Maverick Viñales is the best on day 1 of MotoGP testing in Qatar

The MotoGP World Championship has kicked off the 2018 pre-season testing action at the Losail International Circuit, in Qatar, where we have once again seen the riders of the premier class testing and working on the setup for the upcoming championship season.

On this first day we saw Maverick Viñales set the fastest time, posting a lap of 1:55.053 after completing 64 laps of the track, setting this time in the final part of his session. Meanwhile, in second place was Andrea Dovizioso on the Ducati, who stayed very close to the front, only 0.051s behind the leader.

Also very close to the top two was Andrea Iannone, who finished just 0.054s behind the leader on his Suzuki, so there was plenty of variety among the frontrunners on this first day of action. The top 10 was completed by Zarco in 4th, Lorenzo 5th, Rins 6th, Rossi 7th, Petrucci 8th, Crutchlow 9th and Márquez 10th. The rest of our riders finished 11th Pedrosa, Bautista 13th, Tito 16th, Aleix 17th, Pol 19th (who will not be on track tomorrow due to his physical condition).

As for tyres, there are a few new developments: the medium and soft front are the same as those used last year in Qatar, while the hardest is the one used in Sepang and Buriram. As for the rear, the soft compound is new, and the medium and hard are those used last year at the Qatar race.

On to the second day.