Just a few weeks after the Sepang Test, the MotoGP™ World Championship arrived in Qatar for the final pre-season test of 2019. It was a quiet start to proceedings at the Losail International Circuit as teams and riders waited for night to fall. Conditions improved steadily over the course of the opening evening, track temperature sitting steadily around 23°C until late in the night.

Marc Marquez was amongst the first riders to venture out on track as the sun set and the floodlights were switched on. His initial shake down run produced a 1’57.487, the reigning MotoGP™ World Champion eventually improving to a 1’56.167 to end the opening day of testing in tenth. Marquez suffered a harmless fall at the final corner.

Saturday at the Qatar Test marked Jorge Lorenzo’s on track debut in full the Repsol Honda Team livery. Like his teammate, Lorenzo waited until the sun had set to head out on track and reacquaint himself with the Honda RC213V.  For Lorenzo, the opening day was about assessing his still-healing scaphoid and understanding the changes made to the 2019 bike. A 1’57.090 saw him end 21st fastest.

Testing continues on Sunday February 24 at 16:00 local time when Marquez and Lorenzo will continue their development work.

Marc Marquez

10th 1'56.167

“Honestly today I’m happy with my physical condition compared to Malaysia, we’ve improved a lot. The power is there and I can ride more like myself now. Also, we still have two weeks until the first race and this is the focus. During the night the track got better but we need to keep trying to be closer to the other riders. Now we’ll go analyse everything because during the test here there is not much time.”

Jorge Lorenzo

21st 1'57.090

“The wrist is OK, obviously I’m struggling under braking but I am able to understand the bike. Time is the big limit, we only have maybe three hours each day because after nine the temperature drops a lot and it’s hard to learn when it’s like this. We didn’t try too many changes on the bike and focused mostly on the ergonomics. Tomorrow we will be closer, it’s still the first day.”

MotoGP 2019
Testing   Qatar

Qatar Test Day One

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
Location Information

The fabulous Lusail International Circuit lies on the outskirts of Doha, the capital city of Qatar. Built in little over a year, the track cost $58 million USD and required round-the-clock dedication from almost 1,000 workers in order to get it ready for the inaugural event – the Marlboro Grand… read more.

Length 5.380 kilometres / 3.343 miles
Width 12 metres
Left corners 6
Right corners 10
Longest straight 1.068 kilometres / 0.664 miles
Constructed 2004

Losail International Circuit, Al Daayen, Qatar - View in Google Maps

www.circuitlosail.com

Records

Pole Position 1m 50.789s (174.8km/h) Jorge Martin (Ducati, 2024)
Race Lap 1m 52.978s (171.4 km/h) Enea Bastianini (Ducati, 2023)
2024 Sprint Winner Jorge Martin (Ducati)
2024 Race Winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati)