After the serious warning he sent Pecco Bagnaia On the last day of the final MotoGP test in Sepang, a circuit where they will not return until early November, the two-time MotoGP champion sent another stronger and clearer ride on the complete version of the Ducati GP24 where he came. in the final hour and a half of the first day of testing in Qatar. At the circuit where the MotoGP World Championship starts on March 8-10, he already has more than two tenths in his pocket compared to his former runner-up, Jorge Martín, in the dry lap. At least after the first contact with Lusail in a test where everyone went at their own pace in the planned plan.
Aleix Espargaró, Brad Binder and Fabio di Giannantonio completed the day’s top-5, with Marc Márquez finishing in 16th place at 0.919, finishing in third place midway through the test.
Until the middle of the day Maverick Vinales He set a benchmark by being the first to drop to 1’53” and comfortably marking several laps in the 53 medium. An hour later he was replaced by his teammate Aleix Espargaró with two laps in the 53 lows and also Aprilia Raúl Fernández was the first to drop 1’52” (1’52″814), a lap faster than the best lap in the Qatar GP race (1’52″978) set by Enea Bastianini last November. Maverick Viñales regained the lead in 1’52.754 and in the last two hours of the test, three Aprilias led the test.
And when the wind stopped bothering them, he went out with the 2024 aerodynamics on his Ducati and Pecco Bagnaia He took off on the first lap in 1’52″649 and a second in 1’52″040 which sent Viñales’ best time 0″714 away. There was only an hour and a half to go and it was already under artificial lights Number ‘1’ on the grid is less than three tenths away from Luca Marini’s pole record in 2023 (1’51″762).
Also on the Ducati GP24 Jorge Martin He was second with less than an hour left in the test with 1’52″260 and a top-4 Ducati lead with Di Giannantonio and Bastianini by less than half a second. Aleix Espargaró was third with 0″292 from Bagnaia. And in the last half hour Viñales, Binder and Alex Márquez also got past ‘The Beast’. Binder was especially dangerous on the KTM in the first three sectors of the circuit to lose the possible best turn in T-4.
To get into the top-10 they need to drop an average of 1’52” as three months ago they qualified directly for that Q2 by dropping 1’53″323 in Practice, something they achieved this Monday of the top-17.
And riding low or medium 1’52” can only be reached by three Ducati GP24 -Bagnaia, Martín and Bastianini-, one of the Ducati GP23 of VR46 -Diggia- and one from Gresini Racing -Àlex Márquez- , both RSGP24 officials Aprilia -Espargaró and Viñales-, Binder’s KTM, Zarco’s Honda and Quartararo’s Yamaha.
For the next six who also dropped to 1’52” it was not enough, to them Marc Márquez Although he was third midway through the day, his improvement was not enough and he finished 0.919 behind Bagnaia. Pedro Acosta On a new circuit he finished 15th, just ahead of Marc Márquez, 0″898 behind Bagnaia.
Qualification, first day
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
