Qatar MotoGP: Marquez leads Dovizioso in warm-up
Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez was quickest in the Sunday warm-up session ahead of the 2018 campaign's opening race in Qatar.
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Marquez snatched the lead from Pramac Ducati's Danilo Petrucci with under two minutes left on the clock, finishing with a 1m55.201s benchmark.
Petrucci had established himself at the sharp end early on into the 20-minute daytime session, taking first place from compatriot Valentino Rossi with a 1m55.657s before lowering that to a 1m55.364s.
Marquez soon took the runner-up spot from Yamaha rider Rossi, but left it until late to dethrone Petrucci by a tenth and a half.
Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso split the pair at the chequered flag to finish second, while Marquez's Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa mounted a late charge for fourth place.
Andrea Iannone was the lead Suzuki in fifth, ahead of Tech 3 Yamaha's pole-sitter Johann Zarco and Rossi.
LCR Honda's Cal Crutchlow lost the front and crashed at Turn 1 in the early stages, but rejoined and recovered to eighth.
Suzuki's Alex Rins was the only other rider to hit the deck, also at Turn 1, and made up the top 10, as Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro slotted in between him and Crutchlow.
Ducati's Jorge Lorenzo and Yamaha's Maverick Vinales both had muted showings, finishing 14th and 18th respectively.
Warm-up results:
Pos. | # | Rider | Bike | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 93 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 1'55.201 | |
2 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'55.312 | 0.111 |
3 | 9 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1'55.364 | 0.163 |
4 | 26 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | 1'55.383 | 0.182 |
5 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Suzuki | 1'55.445 | 0.244 |
6 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Yamaha | 1'55.612 | 0.411 |
7 | 46 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1'55.648 | 0.447 |
8 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'55.791 | 0.590 |
9 | 41 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 1'55.858 | 0.657 |
10 | 42 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 1'55.885 | 0.684 |
11 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'55.931 | 0.730 |
12 | 53 | Tito Rabat | Ducati | 1'56.003 | 0.802 |
13 | 12 | Thomas Luthi | Honda | 1'56.048 | 0.847 |
14 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Ducati | 1'56.129 | 0.928 |
15 | 17 | Karel Abraham | Ducati | 1'56.209 | 1.008 |
16 | 55 | Hafizh Syahrin | Yamaha | 1'56.256 | 1.055 |
17 | 38 | Bradley Smith | KTM | 1'56.271 | 1.070 |
18 | 25 | Maverick Viñales | Yamaha | 1'56.272 | 1.071 |
19 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | 1'56.579 | 1.378 |
20 | 45 | Scott Redding | Aprilia | 1'56.693 | 1.492 |
21 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Honda | 1'56.705 | 1.504 |
22 | 44 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 1'56.830 | 1.629 |
23 | 10 | Xavier Simeon | Ducati | 1'57.073 | 1.872 |
24 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda | 1'57.516 | 2.315 |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments