Viñales, Luthi and Stoner the fastest in the Qatar FP1

With the first practice sessions of the year, the Qatar FP1, all three categories have been progressing step by step, and there have been no serious consequences in any of them.

Once again the circuit in the middle of the desert is reached, and this has meant that the Moto3 riders have found a rather dirty track and have not been able to match the times of the 125 cc, but despite what was thought just a few months ago, they are very close.

– Moto3:

Maverick was the fastest, stopping the clock at 2:09.762, but there was a dance of times throughout the whole session. Another name who was up front was Luis Salom, who dominated the practice for a long time in this session; finally, at the last moment, he ended up third on the timesheets, with a time of 2:09.980, just behind Louis Rossi, the French rider who finished second with a time of 2:03.980.

Two FTRs taking the first two positions, and the third a Kalex KTM. It seems that nothing is what it appeared to be in practice, although there is still a lot of work ahead.

Reviewing the rest of our riders:

Héctor Faubel 9th
Alberto Moncayo 11th
Alex Rins 16th
Adrián Martín 22nd
Isaac Viñales 23rd
Iván Moreno 24th

The one we saw with problems right from the start of practice was Efrén Vázquez. The Basque rider had problems with his bike and had to miss these first practice sessions.

– Moto2:

In the intermediate category it was Thomas Luthi who took the first position. The Interwetten-Paddock rider registered a time of 2:01.284. Behind him was Tito Rabat, just 402 thousandths off. After practice we saw Tito somewhat unhappy with the result, since he had been dominating for a long time. His competitiveness surprised us, but at the same time we are pleased to see that another of ours has real chances, though now he has to maintain those positions.

Third, Pol Espargaró, another from Pons 40 HP Tuenti, who was also fighting for the top time. Fourth was an old track rival, Marc Márquez, a rider who waited until the end to push hard and set his time.

Two Suters and two Kalex share the first four positions; it seems the technical equality remains present in the category.

The Spaniards finished as follows:

Julian Simón 13th
Toni Elías 19th
Ricky Cardús 24th
Nico Terol 25th
Ángel Rodríguez 26th
Axel Pons 28th
Elena Rosell 33rd

– MotoGP:

Casey Stoner, with his time of 1:56.474, was the fastest, with the world returning to its natural order, and moreover dominating in a place where Qatar has always suited him very well.

Halfway through practice we saw four Yamahas dominating the front positions, and for a few moments even Cal Crutchlow was leading the session. Finally Lorenzo set the second-best time on one of the bikes of the three-tuning-fork brand, with a time of 1:53.649.

Third was Nicky Hayden, who seems to have worked very well over the winter, and his consistency has been rewarded. His time, just 450 thousandths off Stoner’s, is a second faster than that of his teammate Valentino Rossi.

Dani Pedrosa did not have good pace during practice, and it was not until the end that he managed to set the time that finally placed him fifth, behind Ben Spies, who looked like he could take the best time since he had dominated for many minutes.

Moving on to the CRT world, the first was Randy De Puniet with his ART, ahead of Colin Edwards with a Suter chassis and an engine from , who were thirteenth and fourteenth respectively. Right behind them was another CRT model, that of Michele Pirro, an FTR with a engine. In these first practice sessions it could not be confirmed what we had seen in the IRTAs, namely that the ARTs might be ahead of the satellite Ducatis.

Reviewing our riders:

Alvaro Bautista 7th
Héctor Barberá 9th
Aleix Espargaró 16th (CRT – ART)
Iván Silva 17th (CRT – BQR-FTR-Kawasaki)

And although he is not Spanish, Yonny Hernández, who came from our CEV and is riding for a home team, deserves a mention; he was 19th (CRT – BQR-FTR-Kawasaki).

Photos | §h89§MotoGP.com§h90§