The new MotoGP season is underway. The first free practice session of the Qatar GP kicked off the championship, with Jorge Martín setting the pace at Losail. Since it was still during the daytime, the session was not representative of the nighttime conditions that will be encountered during qualifying and the races.
In the opening phase, it was Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) leading, but as the second laps were launched, the leaderboard changed significantly. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3/KTM) was the next man to take the lead. Then, Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) moved to the top, with Enea Bastianini (Ducati) in second and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) in third. At that time, still within the first ten minutes, the top 13 were separated by less than a second.
Lap times continued to evolve, and Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) took the lead by dethroning Marc Márquez by 0.161s. The runner-up was then surpassed by Bastianini, who was 36 thousandths faster. Later on, Miller moved up to second, just 24 thousandths behind the leader.
In the second half of the 45-minute session, Martín returned to the top of the leaderboard, exchanging positions with Bastianini. This situation lasted briefly before Marc Márquez took the lead… although Bastianini responded shortly after to regain the top spot.
With ten minutes remaining, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46/Ducati) climbed to third, while Binder became the leader of the pack. The South African would be beaten by Acosta, who continued to impress in his first free practice session in MotoGP.
The best lap times only emerged in the last two minutes. Martín returned to the top of the leaderboard by being 0.071s faster than Acosta, and at the same time, Marc Márquez set a time that placed him in third… before Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) moved up to second.
Until the end, nothing else changed, with Martín leading the first practice of the year with a 0.047s advantage over Espargaró. Acosta surprised with the third-fastest time, while Marc Márquez and Binder completed the top five. The two-time champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) reached tenth place with his last lap after a discreet performance.
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