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Espargaro continues to set Qatar pace

John Hopkins by John Hopkins
March 21, 2014
in Reports, Results and Points
0
Photo courtesy motogp.com

Aleix Espargaro continued to show the benefits of a late preseason test at the Losail circuit in Qatar.

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An exciting FP3 session at the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar, opening round of the MotoGP World Championship, saw Aleix Espargaro (NGM Forward Racing) on top again, outpacing Andrea Iannone (Pramac Racing) and Alvaro Bautista (GO&FUN Honda Gresini) in the top three.

The revelation of the winter and of the Qatar weekend so far, Espargaro posted a 1:54.773 best time on the ‘Open’ Forward Yamaha, with Iannone and Bautista trailing him by 0.413s and 0.467s respectively. The non-Factory riders who tested at Losail two weeks ago are enjoying this Grand Prix so far, as the usual order has been upset in the desert.

Iannone, starting his second season in the premier class, was second quickest in FP3 and outpaced the Factory riders with a 1:55.186s best lap.

“I’m very happy with how it went today,” the Italian rider said. “I never expected it to go so well. Surely it is also thanks to all the guys who worked at home this winter I am happy that I was able to take advantage of almost one hundred percent of my bike’s potential. We still have to continue working to improve some small things on the bike to make sure that I am able to ride better for the race.”

Bautista was once again the protagonist of a strong session, setting that third fastest time with 1:55.240 lap. As a further demonstration of his competitiveness, he was also the fastest of the medium tire riders, beaten only by two riders on a softer compound – Espargaro and Iannone.

He enthused, “I’m happy because at the moment I’m the fastest rider with the medium tires. Also, my feeling with the bike has improved slightly compared to the recent tests. We need to further improve the behaviour of the machine with used tires, because after only three or four laps the rear tire performance drops a lot.”

Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso and World Champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) completed the top five, neither of them having attended the test visit.

There was a big crash for Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Bradley Smith at turn 5, but the Englishman limped away from the huge highside and was able to post the sixth best time of the evening.

Former World title winner Jorge Lorenzo’s woes continued as he looked uncomfortable outside the top 10 for most of the session and he was potentially heading for Q1 participation before pulling out a 1:55.495 to go seventh.

Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was eighth on Friday courtesy of his best FP2 time, while Stefan Bradl (LCR Honda) and Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) squeezed into the top 10, Rossi with a late best time in the final minutes.

Pol Espargaro (Monster Yamaha Tech3) and the man he replaced on the Tech3 Yamaha, Cal Crutchlow (Ducati Team), were the two big names to miss out on automatic Q2 participation. Crutchlow walked away from a crash at turn 10 and will look to improve on Saturday.

Sandro Cortese (Dynavolt Intact GP) was the man on the pace in FP3 for Moto2™ at the Commercial Bank Grand Prix of Qatar, leading Dominique Aegerter (Technomag carXpert) and Esteve Rabat (Marc VDS Racing Team).

Cortese set down a 2:00.579s marker towards the end of the only outing for the intermediate class on Friday, but Takaaki Nakagami (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) stays fastest on combined times by 0.057s from the German.

Behind Cortese, Aegerter was just 0.016s off P1 while third placed Rabat provisionally led the session and finished 0.067s off the top.

Both in the top five, meanwhile, were impressive rookie Maverick Viñales (Pons HP 40) and the quickest Thursday rider Nakagami.

In Moto3, Romano Fenati (SKY Racing Team VR46) led FP3 in Qatar with the best ever lap of Losail on a Moto3™ machine, with Alex Rins (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and his teammate Alex Marquez also in the top three.

Fenati battled for the top spot with the Spanish pair as they pushed their Honda bikes towards the business end of the timesheet and ultimately the Italian KTM-equipped rider prevailed with a 2:06.121 hot lap.

–From motogp.com

MotoGP Friday Practice Results (courtesy Repsol Honda)

1

Aleix Espargaro

41

ESP

NGM Mobile Forward Racing

YAMAHA

1’54.773

2

Andrea Iannone

29

ITA

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

1’55.186

3

Alvaro Bautista

19

ESP

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

HONDA

1’55.240

4

Andrea Dovizioso

4

ITA

Ducati Team

DUCATI

1’55.250

5

Marc Marquez

93

ESP

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

1’55.446

6

Bradley Smith

38

GBR

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

YAMAHA

1’55.474

7

Jorge Lorenzo

99

ESP

Yamaha Factory Racing

YAMAHA

1’55.495

8

Dani Pedrosa

26

ESP

Repsol Honda Team

HONDA

1’55.562

9

Stefan Bradl

6

GER

LCR Honda MotoGP

HONDA

1’55.676

10

Valentino Rossi

46

ITA

Yamaha Factory

YAMAHA

1’55.702

11

Pol Espargaro

44

ESP

Monster Yamaha Tech 3

YAMAHA

1’55.793

12

Cal Crutchlow

35

GBR

Ducati Team

DUCATI

1’56.013

13

Colin Edwards

5

USA

NGM Mobile Forward Racing

YAMAHA

1’56.238

14

Nicky Hayden

69

USA

Drive M7 Aspar

HONDA

1’56.357

15

Yonny Hernandez

68

COL

Pramac Racing

DUCATI

1’56.633

16

Hiroshi Aoyama

7

JPN

Drive M7 Aspar

HONDA

1’56.939

17

Scott Redding

45

GBR

Go & Fun Honda Gresini

HONDA

1’56.997

18

Karel Abraham

17

CZE

Cardion AB Motoracing

HONDA

1’57.345

19

Broc Parkes

23

AUS

Paul Bird Motorsport

PBM

1’57.665

20

Mike Di Meglio

63

FRA

Avintia Racing MotoGP

FTR-KAWASAKI

1’58.204

21

Hector Barbera

8

ESP

Avintia Racing MotoGP

FTR-KAWASAKI

1’58.219

22

Michael Laverty

70

GBR

Paul Bird Motorsport

ART & PBM

1’58.378

23

Danilo Petrucci

9

ITA

IodaRacing Project

IODA-SUTER

1’58.651

{fcomment}

Tags: Aleix EspargaroAlvaro BautistaAndrea IannoneCommercial Bank Grand Prix of QatarGO&FUN Honda GresinilosailMotoGP World ChampionshipNGM Forward RacingPramac Racing
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