotoGP season at the Losail International Circuit

    Andrea Dovizioso starts the 2018 MotoGP season as one of the favourites in the fight for the title. He was the fastest rider on the opening night of action on Friday, under the floodlights in Losail. The Italian bested another Ducati rider, Danilo Petrucci, with a time six thousandths of a second quicker than him in the final stages of the second Free Practice session. The two of them, together with Álex Rins, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Iannone, were the fastest on a night in which a total of nine riders finished within half a second of each other.

    The Angel Nieto Team started the World Championship with both riders battling a lack of grip with their tyres. Karel Abraham was the fastest of the pair with a time of 1:56.394, after completing 26 laps. The Czech rider improved significantly in the second session of the day and hopes to maintain that upward trend tomorrow. Teammate Álvaro Bautista’s grip issues with his rear tyre have been affecting his corner entry and exit thus far. The Spaniard finished a little over a tenth slower than Abraham and hopes to continue working to fight for the top positions in the Qatar GP.

    21st Karel Abraham 1:56.394 (26 laps): “We have room for improvement to go faster and I think I can get there tomorrow, but today’s result is not bad in any case. It’s not where I wanted to be, because we have difficulties with grip and I don’t have a good feeling with the front end either. Today was difficult because in the first session the bike stopped when we left pit lane and we had to go back in, losing some time. In the end I went out with the other bike. In the second session I was able to solve a lot of what prevented us from improving and now we have to work to solve the rest of the issues.”

    23rd Álvaro Bautista 1:56.528 (25 laps): “Throughout the day we worked on getting more rear grip, which is the biggest obstacle that we have encountered since the first day I got on the bike. We tried a couple of things that didn’t work, and at the end of the day I couldn’t lower my lap times because with new tyres we were also trying some other modifications. We hope tomorrow will go better, because I don’t have the best feeling. Without rear grip it is difficult to handle cornering. From the first day I got on the bike we have had this feeling.”

    More, from a press release issued by Dorna:

    Sparks fly: Dovizioso edges Petrucci and Rins

    Stunning Friday action as one second splits the top 14 under the floodlights

    Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) started his Grand Prix of Qatar in the best possible way as the Italian ended Friday at the top of the timing screens, stunning his rivals with a lap time of 1.54.361 to put him just 0.006s ahead. It was the perfect test for race pace in the second session of 2018 for MotoGP™, as bikes take to the track at the same time as the lights will go out for the race to put track conditions to the most realistic test.

    Fellow Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci (Alma Pramac Racing) completed the day as top independent rider in second position, as he set his time with three minutes remaining and only beaten by his compatriot. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) broke the Ducati dominance in P3, sitting 0.097s behind Dovizioso after a strong session and leading the way in the final ten minutes. Rins was also the first rider to break into the 1:54 bracket.

    The most successful rider at the venue, Jorge Lorenzo (Ducati Team), secured fourth position overall around Losail, and his time of 1.54.831 was set following a busy start to his session as his Ducati caused sparks to fly on the home straight. Italian Andrea Iannone (Team Suzuki Ecstar) wasn’t far behind his teammate Rins in fifth with a lap of 1.54.841, with reigning World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) ending the day in sixth position just 0.001 ahead of his teammate Dani Pedrosa.

    Honda’s Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) sits in eighth as the second of the Independent team runners to go just ahead of ninth placed Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), who was unable to blast in a fast lap at the end of the session. Frenchman and 2017 Rookie of the Year Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) rounds out the top ten on Friday in Qatar, with just half a second splitting the men provisionally into Q2 on Saturday. As yet, 2017 Qatar GP winner Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) is in eleventh on the combined timesheets.

    The fastest rookie was Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu), with the Japanese rider taking back that honour after impressing in testing but getting edged out in the #QatarTest.

    Don’t miss a minute of the #QatarGP as the Championship builds up to the much-anticipated first race of the 2018 season. FP3 kicks off at 12.40 local time (GMT +3) ahead of the fight for pole at 19:20, with the lights going out for the race on Sunday at 19:00.


    Alex Marquez quickest under the lights in Losail

    Game on: EG 0,0 Marc VDS rider concludes Day 1 on top ahead of Lowes and Bagnaia

    2014 Moto3™ Champion Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) started his season in perfect form by ending Day 1 in Qatar on top of the timesheets, just 0.038 in front of the returning Sam Lowes (Swiss Innovative Investors) and 0.053 ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (SKY Racing Team VR46), with all three gunning for the title this year. That made it Kalex-KTM-Kalex, with the battle hotting up already.

    Following a more difficult campaign last season for Marcel Schrötter (Dynavolt Intact GP) – including mid-season injury – 2018 has started far better for the German as he concluded the day fourth quickest, with the fastest man in Free Practice 1, Lorenzo Baldassari (Pons HP40), close behind to complete the top five.

    Expected title contender and three-in-a-row 2017 winner Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took P6, ahead of Isaac Viñales (SAG Team), Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46), Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and fastest rookie Romano Fenati (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers). Reigning Moto3™ World Champion and fellow rookie Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) took P13 after missing the final preseason test through injury.

    Moto2™ go qualifying at 17:40 local time (GMT +3).


    Martin breaks lap record to go fastest on Friday

    Del Conca Gresini Moto3 rider begins the year how he means to go on

    Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) started his season in much the same way as he finished in 2017: on top. The Spaniard’s Friday at Losail International Circuit saw him breaking the Moto3™ lap record in the second Free Practice session after setting a 2:05.590, over six-tenths in front of a promising first day for 2016 Qatar winner Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse). It was a closer battle for second, however, as Antonelli ended the day just over a tenth clear of countryman Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing).

    Argentina’s Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Skull Rider) got off to a good start, finishing fourth on the combined standings on his KTM. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Del Conca Gresini Moto3) and Andrea Migno (Angel Nieto Team) completed the top six, with Tony Arbolino (Marinelli Rivacold Snipers) on top form with his new team as he took P7. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing), Aron Canet (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Philipp Oettl (Suedmetall Schedl GP Racing) locked out the fastest ten men on Day 1.

    Unfortunately, it was a short weekend in Doha for Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse) with the Japanese rider crashing in FP1 and fracturing his right forearm. He has been declared unfit for the remainder of the weekend.

    The fastest rookie was Spaniard Alonso Lopez (Estrella Galicia 0,0) as he concluded the day in P21 despite riding at the track for the first time.

    Now tomorrow it’s qualifying day, and the session to decide the grid begins at 16:45 local time (GMT +3).

    More, from a press release issued by Repsol Honda:

    2018 MotoGP season gets underway in Qatar

    The opening day of the Grand Prix of Qatar saw Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa wrapping up the Friday evening action at Losail International Circuit in sixth and seventh place respectively and split by 0.001”, both of them less than half of a second down on top.

    This year’s revised schedule meant that MotoGP FP1 took place in the afternoon’s daylight, while FP2 was run completely at night. Temperature’s and conditions were therefore quite different between the two sessions, though generally quite warm, with 31°C air, 39°C ground and 24% of humidity in the afternoon, and 25°C air, 27°C ground and 51% of humidity in the evening.

    Marc Marquez

    6TH 1’54.850

    “We are happy enough with how this first day in Qatar went in general. We had the first contact with the track and had the chance to see if we were getting the same feeling we had during the test. Actually the track has changed compared to the test and we now have to adapt the setup of the bike in order to make the tyres working well. Tomorrow we will see if we can get closer to the riders that are ahead of us who, at the moment, seems to have something more.”

    Dani Pedrosa

    7TH 1’54.851

    “Conditions were a bit different from the test and consequently our feeling was different. Two weeks ago at the end of the three days the asphalt was in quite good conditions while today it was a bit dirty. At the beginning we were less comfortable but we improved over the day and that’s positive. We can see that our rivals are fast, but lap times are quite tight and there are many riders on almost the same time. We have to see tomorrow how conditions we’ll be.”

    More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda Castrol:

    CRUTCHLOW EIGHTH AS NEW SEASON GETS UNDERWAY

    LCR Honda CASTROL rider Cal Crutchlow finished eighth fastest on the opening day of the Qatar Grand Prix as the 2018 MotoGP World Championship got underway at the Losail International Circuit today. The Briton headed into Friday’s free practice sessions in confident mood after a positive winter of testing on board his new factory Honda machinery.

    The 32-year-old was on the pace all day and looked good after posting the seventh quickest time in FP1. However, he was unable to find his best rhythm in a typically frantic finish to FP2 and eventually had to settle for eighth spot. While not satisfied with his position, Crutchlow is hopeful of improving again on Saturday.

    Cal Crutchlow – 8th

    (1’54.852 – lap 15 of 16)

    “The day was positive enough, although I’m not positive that we’re five tenths off at the moment. I felt we were strong all day, but on my last lap I did not have a great feeling with the bike at all, I was stronger at the start and the middle of the session. So to be eighth is disappointing, but at least we’re in the top ten because I think it will be harder to make a good lap time tomorrow.

    “I had some important chattering and we are now investigating. On the whole we’re happy and positive as we have been for most of the winter tests – I’m not happy to be eighth because I think my pace is better than that, but tomorrow hopefully we’ll have a better day and go faster.”

    More, from a press release issued by LCR Honda IDEMITSU:

    NAKAGAMI MAKES MOTOGP DEBUT IN QATAR

    LCR Honda IDEMITSU rider Takaaki Nakagami made his official MotoGP debut on Friday as the 2018 World Championship season got underway in Qatar. The Japanese rookie got his first taste of race weekend action in the premier class as practice commenced at the Losail International Circuit.

    Nakagami struggled to adapt to difficult conditions during the afternoon’s FP1 session, but made excellent progress during FP2 as he improved his time by around 1.5 seconds to claim 15th position on the timesheets by the end of the day.

    Takaaki Nakagami– 15th

    (1’55.694 – lap 18 of 19)

    “I’m really happy to start the new season, the three tests were quite positive, but now it’s completely different as it’s a race weekend. I was a lot more nervous today. FP1 took place during the day, so the track temperature was high and the condition was not so good as it was quite dirty and a lot of riders said there was no grip.

    “But I knew the lap times would get faster in FP2 and my feeling was quite positive. I had a crash here on the last day of the test, but my feeling is getting better and better now. We still need to adapt to the conditions, but I will try my best in FP3 and will see where we are.”

    More, from a press release issued by Alma Pramac Racing:

    #QatarGP FP. Stunning second place for Petrux. Jack will fight for the Q2 tomorrow

    Alma Pramac Racing starts the 2018 MotoGP season with a stunning Danilo Petrucci who ends up in second position the first day activity at the Losail International Circuit in Doha, Qatar. Jack Miller wasn’t able to make the most of the soft tyre on his fast lap and had to postpone his attack to Q2 to tomorrow’s FP3.

    After the very encouraging results of Qatar testing, Petrux confirms to have a great feeling with the Ducati Desmosedici GP 2018 on the Losail Circuit. The Italian rider is already fast in the FP1s played under the sun of Qatar and in the FP2s lit by the energy of the 44 Pramac’s generators, he manage to do a stellar time attack, finishing in p2 just 6 thousandths of a second from Andrea Dovizioso.

    Jack Miller can’t find the conditions to be able to win the Top 10. In the afternoon the Australian rider managed to lower his morning lap-time by 1 second and 3 tenths but in the final time attack of FP2 he could not find the ideal conditions to stay in the top 10. It’s very tight (14 drivers in 1 second) and in tomorrow’s FP3 the Australian rider will have the possibility to fight again for direct access to Q2.

    2nd – Danilo Petrucci 1’54.367

    “I am very pleased with what we have done today. We had some very good feelings during the tests and I am happy to have confirmed that feeling. The position is very good but it is clear that we have not yet done anything: we will have to fight tomorrow”.

    14th – Jack Miller 1’55.360

    “I am not happy with my position but I am positive because the pace is encouraging. We had some problems with this circuit during the last official tests and we are working to improve day by day. We are all very close so there is confidence for tomorrow”.

    More, from a press release issued by Movistar Yamaha:

    MOVISTAR YAMAHA MOTOGP FINISH FIRST OUTINGS UNDER QATAR FLOODLIGHTS

    Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales kicked off their 2018 racing campaign today ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix of Qatar. The teammates used the two 45-minute practice sessions at the Losail International Circuit to fine-tune their YZR-M1s’ set-ups, and ended the day in 9th and 11th position respectively in the combined session times.

    Losail (Qatar), 16th March 2018

    The Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Team were keen to begin their 2018 MotoGP World Championship challenge today. Valentino Rossi’s and Maverick Viñales’ main goal for the first two practice sessions was to set up their YZR-M1s for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Qatar. They secured 9th and 11th place respectively in the combined timesheets.

    Rossi showed he meant business as FP1 got underway in the afternoon. Feeling comfortable right from the start, it wasn‘t long before he breached into the top-3. He kept up his competitive pace throughout the session and briefly topped the timesheets with a 1‘55.723s. He finished in second place, clocking a 1‘55.427s, just 0.061s from the top.

    The lowering temperatures in the evening made it difficult for the riders to keep their rhythm in the second free practice session, but the Doctor was hungry for improvement. Riding under the floodlights, he put his head down and battled for a top ten position in the ranking order. His best time, a 1‘54.853s, earned him ninth place, 0.492s behind today’s leader.

    Viñales had a busy afternoon session. When he took to the track it soon became clear that, with small margins separating the riders, he had no time to lose to fine-tune his Yamaha. He completed three runs to test various setting options and increased his speed at the very end. He ended FP1 in 11th position with a 1’56.130s lap, 0.764s from first.

    The Spaniard pushed on in FP2 and made the 45 minutes count. He kept up with the pace, breaching into the 1‘55s-laps. He steadily improved his time, but the setting he tried in the afternoon didn‘t give him the same feeling in the cooler conditions. He ended the session in 11th place, posting a fastest lap of 1‘55.195s, 0.834s from the front.

    Today‘s FP1 and FP2 results see Rossi and Viñales also take 9th and 11th position respectively in the combined results. Tomorrow they will be back on track from 14:35 – 15:20 local track time (GMT+3) for Free Practice 3, followed by Free Practice 4 from 18:40 – 19:10 and the qualifying sessions from 19:20 – 20:00.

    MASSIMO MEREGALLI

    TEAM DIRECTOR

    It’s great to be back in action, even though it was a bit of a challenging start to the season today. The grip level of the track wasn‘t perfect and under these circumstances we usually suffer. We expect that the circuit will provide a better grip session by session, which will help us exploit the strong points of our bike. Most of the problems that we‘re facing are caused by a lack of grip. The new schedule is a bit tricky, it has some up and downsides. The format has made FP1, FP3 and the Warm Up session somewhat useless, because the track conditions in the afternoon and evening sessions are quite different, and these aspects need to be carefully considered whilst making set-up changes. Even though we don‘t want to completely turn the bike upside down, we have some ideas that we will try tomorrow with both riders.

    VALENTINO ROSSI

    The feeling during the day was quite positive because I feel good with the bike and also my pace is not so bad with the used tyres, that’s very important for the race. The level of performance is unbelievable, especially from fourth to tenth place – we’re very close. I didn’t ride in a perfect way and I lost some time during my lap, I made some small mistakes and I paid for them, because my position is not fantastic, I’m just ninth. It’s very important to stay in the top-10, because maybe tomorrow in FP3 it can be a little bit more difficult. We have to keep trying because I’m sure somebody will improve, and after that we’ll see. It’s always difficult with the front tyre, because we’re at the limit, so we need to make the right choice and we still have to work on the balance of the bike. I’m very happy to race at 7 o’ clock and not at 9, because the track is better. The only problem is that FP1, FP3 and Warm Up are not very important because you ride them in hotter conditions.

    MAVERICK VIÑALES

    Honestly, I don’t feel like this is my best moment. As I said during the test, we’re having some trouble. I didn’t feel good on the bike, but we are working to solve the problems. We tried something different, which – with the hot temperatures – I was liking quite a lot, but this evening it wasn’t working. I did two time-attacks, but I wasn‘t feeling comfortable, so we have to continue tomorrow to find a better set-up.

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