Alex Marquez smashes lap record ahead of Martin and Bagnaia

It was a battle for the Q2 slots in MotoGP™ Practice, with an all-out time attack at the end of the session. Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) ended the session quickest, after smashing the all-time lap record by over half a second, in a new era for MotoGP™ as the Championship switches to sustainable fuels. Prima Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin was just 0.010 behind, setting his best time on his final fast lap. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) ended the session in third, at the Lusail International Circuit. Fellow Italian and reigning World Champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) completed a late fast lap to end the session in fourth, finishing ahead of Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Vinales who had technical issues with his first bike.

Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) ended the session in sixth, earning his spot in Q2 on his debut weekend. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) heads into Qualifying as the second Aprilia in seventh place. Espargaro was ahead of Ducati Lenovo Team’s Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) who prepares to make his Qualifying debut with Ducati. Finally, Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) rounds out the top 10 riders who head to Q2.

Some big names are forced to go through Qualifying 1 including Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™), and Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) who had a crash in the last minute of the session.

MotoGP™ will return to action at 14:40 local time (UTC +3) on Saturday for the first Qualifying of the year, so make sure you keep up to date on motogp.com!