Strong start for Repsol Honda duo in Qatar
The 2015 season has officially begun in Losail with reigning World Champion, Marc Marquez, ending the first practice session at the top of the time sheets, and teammate Dani Pedrosa just 0.76s behind in second place.
With track conditions surprisingly good on this first day – considering the rain that has fallen in the past week – the MotoGP class were immediately on the pace with Dani setting his fastest time of 1’55.357 on just his third lap, sending him to the top of the classifications. Marc’s second lap placed him second behind Dani and then after a brief modification, Marc went back on track and his fifth lap put him on top of the board with a time of 1’55.281 (just 0.128 off Casey Stoner’s circuit lap record in 2008 – 1’55.153), and remained unbeaten for the remainder of the session.
It was an impressive display from the Repsol Honda riders, who are 0.4s faster than their next opponent (Aleix Espargaro), with a mere second separating 3rd place to 16th.
FP2 will commence tomorrow at 18h00 local time.
Marc Marquez
"Today went pretty well. It is always important to make a good start to the weekend. I felt good and the feeling was similar to that which we had in pre-season testing, although maybe there was a little less grip. We tried some things that we had prepared after the test and this went well. Tomorrow we will try to keep progressing, but we can't forget that the track surface here will improve a lot and the times will come down."
Dani Pedrosa
"We have completed the first session of the year and we have done quite well. Now we are going to work on the bike to in preparation for the coming days. We need to keep taking steps forward as the weekend goes on and keep improving our pace. The track was in quite good condition and we'll see how it evolves over the course of the Grand Prix weekend."
Results Session
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|
Rider standings
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Points | Team | Constructor |
|---|
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
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) |
