The Qatari desert is not immune to the vagaries of the sky and before the start of qualifying practice, the start of the MotoGP championship was marred by torrential rain in Lusail on Friday evening. The teams obviously brought rain tires but there was a risk that the drivers would be blinded by the water droplets from the floodlights, and above all be unsettled by the changing conditions.
So the race management changed the program: the session was shortened and converted to free practice, and qualifying practice was postponed until Saturday. An intensive program awaits the drivers with three decisive sessions linked together (Tests, Q1 and Q2) leading up to the Night Sprint (7:00 am in France).
Marc Marquez (Gracini) eventually dominated the session on the wet track. To get a rough idea of the forces present in the dry, you have to look at the results of the free tests first. Jorge Martin (Pramac) was fastest there, ahead of Alex Espargaro (Aprilia) and Pedro Acosta, the Gasgas rookie.
“It’s proof that bikes have potential”
Johan Zarco, LCR Honda rider
In his first time on a Honda, Johann Zarco showed ease by setting the 6th fastest time, a time he put into perspective by clarifying that he had used new tyres. “It was good to be sixth, to give the team a smile, LCR’s Frenchman commented. This is a proof that the bike has the ability even if it is a question mark over long distances. (…) For Q2, it is possible, we have to see. Maybe the conditions will be a little different, it could be an opportunity if the top drivers are not fully prepared. »
Fabio Quartararo (19th) started more slowly on his Yamaha: “I did not expect to suffer so much. The conditions are quite different from testing. There is less grip, and I did not expect to see such a change in the bike. » The advantage is that he didn’t waste his cartridge to reach Q2.
